Housing Benefit

[CherryBea24]

Hi

Am not sure if this is the right section for this question but

Can anyone tell me how I can get to know if I will get housing benefit for a property before I loose a deposit or commit to a tenancy agreement, I seem to have hit a stalemate here as I can't seem to get to know if I will be entitled to benefit before I have the rent book (agreement) what happens if I commit to an agreement and then am refused benefit ? anyone else had this problem ? or am I doing somthing wrong.

Thanks
Cherry

[sara3]

on what grounds do you think you would be entitled to HB? low income? other benefits? do you work? are there going to be other tenants (partner)?

[CherryBea24]

Thanks for your help,

From what I can make out I should be entitled as I am receiving benefits but they won't actually say yes before I sign the agreement with the landlord, its a case of what happenes if I sign then they say I can't have housing benefit I am stuck.

[clw1981]

Hiya Cherry

That link that was previously posted is an excellent indicator of what you are entitled to. It is important, also, to check what your Local Housing Allowance is. LHA is the new name for Housing Benefit. Unless you are in council or housing authority (correct me if I am wrong ABs) this LHA will be paid to you directly either every2 weeks or every calendar month. The landlord can request, should you become more than 2 months in arrears, the rent be paid directly to them. You have to make sure that you pay the rent on time but the LHA application will take around 4-6 weeks so if you have the rent up front etc then there should not be a problem.

Hope it works out for you!

[Mumof2]

You should be able to ask your Local Authority for a Pre Tenancy Agreement,the HB dept will assess the details and let you know if you will get any benefit before you commit to the tenancy.

[CherryBea24]

Thanks evryone hope it al goes to plan