There were about 188,000 households renting a property in the private market in West London in the last year, possibly more. About a third of these households recieved some financial assistance to pay the rent. The Letstart team have been working with both tenants and landlords in this market and can guide new tenants into a property equiped with the right knowledge.
Tips for private renting
Click on
this link for some tips on renting your new home.
Assessing a property
The properties on this website have not been inspected by borough officers before they were advertised so you need to view the property. When you go to contact the landlord about a property, ask the landlord to bring three things with him/her to the viewing:
1 Gas Safety certificate
2 Electrical Inspection certificate
3 Energy Performance certificate
With all three certificates check the date to make sure it is valid, and be satisfied that the certificate is authentic.
Local Housing Allowance
Local Housing Allowance (LHA) was introduced in April 2008, and is a way of working out claims for Housing Benefit (HB) for tenants renting accommodation from a private landlord. LHA is the money received from the local authority to help pay the rent with.
As a tenant, you will be eligible for an amount of financial assistance based on the number of bedrooms you require to house the members of your family and teh location of the property.
The actual amount of LHA you receive will be affected by:
1 any money you have coming in
2 any savings you have
3 how much rent you pay
4 if you share paying the rent with someone else
.... What sized property do you require?
The number of bedrooms in a property you require to house your household is dependent on the number of adult couples, adult singles, and the age and sex of children that your normally live with. If you want to find out what sized property you are eligible for, click on this link to take you to an entitlement calculator on the LHA Direct website: Bedroom Calculator
The resulting number of bedrooms is likely to be different to how many bedrooms you would be allocated by a social landlord. This is because the age a person gets their own bedroom is different. For the purposes of LHA, a child of 16 years is eligible for a separate bedroom.
.... How do you know if you can afford a property?
To receive LHA, you need to be responsible for rent, and then your households individual circumstances will determine how much housing assistance you will receive. The Housing Benefit calculator will help you work out what that means for you. Check this before you look at properties, so you know what you think you want to pay.
.... Find out more about LHA?
You can find out more about LHA on the LHA Direct website.