How the number of bedrooms you have affects your benefit

If you rent from a housing association

If your household has more bedrooms than the law says you need, these are classed as 'spare bedrooms', even if people use them. Your Housing Benefit will be reduced by:

• 14% of your rent if you have one spare bedroom
• 25% of your rent if you have more than one spare room

If you rent privately

In most cases, if you rent privately, your Housing Benefit is worked out using the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates.

Again, you will only be paid for the number of bedrooms the law says you need for your household, rather than how many you have. You can use the Local Housing Allowance: bedroom calculator to work out the LHA rate that applies to your household.

Find out about LHA rates at Claim Housing Benefit when you rent privately.