Payment of Local Housing Allowance

LHA may be paid to the claimant or directly to the landlord. The claimant has the right to choose who LHA is paid to, however if the claimant is six weeks or more in arrears, we will pay LHA directly to the landlord.

We may pay LHA directly to the landlord if we have evidence that:

• The tenant would be unlikely to pay their rent; or

• The tenant is 'vulnerable'

And in either case it would be in the tenant's interests.

Payment of excess LHA

Tenants may be entitled to more LHA than their rent. If this is the case, tenants are allowed to keep up to £15 of the difference between the LHA amount and the rent charged by their landlord.

Where payments of LHA are being made direct to the landlord, any excess must be paid to the tenant. Excess LHA can only be paid to the landlord towards rent arrears. Once the arrears are paid off, payment of the excess must revert to the tenant.

Payment direct to a bank account

We will normally pay LHA direct to a claimant's bank or building society account. However, payment by cheque can be made if no other means of payment is available.