start of content

Housing Benefits

Housing Benefit is a Government scheme designed to help people pay their rent.

For general advice and guidance about Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit visit the National Benefits Leaflets website.

Community legal advice

For free confidential and independent legal advice for residents in England and Wales visit www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk

Customer satisfaction survey

Please complete our customer satisfaction survey form if you have recently received a service from Housing and Council Tax Benefit.

How do I claim Housing Benefit?

You can claim Housing Benefit if you:

  • Live in the UK
  • Pay rent for your home
  • Have a low income

If you want to make a claim, download and complete the form to claim Housing and Council Tax Benefits (PDF: 487Kb) then print, complete and send it to us to the address below.

How can I get advice about Housing Benefit?

We offer Housing Benefit advice through surgeries (Word: 316Kb) held in local community centres and on the Coventry Direct Express

How much Housing Benefit will I receive?

If you rent a housing association property then your benefit will be based on the amount of rent you pay.

If you rent your property from a private landlord then the amount of benefit we can pay you will depend on the housing needs of yourself and your family. This is known as Local Housing Allowance, which is a new form of Housing Benefit for private tenants.

My circumstances / address has changed. How do I update my details?

If you are already receiving Housing/Council Tax Benefit and your circumstances change or you change your address then you need to inform us straight away.

If your circumstances have changed or you have moved, download and complete the attached forms and print, complete and send it to us to the address below.

I would like to report a change. How do I do it?

If you would like to report a change or have a declaration that you would like to make in writing you can download, completed the attached statement (Word: 26Kb) and email it to us at benefits@coventry.gov.uk. Alternately you can print, complete and send it to us to the address below.

For more information regarding questions that you might have, see our Housing Benefit FAQs section.

Request for forms relating to housing or council tax benefits

If you would like us to send you a form relating to any area of housing or council tax benefits, complete an online form request here. You will also be given the option to download the forms yourself.

Contact details

Benefits Service
Spire House
New Union Street
Coventry, CV1 2PW
Telephone: 024 7683 1800
E-mail: benefits@coventry.gov.uk

Downloadable documents

Get Adobe AcrobatAbout PDFs and Accessibility