What is the Local Housing Allowance (LHA)?
 LHA applies to tenants of private rented housing who make a new claim for Housing Benefit or change address. LHA also applies to tenants on Housing Benefit who move from social housing into private rented housing. If you live in council, or other social housing, LHA will not apply to you.
If you live in council accommodation or other social housing, Local Housing Allowance will not affect you.
LHA is:
- a flat rate allowance paid to Housing Benefit claimants;
- a median, or midway point, of a list of rents in a Broad Rental Market Area (BRMA); and
- a rate based on the number of bedrooms claimants are entitled to
We provideLHA rates to each Local Authority every month and publish them on the LHA Direct website: https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk
You can also find them at Local Authority offices and via their websites.
You may find our Fact Sheet ‘The Rent Officer and Local Housing Allowance’ useful.
What is a Broad Rental Market Area (BRMA)?
A BRMA is an area within which a person could be reasonably expected to live having regard to access to facilities and services for the purposes of health, education, recreation, personal banking and shopping.
How we set BRMAs is explained in ‘Guidance – Broad Rental Market Areas’. BRMAs are reviewed periodically.
What happens during a BRMA Review?
We examine whether a BRMA satisfies the requirements of the legislation.
At the same time, we consult our stakeholders: Local Authorities, Citizens Advice and Shelter. We also inform MPs when a review is underway so that they too may have an opportunity to comment.
Our Fact Sheet ‘ BRMA Review Protocols’ explains the process in detail.
We then update the LHA-Direct map and BRMA Information once we have completed our review.
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