Housing Benefit
In October 2002 the Government announced the introduction of the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) to replace existing Housing Benefit rent restrictions for private tenants. Local Housing Allowance uses the same regulations as the existing scheme. LHA is means tested and tapered in exactly the same way as Housing Benefit - however, the "eligible rent" is fixed for a household of a given size in a given region. This region will include many towns. Housing Benefit is not normally restricted below the advertised LHA rate; up until 2009 a tenant moving into accommodation cheaper than the LHA rate was allowed to keep the difference, after 2009 this was limited to a maximum of £15.