Find out about Local Housing Allowance rates
The size of your household
The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate used to work out your benefit will depend on how many people there are in your household. We only include bedrooms when we work out how many rooms a property has.
Allow one bedroom for:
- every adult couple (married or unmarried)
- any other adult aged 16 or above
- any two children, of the same sex, aged under 16
- any two children, regardless of sex, aged under 10
- any other child (other than a child whose main home is elsewhere)
- a non-resident overnight carer
- a foster child or children living with an approved foster carer
- adult children who are in the armed forces but who continue to live with parents will be treated as continuing to live at home, when deployed on operations
- disabled child who cannot share a bedroom
Single people under 35
People who are single and under 35 are classed as young individuals and get a shared room rate of LHA.
A young individual is someone who is under 35 and:
- is not a member of a couple
- is not a lone parent
- is not entitled to the severe disability premium within the LHA calculation
- is not under the age of 25 and subject to a care order
- has no non-dependants in their household
- does not need an extra room for a non-resident carer
- is not an ex-offender under MAPPA (multi-agency public protection arrangements)
- has not spent three months or more in a homeless hostel, or more than one hostel, specialising in rehabilitating and resettling into the community
- victims of domestic abuse aged 16 to 34 (from 1 October 2022)
- victims of modern slavery aged 16 to 34 (from 1 October 2022)
Single people aged 35 and above and couples without children
Single claimants aged 35 and above and couples without children will qualify for the one-bedroom rate. They will qualify if they rent a one-bedroom property or rent one room with self-contained bathroom and toilet facilities.
If a couple rent a shared property, they will qualify for the shared room rate for LHA. A shared property is one where a person has shared use of a bathroom/toilet and or kitchen.
Bedrooms
Find out how many bedrooms you are entitled to by using the bedroom calculator.