What is Exempt Accommodation?

Introduction

Supported Housing is funded by central government and your Local Authority through Housing Benefit.  

The system for this funding is called ‘Exempt Accommodation’.

It is ‘exempt’ from some of the rules governing Housing Benefit, which means the total amount of the award is not ‘capped’ at Local Housing Allowance Rates (LHA).

Your residents can claim Housing Benefit under the rules for Exempt Accommodation if there is evidence that they have support needs and there is evidence you are providing them with support.

Certain conditions need to be in place before residents can claim Housing Benefit under the regulations governing Exempt Accommodation.

1. You, as the Landlord, are a registered charity, like a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), or a non profit making organisation, like a Community Interest Company (CIC) limited by guarantee.  
2. You, as the Landlord, are providing care, support or supervision to your residents beyond the level a ‘general needs’ landlord would deliver.
3. Your residents need the available support and engaging with this support is a condition of their occupation agreement.  

When this is in place the local authority, the residents can claim several eligible ‘property related’ costs when they apply for Housing Benefit. This includes the lease payable to Green Pastures which is set at the Market Level Rent payable by your local authority.  

We help you to claim these property related costs through our ‘Rent Sheet’ that generates the costs you will submit to your housing benefit department  (See Rent Sheet Completion & Communications with Housing Benefit).

So your residents can claim this type of Housing Benefit, the property where you run your Supported Housing Project needs to be recognised by your Local Authority (LA), as Specified Exempt Accommodation (SEA) Usually shortened by Local Authorities to ‘Specified Accommodation’ or more commonly, ‘Exempt Accommodation’.  

Once your Supported Housing Project, and therefore the address(es) where you run your project, have been recognised as Exempt Accommodation:

• Housing Benefit  can be paid at the higher ‘uncapped’ rate of costs submitted to the Housing Benefit Department.
• The total amount of all eligible property related costs are paid directly to you as landlord. Out of this money you pay your lease payment to Green Pastures.

Rules Governing Housing Benefit (HB)

There are four different sets of rules governing HB: the first 2 are the most common:

1. The LHA Rules (Local Housing Allowance Rules) payable for private accommodation and;  
2. The Old Rules which govern Exempt Accommodation. Registered providers can fall into this category.  
3. Excluded Accommodation (excluded from the requirement to refer to a rent officer unless the rent is ‘unreasonably’ high or larger than ‘reasonably’ required). Registered providers can fall into this category.  
4. The local Reference Rent Rules (which govern more unusual rents for, say, houseboats and caravans);

GP partners fall under category 2. GP partners provide ‘exempt accommodation’ because of the support they provide to their residents. GP is very experienced in assisting each partner in compiling the rent sheet for a property for each claim to HB. GP uses their own internal Rent Sheet template that partners populate.  

Definition of Exempt Accommodation (EA)

“Supported exempt accommodation” (often abbreviated to SEA) is an unofficial term sometimes used in connection with Housing Benefit and Universal Credit to mean either of the following:  

1. Specified accommodation, or
2. Exempt accommodation  

Because SEA is not a legally defined expression, and because different people use it to mean different things, the more precise terms “specified accommodation” and “exempt accommodation” (EA) are preferable.

EA is defined by Housing Benefit regulations as accommodation that is provided by:

1. A housing association (whether registered or unregistered)
2. A registered charity
3. A non-profit making organisation
4. In England  
5. AND where care, support or supervision (CSS) is provided by, or on behalf of the landlord.

[The dwelling will qualify for exempt accommodation but] “only if [...] that body or person acting on its behalf also provides the claimant with care, support, or supervision”. For accommodation to be EA, the CSS must be more than minimal. For instance, if a volunteer or staff member were to spend an average of ten minutes supporting each resident per week that would probably not be enough, but three hours per week per resident might be enough.

The first term “care” has its ordinary English meaning. It is when you help an elderly person into a bath, for example. “There you go Joe. Watch your step.” This is the kind of thing that is care. Secondly, “support” means providing support to enable the person to go about their daily living. And then finally, “supervision” has its ordinary English meaning. It basically just means providing a reassuring presence (like somebody in a hostel who is just there to make sure nothing gets out of hand).

Exempt Accommodation Charges

Exempt Accommodation (hereafter EA) covers property-related costs (i.e. rent and service charges). It does NOT cover support costs. Support is not eligible as a service charge cost because it is not a property related cost. However, as a landlord you have to be supporting the residents in order to qualify as EA.  

EA is in itself a type of HB and has the name because it is exempt from Housing Benefit Regulations 2006. The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is capped and the rent is restricted. This is why some people say that “exempt accommodation is uncapped”. Housing Benefit regulation 12(1) says that housing benefit can be paid to cover:

1. Rent
2. Payments of, or by way of, service charges payment of which is a condition on which the right of occupation depends

Core Rent + Eligible Services Charges = Eligible Rent for HB. Traditionally, a service charge is viewed as something over and above what a resident normally pays for occupying a home.  

The Difference Between Local Housing Authority (Capped) and EA (Uncapped)

If you are a private landlord and your property is not EA this means that your rent is capped at the level of LHA.

If you are a private landlord and your property is EA there is no capping of the rent level. LHA does not apply. Instead you fall under regulations in existence prior to 1st Jan 1996 – “old scheme rules” (see top of page 1)

Under “old scheme rules” there is no formula or capping to determine your eligible rent. A rent statement must be prepared with eligible costs related to the building. Calculations will need to be presented to justify costings. HB can only deny paying the eligible rent level you set if: the rent is unreasonably high in comparison to suitable alternative accommodation. Or in the case of the resident being a single parent, over 60 or sick (on incapacity benefit etc…) if the rent is unreasonably high in comparison to suitable alternative accommodation that is available to the individual at that time.  

If the accommodation is Exempt Accommodation (but not Excluded, i.e. because the Housing Association is not a Registered Provider), then ALL cases must be referred to the rent officer. The Rent Officer decision doesn’t restrict the rent, but the HB can do so, but they cannot reduce the rent unless: suitable cheaper alternative accommodation is available, and the authority, taking into account the relevant factors, considers that it is reasonable to expect the claimant to move from their present accommodation.  

Support Costs

Support is not eligible as a service charge because it is not a property related cost. However as outlined above, you have to be supporting the residents in order to qualify as EA.  

Housing Management Costs

Housing Management tasks are eligible because they are property related costs. There is of course a fine line between housing management and support. For example helping a resident to complete their HB claim form could be part of the landlord’s work to control rent arrears. But helping because the claimant finds completing forms difficult could tilt this into a support service. Green Pastures defines clearly between support items and housing management items in its support paperwork templates that are used by each partner.