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1. What is Housing Benefits?
   HB helps people pay their rent.  It run by the local authorities, you should get touch with your local council to apply for it.
2. Who can / cannot get Housing Benefits?
   There is not age limit for applying HB, but the you must be liable to pay rent on your normal home, no matter you rent from your council or from private landlord.
   If you aged under 60, and have more than £16,000, then you are excluded. Aged over 60 have different rules about capital.
   Full-time students could not get HB
3. What is rent?
   Actually, you can get HB towards almost any kind of rent, whether you pay it to your council, or a private individual. The assessment team will see whether you have “genuine” tenancy agreement. However, if your rent cover some of the bills or service charge, then you might not get the whole amount. See below
4. Why housing benefit may not cover all your rent?
   • Your rent includes service charges or other things that must be deducted in the calculation of HB.
   • Your have one or more non-dependant(s) in your home and a deduction must be made because of this.
   • Your HB is restricted, e.g. the Local Housing Allowance or maximum rent applies.
   • The level of your income means you do not qualify for the whole of your rent to be met.
5. How your housing benefit is paid?
   It will be paid into your bank account usually if you rent privately. You can ask your HB to be paid directly to your landlord. Some council will pay HB fortnightly, some will pay weekly, it had been a issue for low income group tenants as the HB is not paid as same period as the rent goes out.
6. What is Local Housing Allowance?
   If you have moved or started to claim HB from 07-Apr-2008, your maximum rent will be set at a standard rate, it called Local Housing Allowance. It will based on bedroom calculator to see how many bedrooms you require, then the approciate LHA band will apply. It will be the maximum rent your local authority will pay your the housing benefit. If your rent is less then the LHA, you might be awarded up to £15 on top of your rent.
7. What about I am moving home?
   When you move from one rented home to another, you can get HB on both homes for up to four weeks if you have moved into the new home but your council agrees you could not reasonably have avoided liability for rent on both the new and the old home.
8. What is the non-dependants deduction?
   Deductions are made from your HB if you have one or more non-dependants, even if your are on income based benefits. Because the law assumes they will contribute towards your rent, whether or not they are actully do. A deduction cannot be cannot be cancelled on the grounds that your non-dependant pays your nothing.
9. Who is a non-dependant?
   A non-dependant is someone who normally lives in your home on a non-commercial basis – usually an adult son, daughter, friend or relative.
10. Where can I found some more information?
    Certainly, you can get more about HB from DirectGov website.

All information above is about general rules of HB. You should see special Advice agencies e.g. Citizens Advice Bureau for more information.