Increase application: higher housing benefit in Frankfurt

An increase application presupposes a current housing-benefit award. Typical reasons are a rent increase that has taken effect or more household members – for example a birth, a child moving in, or another countable person joining. The aim is a higher ongoing award, not an extension of the award period.

If the award is about to end anyway, the renewal application can take the new situation into account. For a first award the first application remains the right route. The overview is on the Housing benefit application page.

Housing benefit does not count the full payment burden, only the gross cold rent up to the maximum. Heating, hot water, electricity and a parking space stay outside; they enter through flat rates in the heating-cost and climate components. A higher service-charge statement is therefore not automatically a case for more housing benefit.

Only the part of the rent that lies below the maximum can raise the award. If your rent is already above it, a further increase often does not change the calculation. Then the increase application does not produce a higher payment, even if the everyday burden rises.

Frankfurt am Main is assigned to Mietenstufe VI. The maximum amounts of countable rent rise with the number of countable people. If a further household member moves in, both the maximum and the calculation formula can raise the award.

Not everyone in the dwelling is automatically a household member for WoGG purposes. In a shared flat, housemates often form their own households. A move-in raises the maximum only if the person must be counted for housing-benefit purposes.

Families and single parents also benefit from allowances that reduce countable income. The increase application should evidence the new household composition and the income of the person who has joined.

If income falls or something changes without an immediate increase effect, the duty to notify applies first. Changes of more than 15 per cent in income or rent must be reported, as must household size, a move and the start of transfer benefits.

The change application is the formal route for other changes; in Frankfurt it is often still submitted on paper. The increase application is the specialised route if you are asking for a higher award because of higher rent or more people. The two routes do not replace each other in every case.

Enclose the rent-increase notice or the addendum to the tenancy agreement, proof of the new rent payment and – if someone has moved in – identification and income evidence for the new person. The general list is under Documents. In many cases you can submit the increase application as an online application.

A higher award usually takes effect from the month in which the increase application is received, if the conditions are met in that month. A retrospective top-up for months before the application is usually ruled out. So a rent increase that has taken effect should not sit unattended for long.

The new decision notice sets the amount. If the decision is negative, refusal and an appeal are the next checks. The overall amount still depends on income and household size, not on the new rent alone.