Safeguards
Under the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) scheme the emphasis will be on making payments to you, not your landlord. This means that if you are a tenant coming under the scheme as a new claimant, we will in most cases pay you direct.
Under the LHA scheme you cannot simply request that their payments are made to your landlord.
Tenants
Exceptionally, to protect certain tenants we can use our discretion to pay their landlord instead.
Most importantly we want to make sure that you 'keep a roof over your head'. If we choose to pay your landlord direct this will help minimise the risk of you falling into arrears with them.
Excess Allowance
If the LHA rate for you is greater than your contractual rent, (the rent you agree with your landlord) any excess up to a maximum of £15.00 per week will be paid to you.
What Happens If You Have Rent Arrears and We Have Agreed to Pay Your Landlord?
If you are in arrears and we have made a decision to pay your landlord, the LHA payments your landlord receives may include the excess to help clear your arrears. Once the arrears have been paid, the excess will be paid to you instead.
If we continue to help you by making your LHA payments direct to your landlord, your excess will be paid to you 4-weeks in arrears. This is instead of the usual 2-weeks in arrears payment scheme we will normally use.
How Long Will We Make Payments to Your Landlord?
In many cases payments of LHA direct to the landlord will be a temporary situation until, for example any rent arrears you have are cleared.
We will review the decisions regularly, and at a time relevant to your individual situation.
