My client is on the old HB system and a private tenant. She is paid £160 pw (Limited by the rent officer decision). Her actual eligible rent is £176pw. I notice that the Local Housing Allowance for a single person (25yrs+) on southwark is £186.

There seems an obvious case for getting her onto the LHA. Can we revoke the HB claim one day and apply the next day and be diverted to LHA and thus more money?

Mon 10-Nov-08 03:02 PM by AndyRichards

It may well depend on the LA. General orthodoxy appears to be that a person could renounce their entitlement and then make a new claim but there would have to be an interval of at least one week.

Clearly rent+£10 is alot better than rent-£16, so it would be worth taking the "hit" of a week without HB.

However not all LA's regard this as legislatively correct, and believe that a claim, once decided, cannot simply be withdrawn.

The DWP only changed its own advice on this after LHA started. They now seem to support the "week break" position.

Still others believe that there is no need for a gap at all and that any new claim made after 7 April falls to be treated as LHA (assuming that the type of tenancy is not excluded). This point is currently being tested via judicial review.

I am testing it via an appeal Tribunal. I am awaiting the Council's submission to support the one week gap it imposed.

I have a rough draft counter submission ready to refine once I get theirs