Length of LHA award
Once an LHA has been used to establish a claimant’s maximum rent, it will apply from the date of claim and continue to apply for a year unless an update is triggered by a change of circumstances, see Changes of circumstance later in this section. Currently Rent Officer decisions are in use for at least 52 weeks.
Example
Claim made 7 October 2008.
Benefit paid on October LHA from 13 October 2008.
Anniversary falls 7 October 2009 and benefit is superseded from
12 October 2009 using the October 2009 LHA.
If an LHA has reached its anniversary date (one year hence) without change, the award will come to an end, except when the award is superseded in accordance with the new provision. This means that the anniversary date must be used to generate the new LHA. If the anniversary date falls on a Monday the effective date for the new rate with be the same day, if it falls on any other day of the week the effective date is the following Monday. If that benefit week falls in the following month, the LHA rate will still be that of the previous month, ie the month in which the anniversary fell. [HB Reg 12D(2)(b)(ii) HB Reg 13C(3)]
Example 1
Claim received 28 October 2008. Benefit paid from 3 November 2008 using the October LHA. Anniversary falls on 28 October 2009. LHA reassessed using the October 2009 rate and paid from the week following the anniversary, 2 November 2009.
Example 2
Claim received 6 September 2008. Benefit paid from 8 September 2008 using the September LHA. Anniversary falls on 6 September 2009. LHA reassessed using the September 2009 rate and paid from 7 September 2009.
