Housing Benefit – Claiming for a Notice Period

Claiming Housing Benefit for two homes

Under the Housing Benefit rules, you can usually only receive Housing Benefit for the home you are living in.

However, in certain circumstances you may be able to receive Housing Benefit for a period of notice, providing you meet certain criteria.

When can I claim Housing Benefit for a property after I have moved out?

When you are moving and you have to pay rent for your old home as well as your new home, you may qualify for Housing Benefit for both properties providing;

• You have had to leave your old tenancy and move into your new tenancy before your notice period ends; and
• You could not have reasonably avoided having to pay rent on both properties.

We will need to know why you had to leave the property before your notice period ended. We will also need proof from your landlord that they did not let the property to anyone else during the notice period.

We can only pay your notice period up to a maximum of four weeks. If you give your landlord more than four weeks notice, you will have to pay the rest yourself.

How can I claim Housing Benefit for a period of notice?

Payment for a period of notice is not automatically awarded. If you want us to consider paying Housing benefit for a period of notice, please download and complete this form.