bedroom tax

moneybags_3

does the bedroom tax apply to people renting in the private sector?:(

notanewuser

moneybags wrote: »

does the bedroom tax apply to people renting in the private sector?:(

No, no and again for luck, no.

Not to mention that its not a tax!!!!

Dunroamin

It isn't a tax but no it doesn't.

gayleanne

In a way it does, if you are only entitled to a 1 bedroom property that is the amount you will be paid, if you decide to get a 2/3/4/ bedroom. You have to pay the excess rent, if it is more than the rate you are entitled to, this has been happening for years in the private sector.

Heycock

We've had the same in the private sector since 2008 via LHA but the BBC refuses to mention it. Probably because it was brought in by Labour. Plus, we don't have the security of tenure they have in social housing. Plus in my neck of the woods you can get a top spec 3 bed house on one of the decent social housing estates at a lower rent than the cheapest one bed flat in the private sector.
They're backtracking for some categories on the social housing benefit
but if they're planning to do the same for private renters i must have missed it.

mazza111

Heycock wrote: »

We've had the same in the private sector since 2008 via LHA but the BBC refuses to mention it. Probably because it was brought in by Labour. Plus, we don't have the security of tenure they have in social housing. Plus in my neck of the woods you can get a top spec 3 bed house on one of the decent social housing estates at a lower rent than the cheapest one bed flat in the private sector.
They're backtracking for some categories on the social housing benefit
but if they're planning to do the same for private renters i must have missed it.

I'm in the opposite scale to you. I could rent a private 3 bedroom property here for just under the 2 bed LHA rate. They aren't back tracking, they added a couple of lower catagories like fostering and serving soldiers to make it look like they are listening. And no, haven't seen any plans to make it in the private sector too The problem is, generally, private rents are too expensive. Hence why they brought this in.

In my town there is no where for couples to rent other than 2 bedrooms, there just aren't enough one bedroom properties around.

princessdon

mazza111 wrote: »

I'm in the opposite scale to you. I could rent a private 3 bedroom property here for just under the 2 bed LHA rate. They aren't back tracking, they added a couple of lower catagories like fostering and serving soldiers to make it look like they are listening. And no, haven't seen any plans to make it in the private sector too The problem is, generally, private rents are too expensive. Hence why they brought this in.

In my town there is no where for couples to rent other than 2 bedrooms, there just aren't enough one bedroom properties around.

Which is why the shared room rate should have applied, then they'd have to share the 2 beds.

Dunroamin

mazza111 wrote: »

I'm in the opposite scale to you. I could rent a private 3 bedroom property here for just under the 2 bed LHA rate. They aren't back tracking, they added a couple of lower catagories like fostering and serving soldiers to make it look like they are listening. And no, haven't seen any plans to make it in the private sector too The problem is, generally, private rents are too expensive. Hence why they brought this in.

In my town there is no where for couples to rent other than 2 bedrooms, there just aren't enough one bedroom properties around.

I don't see the connection between private rents being too high and the cut in benefits for those living in social housing.

mazza111

Dunroamin wrote: »

I don't see the connection between private rents being too high and the cut in benefits for those living in social housing.

I should have been clearer, why they brought LHA in in the first place.

PD? Shared rate for couples? I never mentioned age.

nannytone_2

princessdon wrote: »

Which is why the shared room rate should have applied, then they'd have to share the 2 beds.

there is no 'shared room' rate. it is shared accomodation rate.

isnt it annoying to have it pointed out when we all know you mean shared accomodation rate?
just as annoying as it is when people say ' it isnt a tax'!
we know that, but we also know what the term applies to.

BigAunty

moneybags wrote: »

does the bedroom tax apply to people renting in the private sector?:(

Private tenants have never got housing benefit for properties that are larger than their needs. This is one of the motivations behind the removal of the HB subsidy for unoccupied rooms in the social housing sector.

Private tenants get £x Local Housing Allowance for £x bedrooms according to their family size for the area and it's up to them to find a property they can afford.

They can live in any type/size/cost of property they like but simply have to make their money stretch - if the rent is higher than their LHA, they have to pay the top up out of their other income themselves.

In theory, this may mean that they can find a property bigger than their set LHA rate and move into a 2 bedroom rather than 1 bedroom property.

In practice, as LHA is calculated on the 30th percentile of local market rents (i.e. the cheapest third of properties) and as many landlords won't accept claimants, plus many set their rents at least at the LHA rate for the size, I would think that a lot of private tenants have to pay a top-up between the rent and the LHA they get out of their employment or other benefits.

It's been one of the quirks of social housing that a tenant can have 1, 2, 3, 4 empty rooms without penalty and that if they qualify for full HB and their social housing landlord increases the rent, their HB automatically increases, too. This is probably one reason why there are at least 660,000 properties in the social sector, more than 40% of working age tenants have a spare room that is not occupied whereas in the private sector, I imagine there is a much tinier number which the occupants may be funding themselves.

It doesn't work this way in the private sector - if the landlord raises the rent outside of the LHA annual review (which may not increase it anyway), they must pay the difference themselves. Also, a lot of recent LHA changes have in fact shrunk their HB while their rent has increased upwards while they are still in the tenancy. For example, there have been caps introduced and rents used to be set at the 50th percentile (average cost of local property) which has been shrunk.