Bedroom Tax

pipkin71

Dunroamin wrote: »

Does it actually say 3 bed on the tenancy agreement?

:eek:

We have three bedrooms, separate dining and kitchen but the tenancy agreement states three bedrooms.

The OP does need to check what the property is classed as, to see if they are including the dining room as a bedroom.

pipkin71

luckboby wrote: »

It says on the tenancy agreement 3 bedrooms

Question answered already.

Yes, then, the council are right to apply the charges as your mother signed the tenancy based on it being three bedrooms.

pipkin71

nannytone wrote: »

usually you get to the dining room from the hallway or through the kitchen into the dining room.
never seen a house where you have to go through the dining room to get to the kitchen

In many terraced houses round here, you have to go through the livingroom to access the dining room, the stairs and the kitchen.

So yes, it is possible that you have to do this.

bestpud

Is the dining room completely self-contained, OP?

Dining rooms are counted when deciding if there is overcrowding but wouldn't normally be counted as a bedroom in general.

I'm guessing it is the downstairs bathroom that makes the difference in your house...? Have you asked how they decided it is a 3 bed?

seven-day-weekend

bestpud wrote: »

Is the dining room completely self-contained, OP?

Dining rooms are counted when deciding if there is overcrowding but wouldn't normally be counted as a bedroom in general.

I'm guessing it is the downstairs bathroom that makes the difference in your house...? Have you asked how they decided it is a 3 bed?

What difference does a downstairs bathroom make?

butler_helen

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

What difference does a downstairs bathroom make?

We also have one of those :rotfl:

It's a massive pain the bum when you need the loo in the night - I might move my bedroom to the living room

bestpud

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

What difference does a downstairs bathroom make?

None at all, but it is unusual for a room downstairs to be called a bedroom in that way.

I'm pretty sure it would be a 2 bed house with a dining room were it not for the bathroom being downstairs.

I can honestly say I've never looked at a social or private rent, or indeed a house for sale, that has a dining room added to the bedroom count. They would be a 2 bed with self contained dining room/potential third bedroom, or words to that effect.

A downstairs bathroom is only really found in cottages around here though and I do think that is what makes the difference.

Is it different in your area?

seven-day-weekend

butler_helen wrote: »

We also have one of those :rotfl:

It's a massive pain the bum when you need the loo in the night - I might move my bedroom to the living room

We do too....and a dining room that you have to go through to get to everywhere else in the house....but the front sitting room could accommodate a lodger if necessary and the dining room could become a sitting room.

In fact, when we first moved back from Spain, we had the front sitting room as our bedroom (sofa bed), until our son bought an flat and moved into it with his girlfriend and the lodger went back to his parents'.

People who say it can't be done (unless of course they have a disability) are just making excuses half the time.

bestpud

butler_helen wrote: »

We also have one of those :rotfl:

It's a massive pain the bum when you need the loo in the night - I might move my bedroom to the living room

I thought that!

seven-day-weekend

bestpud wrote: »

None at all, but it is unusual for a room downstairs to be called a bedroom in that way.

I'm pretty sure it would be a 2 bed house with a dining room were it not for the bathroom being downstairs.

I can honestly say I've never looked at a social or private rent, or indeed a house for sale, that has a dining room added to the bedroom count. They would be a 2 bed with self contained dining room/potential third bedroom, or words to that effect.

A downstairs bathroom is only really found in cottages around here though and I do think that is what makes the difference.

Is it different in your area?

We have a terraced house with a downstairs bathroom and as I have explained to butler helen, you have to go through the dining room to get to everywhere else in the house, but this room could become a sitting room and the existing sitting room used as a bedroom if necessary, and we have actually done this for a while.