GOV.UK published the April 2026 Local Reference Rent table on 1 May 2026. If you have a single tenant on housing benefit, this document sets the ceiling on what the government will count when calculating their support.
What the LRR Table Is and Why It Matters
The LRR (Local Reference Rent) is the weekly figure the government uses to cap housing benefit for private tenants in the deregulated sector. Each figure is set per BRMA (Broad Rental Market Area) - a geographic zone that groups together areas where renters could reasonably be expected to live and work. England has over 170 BRMAs. Every one has its own LRR, broken down by property size from shared accommodation up to four or more bedrooms.
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) collects the underlying rent data from letting agents, landlords, and tenants. Rent officers then calculate the 30th percentile of rents within each BRMA - meaning 30% of recorded rentals sit at or below the LRR figure. That percentile figure then sets the LHA (Local Housing Allowance) rate, which is the amount a tenant on housing benefit or Universal Credit can receive toward their rent.
For 2026/27, the legal basis for these figures is The Rent Officers (Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Functions) (Modification) Order 2026 (SI 2026/5). Under that order, the April 2026 LRR rates carry forward the same figures that came into force on 1 April 2024, according to GOV.UK. The rental market data underpinning them was collated between 1 October 2022 and 30 September 2023.
The Freeze in Numbers
The freeze affects approximately 1.7 million private rented households receiving housing cost support, according to the NRLA. As of August 2025, 53% of those households already faced a gap between their LHA payment and their actual rent, according to the same source.
Take the Bolton and Bury BRMA as a concrete example. April 2026 weekly LHA rates there are: shared accommodation £78.59, one bedroom £109.32, two bedrooms £132.33, three bedrooms £161.10, four bedrooms £218.63, according to Bolton Council. Those figures are unchanged from April 2024.
UK Finance has warned that thousands of buy-to-let landlords are now in mortgage arrears specifically because housing benefit fails to cover private rents, according to LandlordZONE.
What Landlords With Benefit Tenants Need to Check
The April 2026 LRR table is the definitive reference for any tenancy where housing benefit or Universal Credit covers part of the rent. If your asking rent exceeds the LRR for your BRMA and property size, the tenant must cover the shortfall directly. The benefit payment does not stretch further.
The full table, broken down by BRMA and number of rooms, is published as an OpenDocument spreadsheet on GOV.UK. You may wish to download it, locate your BRMA, and compare your rent to the LRR ceiling. This is especially relevant at rent review or when re-letting.
There is no government commitment to uprate LRR figures annually. Any change to the freeze would require a new statutory instrument.
