Local housing allowance

The Valuation Office Agency Rent Officers determines Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates used to calculate housing benefit for tenants renting from private landlords.

LHA rates are based on private market rents being paid by tenants in the broad rental market area (BRMA). This is the area within which a person might reasonably be expected to live.

The amount of financial help you receive depends on the area where you live, your circumstances and how many bedrooms your household needs. The amount of benefit you get may be affected by:

• any earnings you receive
• any savings you have
• if anyone living with you pays towards rent
• if you share paying rent with anyone who is not your partner

The rates for the Northumberland County Council area from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 are:

Broad rental market area	1 April 2024 - 31 March 2025 Weekly amount (Calendar monthly equivalent in brackets)
	Shared accommodation rate	1 Bed	2 Beds	3 Beds	4 Beds
Northumberland	£82.00 (£356.31)	£86.30 (£374.99)	£97.81 (£425.01)	£121.97 (£529.99)	£174.90 (£759.98)
Tyneside	£87.76 (£381.34)	£112.77 (£490.01)	£126.58 (£550.02)	£149.59 (£650.00)	£212.88 (£925.01)
Durham	£90.50 (£393.24)	£90.50 (£393.24)	£92.05 (£399.98)	£109.32 (£475.02)	£151.86 (£659.87)
North Cumbria	£73.60 (£319.81)	£90.90 (£394.98)	£109.32 (£475.02)	£135.78 (£590.00)	£170.30 (£739.99)

The number of people you live with is used to work out how many bedrooms you are allowed. We use this to work out which local housing allowance rate applies to you.

Use the bedroom calculator to work out how many bedrooms you are allowed or have a look at the information below.

You are allowed one bedroom for:

• every adult couple (married or unmarried)
• any other adult aged 16 or over
• any two children of the same sex aged under 16
• any two children aged under 10
• any other child
• an overnight carer if appropriate*
• a disabled person who can't share a bedroom*
• if you or your partner are caring for a foster child, or have been accepted as a foster carer, with no child living with you, an additional bedroom will be allowed for up to 52 weeks
• those in the armed forces, who continue to live with parents, who will be treated as such even when they are deployed on operations. The size criteria rules, thus, will not apply.

*please contact us on 0345 600 6400 for further guidance.

The maximum number of bedrooms you can qualify for (including additional bedrooms) is four.

We do not count joint tenants.
 

This will be paid into your bank or building society account, if you have one, or by cheque. As a tenant, you are then responsible for paying your rent to your landlord.

In some exceptional cases, we may be able to pay direct to your landlord. For further details regarding this, please review our safeguard policy here.

If you are having problems obtaining or managing a bank account, please contact us on 0345 600 6400 and we will be able to assist you.