Are you affected by the 'Bedroom Tax?' If so, read this!

[leclerc]

Re: Are you affected by the 'Bedroom Tax?' If so, read this!

There's a very simple solution to this part, stop having so many kids, in fact work on this, if you can't afford to house them or feed them then don't breed them, harsh I know and a lot of you will hate me for saying it, but this country is overcrowded enough and bringing more kids in whether by birth or immigration needs to stop.

Leave the pensioners and disabled alone, the majority of pensioners have paid tax all their lives and the truly disabled (we all know that there are just a few that are swinging the lead) alone, they deserve their homes and all the help they can get They are not the ones affected by the so called reduction in housing benefit but disabled people might be and they might be eligible for discretionary housing payments
Re the unemployed, well put it another way, if their just sitting there on their bums doing sod all, signing on once a week/fortnight and showing no attempts to find work, well I'll leave that for you all to decide on.

I see the thread is going somewhere I have no idea of so I'll wait for it to get back on topic before returning, lol!!!

[Eloise01]

Re: Are you affected by the 'Bedroom Tax?' If so, read this!

I see the thread is going somewhere I have no idea of so I'll wait for it to get back on topic before returning, lol!!!

Sorry, that was my fault. I got distracted by warnings about little green men - no sorry, meant to say trolls....

But if I may... isn't it true that this "tax" has been operating in relation to the private rented sector for many years, and your housing benefit was reduced by the number of spare or empty rooms you were deemed to have? It may or may not be "fair", depending on where you are sitting in the argument - and to be honest I can see arguments on both sides - but I am perplexed as to why it is suddenly now an issue because it affects social housing, when it wasn't for people in the private rented sector. Or did I somehow miss that debate?

[Inca]

Re: Are you affected by the 'Bedroom Tax?' If so, read this!

:sorry: leclerc,,yes,,lets start back...
:focus:

[leclerc]

Re: Are you affected by the 'Bedroom Tax?' If so, read this!

Sorry, that was my fault. I got distracted by warnings about little green men - no sorry, meant to say trolls....

But if I may... isn't it true that this "tax" has been operating in relation to the private rented sector for many years, and your housing benefit was reduced by the number of spare or empty rooms you were deemed to have? It may or may not be "fair", depending on where you are sitting in the argument - and to be honest I can see arguments on both sides - but I am perplexed as to why it is suddenly now an issue because it affects social housing, when it wasn't for people in the private rented sector. Or did I somehow miss that debate?

AFAIK it was based on disposable income against the amount of the rent.....and I spotted the other thread and not everyone is a troll because they might post something that may seem odd to ourselves(but that is a completely different discussion that I am not sure we need to have, lol!!!)

EDITED part of the post: https://www.gov.uk/housing-benefit/what-youll-get

The above links explained Local Housing Allowance

[Eloise01]

Re: Are you affected by the 'Bedroom Tax?' If so, read this!

AFAIK it was based on disposable income against the amount of the rent.....

No, definitely not disposable income against the amount of rent - this was somrthing I came across a few years ago, where people who had lost their employment (so I am talking former clients) and were solely getting JSA and HB were getting a deduction from their rent payments for having too many rooms. So their HB was calculated at say £400 per month, but then HB would deduct a perecentage from that for "under-occupancy" of their home. It used to catch a lot of older clients whose children may have left home or gone to university (so seni left home!) - and they had to either make up the payments themselves, or move somewhere smaller. The stupid thing was that they could move somewhere smaller that charged the same rent, and get the lot - they were penalised for under-occupancy of a home that, albeit rented, they may also have lived in for decades!

PS - Yes I am correct - this has been in place for private sector tenants for years! http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/housing-b...-factsheet.pdf

[Kafka]

Re: Are you affected by the 'Bedroom Tax?' If so, read this!

Sorry, that was my fault. I got distracted by warnings about little green men - no sorry, meant to say trolls....

But if I may... isn't it true that this "tax" has been operating in relation to the private rented sector for many years, and your housing benefit was reduced by the number of spare or empty rooms you were deemed to have? It may or may not be "fair", depending on where you are sitting in the argument - and to be honest I can see arguments on both sides - but I am perplexed as to why it is suddenly now an issue because it affects social housing, when it wasn't for people in the private rented sector. Or did I somehow miss that debate?

That is correct. There has been a discrepancy for years because people on HB have been getting subsidy for spare rooms, which those in private rented accomm have not. In other words - being blunt - those in social housing have done well out of the system for years and unsurprisingly don't want to lose that advantage over their peers in the private sector.

The attacks on the new benefit arrangement repeatedly tell us that it is unfair, penalising those most in need, making people homeless and so on, because the people affected will never be able to cope with a small reduction in their HB. Ask yourself this question:
When did you ever hear of anyone on HB in the private sector complain that they couldn't afford the rent, were being attacked and were being made homeless because they weren't being subsidised for spare rooms?

Yes there are issues of those with disabilities needing the other room etc., yes there special financial needs to be considered for exemptions (as is happening though denied by critics), yes the situation of downsizing needs to be linked to the availability of suitable smaller homes and so on. However, when you look at it objectively, its clear to me that in essence this is a campaign driven by Labour's opportunism to attack the Government.

[MissFM]

Re: Are you affected by the 'Bedroom Tax?' If so, read this!

That is correct. There has been a discrepancy for years because people on HB have been getting subsidy for spare rooms, which those in private rented accomm have not. In other words - being blunt - those in social housing have done well out of the sysytem for years and unsurprisingly don't want to lose that advantage over their peers in the private sector.

The attacks on the new benefit arrangement repeatedly tell us that it is unfair, penalising those most in need, making people homeless and so on, because the people affected will never be able to cope with a small reduction in their HB. Ask yourself this question:
When did you ever hear of anyone on HB in the private sector complain that they couldn't afford the rent, were being attacked and were being made homeless because they weren't being subsidised for spare rooms?

Yes there are issues of those with disabilities needing the other room etc., yes there special financial needs to be considered for exemptions (as is happening though denied by critics), yes the situation of downsizing needs to be linked to the availability of suitable smaller homes and so on. However, when you look at it objectively, its clear to me that in essence this is a campaign driven by Labour's opportunism to attack the Government.

I think it's partly because rent in the private sector is so much higher and HB has rates that cover the rent in proportion to the number of people living there and the size of the accommodation, whereas social housing is supposed to be affordable and secure for people who have lower incomes. Could be wrong - please correct? Isn't HB a set rate according to need and HA housing rent geared to that?

Absolutely agree that it would be a good idea to look at the problem from a non party political standpoint.

[leclerc]

Re: Are you affected by the 'Bedroom Tax?' If so, read this!

Due to a recent poster(today) I have found some interesting information out which is about the bedroom tax. Case law from Burnip v. Birmingham council last year which the DWP decided not to appeal will have an impact on the so called bedroom tax. I will link you to a site called disabled against the cuts. The circular went around in March 2013 so is very much recent and the impact of Burnip on HB is clear to see:

http://www.dpac.uk.net/2013/03/urgen...back-from-dwp/

When people are saying it will affect the disabled then they are quite wrong....

[leclerc]

Re: Are you affected by the 'Bedroom Tax?' If so, read this!

And I have found the original: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/u2-2013.pdf

[leclerc]

Re: Are you affected by the 'Bedroom Tax?' If so, read this!

There is something going round on Facebook about if your room is less than 70 feet based on the Housing Act 1985 section 326(I should add that the bit about the exact section is not on the post so spent about 10 minutes on this ).

Is that a way that some people can avoid the bedroom tax or is it just a misnoma?

[leclerc]

Re: Are you affected by the 'Bedroom Tax?' If so, read this!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-21931443

The BBC appear to have reported on Nottingham council who are following guidelines of reclassifying houses with what was called two bedrooms as 1 bedroom on the basis that the room is less than 50 square feet as per section 326 part 3.
Interesting and I wonder whether or not councils will look at the Housing Act 1985 when they are revisiting the issue of housing and spare bedrooms, ie if the bedroom is less than the requirement within the act, could a person get that room reclassified as it would not be classed as a bedroom under the act.

[Sapphire]

Re: Are you affected by the 'Bedroom Tax?' If so, read this!

This could open up a whole can of worms, because how many houses on the private market for sale are being advertised as having a third, fourth and so on bedroom when in fact it is under the said 50 square feet rule ? Wouldn't that be illegal too ?

[leclerc]

Re: Are you affected by the 'Bedroom Tax?' If so, read this!

This could open up a whole can of worms, because how many houses on the private market for sale are being advertised as having a third, fourth and so on bedroom when in fact it is under the said 50 square feet rule ? Wouldn't that be illegal too ?

Depends on the Housing Act and whether you are buying the house to rent out ie an investment or to live in because when you are buying the house you have the option to not buy the house if it is not to your liking. No buyers equals a lowering of the price for the property.

[Sapphire]

Re: Are you affected by the 'Bedroom Tax?' If so, read this!

I wasn't actually thinking of the rental market, I'm thinking about private homes, people buying and selling them and classing a room under 50 square feet as a bedroom.

[leclerc]

Re: Are you affected by the 'Bedroom Tax?' If so, read this!

I wasn't actually thinking of the rental market, I'm thinking about private homes, people buying and selling them and classing a room under 50 square feet as a bedroom.

They would not qualify for Housing Benefit but for Local Housing Allowance and that was set up with the rules that now covers Housing benefit.