bedroom tax

Popperwell

pickpocketlocket wrote: »

The HA will not find you a lodger, you would need to do that yourself.

Well if they say yes, perhaps that means that I will hopefully find someone that I feel safe and secure with...will have to look into it further...

JohnMac_3

pickpocketlocket wrote: »

I trust these people are also campaigning for LHA rates to be increased, so everyone is treated equally?

Afternoon, pickpocketlocket - you and yours are very well, I do hope.

Far as the FaceBook 'anti-bedroomtax group' campaigning for Local Housing Allowance' (LHA) rates to be increased goes - it doesn't appear to be doing so.

I'd be most thankful if you, or anyone else could furnish me with a link to a 'group' or a 'petition' supporting an increase in the LHA allowance. I'd be more than delighted to add my meager support.

More information on this Bedroom Tax and Social Housing can be found on this PDF...

Under-occupation of Social Housing: Housing Benefit Entitlement

Because one of the 'exempt groups is 'Pensioners, I find the lil' bit in the above document on Page7 interesting.

"Housing Benefit claims from those claimants who have reached the qualifying age for state pension credit will be unaffected by this measure at the point that the size criteria changes are introduced from 1 April 2013. Couples not affected by this change at the point of introduction will be those where either the claimant or their partner has reached the qualifying age for state pension credit"

The National Housing Federation asked for further clarification in light of changes that the Universal Credit will introduce:

From October 2013, when Universal Credit is introduced, if either member in a couple is under the qualifying age for Pension Credit then the couple will be ‘treated as working age’. This means they would be expected to claim the Universal Credit, and would therefore be subject to the size criteria.

Danny_10

Hello, im a bit concerned about this, ill keep my details simple

im 41
lived in my 2 bedroom bungalow since 1993
i get full DLA as ive been in a chair since i was 16
ive got a 14 year old daughter who stays every other night

what do they expect me to do?

move from my adapted bungalow which will cost £20,000+ to adapt a new place to my needs

where is my daughter meant to stay as she has my other room as her own and has done since she was born

with my electric/water/food/ect. bills going up many times more than the amount i get in benefits how on earth am i expected to get another £61.90 a month?

i have not got it and they cant have it, will be interesting to see them move me as the money needed to adapt a bungalow is equal to 330 months of the £61.90 (thats about 27 years worth)

will they have the sense to just leave me alone?

i dont smoke/drink/drugs

if i wanted to i am full entitled to full or part time care which would cost them £700 ish a week as i could do with help but prefer to just take ages to do stuff on my own

princessdon

I believe there are exceptions to people with disabilities - not sure whether you meet this criteria

Parva

Danny_10 wrote: »

Hello, im a bit concerned about this, ill keep my details simple

im 41
lived in my 2 bedroom bungalow since 1993
i get full DLA as ive been in a chair since i was 16
ive got a 14 year old daughter who stays every other night
what do they expect me to do?

Is your daughter declared as living with you? I'm guessing not since you are worried about the under-occupancy but her staying with you 'every other night' may well fall into the actually living with you category. I'm uncertain on the rules of what defines someone living with you but I'm sure that every other night would classify as living with you.

move from my adapted bungalow which will cost £20,000+ to adapt a new place to my needs

Around £7500 with a council grant to install my stairlift and wetroom.

where is my daughter meant to stay as she has my other room as her own and has done since she was born

She lives with you or she doesn't, there isn't really much room on this issue.

i have not got it and they cant have it, will be interesting to see them move me as the money needed to adapt a bungalow is equal to 330 months of the £61.90 (thats about 27 years worth)

I fear that your maths are wrong.

will they have the sense to just leave me alone?

Not whilst you fail to define whether your daughter actually does or does not live with you.

i dont smoke/drink/drugs

if i wanted to i am full entitled to full or part time care which would cost them £700 ish a week as i could do with help but prefer to just take ages to do stuff on my own

Translated = my daughter lives with me but I don't declare her as living here in order that I can claim benefits for being a single household occupier. All of a sudden I am going to have to pay for the 2nd bedroom that is empty as my daughter only stays there every other night. Is that right?

Dunroamin

Danny_10 wrote: »

Hello, im a bit concerned about this, ill keep my details simple

im 41
lived in my 2 bedroom bungalow since 1993
i get full DLA as ive been in a chair since i was 16
ive got a 14 year old daughter who stays every other night

what do they expect me to do?

move from my adapted bungalow which will cost £20,000+ to adapt a new place to my needs

where is my daughter meant to stay as she has my other room as her own and has done since she was born

with my electric/water/food/ect. bills going up many times more than the amount i get in benefits how on earth am i expected to get another £61.90 a month?

i have not got it and they cant have it, will be interesting to see them move me as the money needed to adapt a bungalow is equal to 330 months of the £61.90 (thats about 27 years worth)

will they have the sense to just leave me alone?

i dont smoke/drink/drugs

if i wanted to i am full entitled to full or part time care which would cost them £700 ish a week as i could do with help but prefer to just take ages to do stuff on my own

I would think that the simplest answer is for your daughter to live with you and stay with her mother every other night, thus meaning that you have a right to a claim HB for a property with two bedrooms. If she splits her time between you and your ex then it's up to the pair of you who claims residence for her.

BigAunty

Dunroamin wrote: »

I would think that the simplest answer is for your daughter to live with you and stay with her mother every other night, thus meaning that you have a right to a claim HB for a property with two bedrooms. If she splits her time between you and your ex then it's up to the pair of you who claims residence for her.

It's a great simple option but one that's not feasible if the ex is also living in social housing and claiming HB, for example. I think there could be some tugs of war going on next April with parents trying to encourage their children to move properties!

BigAunty

Danny_10 wrote: »

...

im 41
lived in my 2 bedroom bungalow since 1993
i get full DLA as ive been in a chair since i was 16
ive got a 14 year old daughter who stays every other night

what do they expect me to do?

move from my adapted bungalow which will cost £20,000+ to adapt a new place to my needs

...

Do check with your social housing landlord or a disability rights organisation for the full position on this. You may find your care requirements or level of DLA may protect you from the change. Contact your MP to protest if you do not fall within the exempt category.

AFAIK, the only exemption for those of working age to have an occupied second bedroom without the reduction are those with disabilities with overnight care needs whose carer resides elsewhere.

So everything else that you have detailed is not relevant to the exemption so you must focus on whether you meet the condition of having non-resident carer who comes into give you support at night.

If not, you need to identify what the shortfall in HB will be (14% for one spare bedroom I believe) and whether you can meet it out of your ESA, IS, DLA or whatever current benefits you have. Make sure you double check your benefit entitlements to see if you are missing anything. EDIT - you've stated that this works out at £14 a week and while I'm sure you live an ultra frugal life because of the subsistence nature of benefits, do download the MSE budget planner and work through the site to see if you can identify any extra thrifty changes to free up £2 a day.

I'm not going to pry about your condition but many in receipt of DLA are in employment, though of course, many are too sick to work - is employment an option for you because there are various organisations that specialise and help those with disabilities into employment?

I also believe that many energy and water companies have tariffs for those with disabilities - does yours? Ask on the Disability and Dosh board or check your suppliers websites.

Rather than worry about it between now and April, I suggest you contact your social housing landlord and local council now for clarification - many of them have drawn up their policies about this and have started to inform tenants of their position and options.

Dunroamin

BigAunty wrote: »

It's a great simple option but one that's not feasible if the ex is also living in social housing and claiming HB, for example. I think there could be some tugs of war going on next April with parents trying to encourage their children to move properties!

I agree that it could be more complicated but it's always going to be feasible. You cannot have both parents receiving state money for housing the same child. (I know you know this.:))

BigAunty

Dunroamin wrote: »

I agree that it could be more complicated but it's always going to be feasible. You cannot have both parents receiving state money for housing the same child. (I know you know this.:))

Well, if both estranged parents are in social housing or their kid is an adult and has their own social housing place, then currently they can have any of them shuttling back and forth without any impact on any of their housing benefit because they can have as many spare rooms as they like and get full HB so I suppose that's what I meant.

This contrasts with private tenants in a relationship breakdown where only one parent gets the bedroom rate for a child according to LHA. A parent under the age of 35 in private accommodation without primary care of the child only gets a shared accommodation rate so isnt generally able to afford their own place, let alone a spare room for their kid to stay over.

Again, in the private sector, only tenants with severe disabilities requiring overnight care from someone who lives elsewhere can have a second room - I guess these rules are creating parity with the private sector where the tenant can live in any size property they wish but tend to get penalised by having to pay the extra rent above the LHA size criteria themselves.