Housing Benefit Rooms Calculator

You can use the calculator to work out how many rooms housing benefit will pay you for

Please click on this link to take you to the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) bedroom calculator to work out how many bedrooms you are entitled to and which LHA rate applies to you - http://lha-direct.therentservice.gov.uk

How to use the rooms calculator

To calculate the number of rooms for your household you can enter the answers to the following questions in the appropriate boxes and then click the button labelled 'Calculate number of rooms' - the number of rooms allowed will be displayed in the final box.

Please only count each person in the household once, in the first category they come into.

This is a guide to the maximum number of rooms you are allowed under the Housing Benefit rules. If you need more information please contact your local Rent Service office.

Your Housing Benefit office decides on entitlement to, and payment of, Housing Benefit, which is also based on your personal circumstances. You will need to ask them directly if you need more information on this issue.

Information about the Rooms Calculator

You can live in a home with as many rooms as you wish, but the Housing Benefit rules may limit how many you can be paid for. The rules are known as the "size criteria". They depend on:

• how many people live with you in your home
• how they are related to you (if they are)
• whether they are children or adults, and
• if they are children, whether they are boys or girls, and their ages.

If you ask your council for Housing Benefit, the rent officer will let them know how many rooms you can claim for. They cannot alter the rules, whatever your difficulties.

If your home has more rooms than Housing Benefit will pay for, then the rent officer will decide what the rent would be for a similar home with the right number of rooms. Your benefit will be based on this number of rooms.

There are special rules if you are single and under 25 years old.  Your Housing Benefit will be based on the rent for a room which has a shared living room, bathroom and kitchen.

If you live in a Pathfinder council area, your Housing Benefit will be based on a Local Housing Allowance and it will depend on the number of rooms you can be paid for. Your Housing Benefit office, not the rent officer, will decide on this number. This may not be the same as the number of rooms you actually have. You may choose to live in a larger home and pay more than the allowance you get, or you could choose to live in a smaller home and keep the difference.

There are special rules if you are single and under 25 years old, but they are slightly different in a Pathfinder Council Area. Your Housing Benefit will be based on the rent for a room which has a shared living room, and which may have a shared bathroom or a shared kitchen. These rules may apply to other single people and couples who share rooms or facilities with someone else. Please contact your local Rent Service office if you would like to know more about this.

The number of rooms allowed is as follows. One bedroom for each of the following, counting each person once only, in the first group they come into.

• A couple who live together.
• Someone who is 16 or over.
• Two children of the same sex.
• Two children who are younger than 10.
• A child (a 'child' is someone under 16).

You are also allowed one living room if there are up to three people living in your home. You are allowed a second living room if four, five or six people live there. You are allowed a third living room if there are more than six people living in your home.

The rent officer only counts children as living in the home where they normally live. They are not counted in a home where they visit, however often.

Your Housing Benefit office decides who counts as living in your home, and rent officers can only include these people when they makes their decisions.

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