The National Residential Landlords Association wants the government to commit to annual uprating of the Local Housing Allowance.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in his Autumn Statement that LHA would be unfrozen and increased to the lower 30 per cent of rents nationwide from April 2024 onwards – the move will cost the government an estimated £1.25 billion next year.

The NRLA, Propertymark and tenant campaigners have been making this case for some years. The LHA has been frozen since 2020, based on rents in 2018-19, while private rents have risen rapidly since that time to their highest recorded levels.

Hunt said in his statement that: “Because rent can constitute half the living costs of private renters on the lowest incomes, I have listened to colleagues and many organisations, who say unfreezing the LHA was an urgent priority. I will therefore increase the LHA to the 30th percentile of local market rates – this will give 1.6 million households £800 of extra support next year.”

Responding to the news NRLA chief executive Ben Beadle says: “Freezing housing benefit rates was always a disastrous policy, hitting as it did many of the most vulnerable tenants across the private rented sector. 

“Taking steps to reverse this change will provide vital support for tenants who are in receipt of the LHA, making it easier for them to access and sustain rental tenancies. More generally, this will go a long way towards tackling homelessness across the UK.

“All parties now need to commit to ensuring housing benefits are uprated each year so that they continue to be linked to market rents.”