Eligible rent for housing benefit

We cannot always treat the whole of a tenant's rent as eligible for benefit:

• Housing benefit cannot cover certain service charges, for example charges for fuel and water.
• If a landlord does not identify relevant charges, we may still make a deduction from the tenant's benefit if we think it is part of the rent. For example, we will do this for fuel charges if tenants do not have their own gas or electricity bills.
• For most claims from private tenants, the Rent Service decides the maximum rent we can use for housing benefit. Sometimes the maximum rent is less than the rent being charges by the landlord.
• Prospective tenants can find out what their maximum housing benefit will be by asking for a pre-tenancy determination. The Rent Service will then tell the tenant and the landlord what the maximum rent will be before they commit to a tenancy.