I've listed a Studio apartment for rent, and am getting prospective T's who are all claiming benefits, the question is th LHA rates start from a 1 bedroom to a +4 bedroom, but the property I have is a studio, does anyone know if the T's would still get the 1 bedroom rate? it is a self contained flat with it's own water, gas and electricity, as well as council tax etc, it is not a shared accommodation.
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LHA rate has nothing to do with how many bedrooms a property has.
LHA rate is dependent of the circumstances of the benefit claimant. ie. how many bedrooms the cliamants 'household' are entitled to.
If a single person was renting a 4 bed property they wouldn't get 4 bed LHA.
And 'Shared Rate' is not just for people who are sharing, it also applies to many who aren't sharing.
As it's a studio then we're probably talking about a tenant who will be single - so you can generally assume that a single person under 35 will only be entitled to Shared Rate LHA, and over 35's singles will be entitled to 1-bed rate LHA.
Age over 35 they will be entitled to 1-bed rate if they are Claiming UC Housing Element, but only Shared Rate if they are claiming Housing Benefit from the council.
Age under 35 they will only be entitled to 'Shared Rate' LHA whichever benefit it is.
Most claimants will be claiming UC Housing Element in a new rental, you can't usually make a new claim for Housing Benefit anymore.
However if they have a disability then a single person always gets 1-bed rate rather than shared rate whichever benefit it is.
(There are also a few other special cases that are entitled to 1-bed rather than shared).
See this for more details: https://england.shelter.org.uk/housi...shared_housing
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