Bedroom a boxroom. Am I owed money? Will I pay bedroom tax?

Dunroamin

suki1964 wrote: »

Airing cupboard

Place where the hot tank is

Thanks, I haven't heard the expression before.

suki1964

LisaLou1982 wrote: »

Apologies - it also has to have a window to be classed as a bedroom

(i also didnt know what a hot press was! - around here it would be an iron and i was pretty sure you didnt have an iron that was as big as a double bed!)

ive a window in it as well

Dunroamin

suki1964 wrote: »

ive a window in it as well

Leaving aside the question of benefits, If I had a room which had a window and could take a double bed I'd call it a bedroom and not an airing cupboard, regardless of whether there was a hot water cylinder in there or not.:)

suki1964

Dunroamin wrote: »

Leaving aside the question of benefits, If I had a room which had a window and could take a double bed I'd call it a bedroom and not an airing cupboard, regardless of whether there was a hot water cylinder in there or not.:)

Turned it into my office, Ive enough bedrooms

bloolagoon

Oh this brought back memories. Do you live in Scotland?

Never heard it called that other than my Aunt in Law who was from Aberdeen.

kellandj

LeoFunk wrote: »

I hope someone can help me with answers to 2 questions. I have been living with my family in a council home for over 5 years. I am employed and have been paying rent for what is labelled as a 3 bedroom house, and, paying 3 times as much as some tenants that live in 2 bedroom properties. My issue is that the 3rd 'bedroom' is a box room measuring 45 square feet and can barely accommodate a small single bed (on the same wall as the window, so blocking the small radiator too).
So, as the authorities want more and more money off me, is there not any chance I am owed money for an incorrectly estimated rent for so many years? Also, am I safe from spare room 'bedroom' tax, if I lose my job and need to claim benefits? The thought of moving home would devastate us.

Find out how bedroom sizes relate to the size criteria and statutory overcrowding.


I am aware of a rumour circulating on facebook and elsewhere that bedrooms under 70 sq ft should not be counted for the purposes of the social housing size criteria for claimants of Universal Credit and Housing Benefit. This rumour is incorrect. It appears to be based on a misreading of the space standards set out in the Housing Act 1985 for the purpose of defining statutory overcrowding.
The UC/HB social housing size criteria depend on the number of bedrooms in the property, and for this purpose a room is either a bedroom or it is not. There is no such thing as a half-bedroom, or a bedroom deemed suitable for occupancy by one person but not two. In principle, the size criteria regard any room designated as a bedroom as being capable of accommodating a couple or two children (unless the children are of different sexes and one of them is over 10).
It has been suggested that requiring two persons to occupy a small bedroom might amount to statutory overcrowding under Part 10 of the Housing Act 1985. Section 326 of the 1985 Act requires that a room to be occupied by two persons should be at least 110 sq ft in area (10.22 sq m), but for this purpose children under ten count only as “half persons” and babies under the age of one are disregarded. The corresponding minimum sizes for 1.5 persons, 1 person, and 0.5 persons are respectively 90, 70, and 50 sq ft (8.36, 6.50, 4.65 sq m), room sizes that are fairly small by ordinary standards.
The room sizes in s326 of the 1985 Act are for the purpose of deciding whether the statutory space standard is met, for which purpose s326(2)(b) of the Act specifically states that “a room is available as sleeping accommodation if it is of a type normally used in the locality either as a living room or as a bedroom”.
The fact that the Act counts living rooms, not just bedrooms, as available for sleeping means that it is almost inconceivable that any social housing could be so fully occupied that the 1985 Act is breached, since even if a designated bedroom is smaller than the 1985 Act lays down, the Act contemplates that the occupant(s) could sleep in the living room instead.
There may sometimes be a legitimate question about whether a particular room should properly be designated as a bedroom, but this is a matter for landlords to determine.

tiggernik

Hi, sorry to ask but I am totally confused!!
My friend has a room 43sq ft which he CANNOT fit a single bed in....the council say it is a bedroom and as he recently lost his job he has to pay the 14% bedroom tax for it!!
Surely this is wrong if he cannot even fit a bed in the room?

lukieboy96

If you have a tenancy agreement and it says 2 bedroomed and you signed it, then i don't think you can do anything.

midnight_express

There is no such thing as bedroom tax. A BENEFIT cut is not a tax.

Dogger69

lukieboy96 wrote: »

If you have a tenancy agreement and it says 2 bedroomed and you signed it, then i don't think you can do anything.

That's wrong - the LA can choose to use a different criteria should they wish to. For instance, some are (quite rightly) counting self contained dining rooms.

tiggernik, the first thing your friend needs to do is determine what criteria their LA is using to determine how many bedrooms he has. He will then have two possible arguments for appeal, either that the criteria used is not reasonable or rational (this has to be *very* unreasonable, not just a bit unfair), or that they have misapplied the criteria. The latter would be far easier to argue than the former.