Local Housing Allowance: what rent is covered
How LHA rates cap the housing element of Universal Credit.
Last reviewed 30 September 2026. General information, not legal advice.
How it works
Local Housing Allowance (LHA) sets the most rent that Universal Credit or Housing Benefit will take into account for a private tenancy: help is based on your actual rent or the LHA rate, whichever is lower. The rate depends on where the home is - its Broad Rental Market Area (BRMA) - and on how many bedrooms your household is entitled to, not on how many bedrooms the property has. Rates follow BRMA boundaries rather than postcodes, so two streets in the same town can fall under different rates.
Bedroom limits
Under Universal Credit, most single people under 35 with no children can only get the shared accommodation rate, even if they rent a self-contained home; there are some exceptions. No household can get more than the four-bedroom rate.
Finding your rate
LHA rates normally change each April, but the current rates (1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027) are, for the second year running, the same as those set for April 2024, so they do not reflect rent rises since then. In England the rates are published by the Valuation Office, which became part of HMRC on 1 April 2026 (it was previously the Valuation Office Agency); the Welsh and Scottish Governments publish the rates for Wales and Scotland. Look up the rate for your area and bedroom entitlement on LHA-Direct, by postcode or council. It covers England, Wales and Scotland but not Northern Ireland.