How to increase your rent by 30%! I’m not joking…

So yes you heard me correctly I’m going to tell you how to increase your rent by 30 per cent quite legitimately by understanding...

So yes you heard me correctly I’m going to tell you how to increase your rent by 30 per cent quite legitimately by understanding housing benefits.

Around 40 percent of our rental stock is housing benefits and it’s an area we specialise in by understanding the rules and how local housing allowance is calculated.

The property below is a 2 bedroom house in Hartlepool. When we did our rental assessment we found there were lots of properties renting for around £325 pcm. You’d expect this to be the going rate – Yes?

Well no actually, in Hartlepool the 2 bedroom rate for a property is £97.81 per week or £423.84 pcm. So if a family moved in with one child they’d be entitled to a two bedroom rate or £423.84 every month – 30 percent more than the going rate!

The rules around LHA entitlement are quite complicated but it’s basically calculated on family structure with the following rules:

Number of bedrooms allowed

LHA is calculated on the basis of the number of bedrooms that you are assessed as needing. You are allowed one bedroom for:

• every adult couple (including civil partners)
• every adult aged 16 or over (including lodgers or boarders)
• any two children of the same sex under age 16
• any two children regardless of their sex under age 10
• any other child

So quite legitimately if you find the right tenant for your property you could receive more rent than the going rate! If you found this email interesting or need any help with housing benefit tenants in general let me know!