View Full Version : Lha benefit advice needed please
My oh and myself move to Caithness at the end of the month and my daughter who is a single parent of two wants to move up as soon as she can to be near us we would be paying her deposit. I have no idea how the benefits system works as my oh works, but my daughter says that here you can only get the money for housing benefit paid by the amount of bedrooms you need and up to a certain amount, she can have a 2 bed property as her children are under 10 she would like a three bed property. She has a boy 4yrs and a girl 1yr.Is it the same in Caithness or is she allowed up to a certain amount of money and it does not matter how many bedrooms as long as the rent does not exceed the amount of benefit you can have.Can anyone put me straight on this please
:confused
To get the correct advice on this matter I would contact C.A.B.
They have all the up to date and correct details and will be able to advise you on all aspects of Benefits within caithness. As far as I know both offices, in Wick and Thurso, are open between 10am to 2pm every day. Here are the phone Numbers :-
Wick - 01955 605989
Thurso - 01847 894243
Thurso - 01487 896796
I hope that this information is of help to you.
crashbandicoot1979
09-Feb-09, 14:57
My oh and myself move to Caithness at the end of the month and my daughter who is a single parent of two wants to move up as soon as she can to be near us we would be paying her deposit. I have no idea how the benefits system works as my oh works, but my daughter says that here you can only get the money for housing benefit paid by the amount of bedrooms you need and up to a certain amount, she can have a 2 bed property as her children are under 10 she would like a three bed property. She has a boy 4yrs and a girl 1yr.Is it the same in Caithness or is she allowed up to a certain amount of money and it does not matter how many bedrooms as long as the rent does not exceed the amount of benefit you can have.Can anyone put me straight on this please
:confused
It is the same in Caithness. If its a private rent then the benefit she gets paid will be based on her income/capital and on the number of bedrooms the house has compared to the number she needs. I don't know the ins and outs of it but as Kodiak said if you phone CAB they will know more.
shazzap, LHA is paid at a flat rate for private rentals in the area, based on the number of bedrooms an applicant is assessed as needing. It doesn't matter what the actual rent is.
How much of that flat rate payment your daughter would receive would then depend on her income and capital. If she gets income support I think she would automtically get 100% LHA for a two bedroom property.
But as others have said, CAB is a good place to start finding out exactly what the situation is.
Thank you for your responses :)
Does that mean that we will be paying more benifit just because she wants a 3 bedroom house. You daughter should be getting the minimum she is entitled to ie a 2bedroom.
Does that mean that we will be paying more benifit just because she wants a 3 bedroom house. You daughter should be getting the minimum she is entitled to ie a 2bedroom.
I pay my taxes as well as you, and that is all she wants what she is entitled to. You do not know her circumstances so do not judge
[disgust]
I apologise if you think I was judging anyone. I was meant to be a general statement regarding peoples entitlement to benefit. Surely people should only get the minimum required.
I apologize if you think I was judging anyone. I was meant to be a general statement regarding peoples entitlement to benefit. Surely people should only get the minimum required.
I agree whole heartedly with you, but you came across as more than generalizing and if i got this wrong i apologize
I apologise if you think I was judging anyone. I was meant to be a general statement regarding peoples entitlement to benefit. Surely people should only get the minimum required.
Quite agree with you dont get me on my soap box.:roll::roll:
It always strikes me as a false economy when people have families which will require a larger house sooner or later to restrict them, particularly with a private let, to the minimum. Different if you start with one child and later have an addition, but when the powers that be know that a three bedroom house will be required at some stage, it seems a wee bit shortsighted.
After all, if you can rent a private three bedroom house fully up to present standards, when technically you only qualify for a two bedroom council one, you will end up well down the housing register and the council isn't going to have to upgrade you from limited stock in years to come because you are already adequately housed.
So I guess the qustion for your daughter would be....does she want a council house eventually.........because if so, don't take a three bedroom one now.
Keep in mind that most private landlords in the area won't accept DSS. Look at the property to let area of this website
Keep in mind that most private landlords in the area won't accept DSS. Look at the property to let area of this website
I've never really understood why some landlords won't....unless it is because they are asking inflated rents which the DSS won't wear.
Private landlords don`t like DSS because they get their money three months in arrears from them, or unless they have changed their practice in the last 18 months, someone out there knows differently!
Private landlords don`t like DSS because they get their money three months in arrears from them, or unless they have changed their practice in the last 18 months, someone out there knows differently!
I showed my daughter this quote and she said that people on LHA now get the rent money put into their bank accounts.
Private landlords don`t like DSS because they get their money three months in arrears from them, or unless they have changed their practice in the last 18 months, someone out there knows differently!
Certainly not the case here Poppett, since LHA was piloted in Edinburgh a couple of years ago. As far as I know, LHA is paid at the end of each month, tho' I imagine it is paid in arrears while rent is paid up front. That, combined with the need for a deposit -and here the deposit can be much more than one extra month's rent -might make landlords wary of tenants claiming LHA.
I don't know why landlords keep saying 'No DSS' -it hasn't been the DSS for years, it's the DWP who pay pensions and benefits!
Quite a lot of folk on low incomes for a number of reasons, including pensioners, are entitled to some LHA. It's a means tested benefit. Do landlords include them when they say 'No DSS' I wonder? Or do they have a particular kind of claimant in mind?
I wonder what will happen now with so many people losing their homes and looking for rented accommodation. If there's no council accommodation to be had, will private landlords look on them with sympathy, or will they seem to be risky tenants? With many people feeling the threat of redundancy, could some working people in fact be a higher risk than people claiming benefits? :confused
If a landlord had tenants who moved from being in work to claiming benefit, the tenants would still be the same people they were - would they suddenly become less good tenants? Of course a landlord will not necessarily know if a tenant starts to claim LHA as it's now usually (tho' not always) paid to the tenant, not directly to the landlord.
Where I live it's now a tenants' market as there are far too many buy-to-let flats lying vacant, but there is still a dearth of unfurnished properties to rent long term and council houses are virtually all going to emergency cases.
I've been both landlord and tenant at different times in my life, so I can see both sides.
shazzap, apologies, I realise I've taken your initial query well off topic! Tho' I did try to answer it in an earlier post! :)
Bobinovich
10-Feb-09, 11:19
I must admit that I thought the No DSS requirement foisted by landlords was because sometimes those not paying for something directly themselves treat other peoples property with less respect than if they were paying from their own pocket :confused.
cazmanian_minx
10-Feb-09, 11:28
Sometimes the 'no DSS' line is there as a requirement of the mortgage lender - some buy-to-let mortgages specifically prohibit benefits claimants as tenants and will demand immediate repayment of the loan if they find out you've knowingly let to one. Quite what they'd do if someone lost their job midway through a tenancy I'm not sure. I have an acquaintance who's a landlord in England and most of his tenants are single mums on benefits - he says that 99.9% of them are fantastic tenants.
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