B&Bs; and HB

I have been asked to advise a client who was homeless and placed in B&B accommodation by a charity. He applied for Housing Benefit and initially the local authority refused the claim saying that they did not pay for this type of accommodation without him being placed there by the Housing Dept under Part 7, Homeless provision. This decision not to award any benefit was overturned on review but he has been awarded LHA (shared accomodation rate) which is significantly less than his rent. I think that as it is meant to be B&B accommodation, then the claim should have been treated under the local reference rent rules and sent to a rent officer to determine HB rather than for LHA to be awarded, what do others think?

The problem I can see with this is that while the client is provided with a range of services such as room cleaning, bed lining changing etc I cannot see any evidence of any meals being provided even though it is meant to be a B&B.

Are you talking about exempt accommodation under the pre 1996 rules?

It will be exempt accommodation if the charity is the landlord and is also providing support; otherwise it’s a regular private tenancy/licence.

Assuming this is a private arrangement, the case is referred to the RO if the Council believes there is a possibility that the rent includes a substantial amount for “board and attendance”.  If the RO agrees, it will be subject to LRR instead of LHA.

What the RO understands as “board and attendance” is covered in this internal RO guidance note (have a feeling the link is too long to work):

http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/publications/Manuals/RentOfficerHandbook/HousingBenefitReferral/Determination/b-roh-board-and-attendance.html

The key feature is “attendance” - some element of preparation and service, not just the provision of unprepared food.

It is the Council’s decision in the first instance whether to refer to the RO and if they won’t do that there is a right to appeal on the grounds that the eligible rent has been assessed in the wrong way.  But if the case is referred to the RO by the LA and the RO doesn’t accept that there is board and attendance then the Tribunal has no jurisdiction over that (although there is the “redetermination” mechanism under which the claimant can require the Council to get a second opinion from another RO).

Thanks very much for your responses. Unfortunately it would not be classed as exempt accommodation and it does not look like it satisfies the board and attendance criteria for a rent officer determination, the LHA payment now looks to be correct.