Some pensioners will be affected by the 'bedroom tax'

richard9991

where i live the council have more 2 bed flats than 1 bed so the council have housed many single people in 2 bedroom dont think it will be fair to charge these people when it was the council who housed them there in the first place

Morlock

SandraScarlett wrote: »

It isn't a bedroom tax. It is a reduction of benefits for those in Social Housing (council) who have more rooms than they occupy. This already applies for private rented accommodation.

No it doesn't, there is no reduction in housing benefit for private tenants who have a 'spare' room if the LHA covers the rental cost of a larger property than is deemed necessary.

C_Mababejive

Morlock wrote: »

And that person will continue to live alone in a three bedroom property as pensioners are not affected, neither are tenants who do not claim housing benefit, so those properties will remain under-occupied.

But said person has already received a letter about it..?

cockaleekee

Morlock wrote: »

No it doesn't, there is no reduction in housing benefit for private tenants who have a 'spare' room if the LHA covers the rental cost of a larger property than is deemed necessary.

The LHA rate was cut to the 30th percentile in 2011. Very few even receive sufficient LHA to cover the rent in a property of their allocated size, let alone larger!

Of course, if those in social housing think they will be better off on LHA, they do have the option to move to private housing.

Dunroamin

Viberduo wrote: »

Maybe but it is a box room in fact all rooms in house are box rooms, if say you put a double bed side by side with a single bed that would take up about 90% of the room as you would have 2-3 feet space at bottom of bed if that and each bed would touch 2 walls

They have cheap rent anyway of about £55 a week so its not as if they are in a posh area with a massive empty house

Just as well most people don't furnish a bedroom like that then!

seven-day-weekend

margaretclare wrote: »

I have not understood at all about bedroom tax. I wish someone would explain it to me in words of one syllable. I caught the tail-end of a heated discussion about this on the radio this morning, and I still don't understand it.

We don't qualify for pension credit and are owner-occupiers. I suppose we don't need 2 bedrooms, but the second bedroom is where we have our desks and our computers. Are we meant to be paying tax on this room because we don't use it for sleeping?

The so-called 'bedroom tax' is not a tax at all, but a reduction in Housing Benefit for social housing tenants who claim it who have one or more bedrooms than they need.

They will have to pay a proportion of their rent themselves or downsize.

It will not affect owner-occupiers, or renters in the private sector (who have been subjected to it for years). The idea is to bring Housing Benefit payments in the public sector in line with private sector.

It will not affect those over retirement age.

Hope this helps.

Morlock

cockaleekee wrote: »

The LHA rate was cut to the 30th percentile in 2011. Very few even receive sufficient LHA to cover the rent in a property of their allocated size, let alone larger!

How many LHA claimants have to top up their rent, and what is the average amount?

cockaleekee wrote: »

Of course, if those in social housing think they will be better off on LHA, they do have the option to move to private housing.

Thereby increasing the housing benefit bill, when Cameron claims bedroom tax is necessary to reduce it. A similar problem is now manifesting after the introduction of housing benefit caps, the housing benefit bill is rising in areas as tenants become homeless.

"Some bills come to £12,000 per family per month."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21372220

seven-day-weekend

I agree with it. I don't see why the Government should pay for someone to have a spare bedroom.

Let the spareroom to a young friend or relative, have rent off them and pay the extra rent out of that.

nannytone_2

i also agree with it in principle. but the one bedroomed properties just dont exist in the necessary numbers.

was an article in the local paper yesterday ...

theyre building 56 new properties.
30 2 bed and 26 3 bed.
so they still have no intention af addressing the problem.

there is a glut of 2 befroomed houses here, people can expect to be housed within 2 months of applying.
the government must be rubbing their hands in joy at the thought of all the 14%'s coming their way!

Morlock

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I agree with it. I don't see why the Government should pay for someone to have a spare bedroom.

Should the government pay more for someone to live in another property just because it has one less room?