In 2018/19 more than half of the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates will remain at the 2015 LHA rate, or the 30th percentile of local market rents, whichever is the lowest value. No LHA rates have been reduced and nineteen will increase by 3% from 1st April 2018.
The Government has provided limited additional funding to increase LHA rates in the Broad Rental Market Areas (BRMAs) where the shortfall between the 2015 LHA rate and the 30th percentile 2018 was greatest. This funding has been used to increase nineteen LHA rates in BRMA areas as indicated below.
Map of Broad Rental Market Areas (BRMAs) in Northern Ireland
More information is available in the tables below which indicate how each LHA rate is calculated.
Notes
30th percentile of market rents
The 30th percentile figures shown here are derived from twelve months worth of lettings information, collected from 1 October 2016 to 30 September 2017. This means that in each market area, if there were 100 properties available for letting of the appropriate size, the LHA would be based on the 30th lowest rent charge of those 100 properties.
In other words tenants who receive LHA should have access to the bottom 30% of the market.