LHA and a mid-year rent increase

Good morning.

LHA entitlement won’t be reassessed if your rent goes up prior to your anniversary date.
My client wasn’t receiving the LHA rate for his area/room criteria, because his rent is way below this figure; instead he was receiving the ‘cap rent figure’ (I think this is the term), i.e. the gross rent figure. The new rent figure is still below the relevant LHA rate for his BRMA.

I’m clutching at straws, but does this complication make a mid-year reassessment possible?

Thanks

Dan

The LHA is a determination of the maximum rent which remains in place until the next reassessment (usually the anniversary of the LHA determination), unless a prescribed change of circumstance takes place: change of category of dwelling; member of family in accommodation dies; or move to a new home.  The maximum rent that has been set in this case is the “cap rent”, (as the rent was below the appropriate max LHA figure), and this therefore stays in place until the next reassessment unfortunately. 

There was an earlier thread on this matter: http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/2440/

DHP may be an option.

Would a break in claim work? Depends how long until the next natural LHA review date and how much the increase is, but might it be beneficial to lose 1 week’s benefit if the overall effect is to increase the amount payable to the new full rent?