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

Housing_Benefit_Officer

tiggernik wrote: »

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?

If he signed a tenancy for a two bedroom property and pays the rent for a two bedroom property then it is a two bedroom property irrespective of the size of the rooms.

tiggernik

Thank you all for your replies. Will get him to look at his tenancy agreement before he does anything else.

Dogger69

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

If he signed a tenancy for a two bedroom property and pays the rent for a two bedroom property then it is a two bedroom property irrespective of the size of the rooms.

That is up to the LA to determine, not all are following that criteria.

lighting_up_the_chalice

Dogger69 wrote: »

That is up to the LA to determine, not all are following that criteria.

They are. They have no choice in the matter.

squinty

kellandj wrote: »

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...................

Remarkable - you are aware of this rumour and you use exaclty the same words as the National Housing Federation who had also become aware of the same rumour.

http://www.housing.org.uk/policy/policy-news/social-housing-size-criteria-and-statutory-overcrowding

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Dogger69 wrote: »

That is up to the LA to determine, not all are following that criteria.

Social landlords usually set their rents into bands - for example £70 for 1 bedroom, £80 for 2 bedroom, £90 for 3 bedroom etc.

If a social landlord turns around to a council as says Joe Blog living in a 2 bedroom property is actually only living in a 1 bedroom property because they have redefined the 2nd bedroom as a boxroom - then the council will ask why are you charging him the band for a 2 bedroom property instead of a 1 bedroom? Every social landlord I have dealt with who now claims their properties now have fewer bedrooms than they previously claimed to have - have had to lower their rents to the lower banding - so at the end of the day the Government still wins because they have lowered the Housing Benefit bill - but the social landlord loses because they have less money to invest in building new properties.

Where the landlord is the local Council then they know how many bedrooms the property has - and if the tenant appeals they can pull out the original plans for the property.

Poppy_Jane_Parka

bloolagoon wrote: »

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.

ooh the 'hot press' that made me chortle!! my husband's English- me Scottish- the confusion that ensued the first time I told him I'd put the towels in the hot press!! :rotfl:

iluvmarmite

If it states 2-3 bedrooms on your tenancy agreement then that's how many bedrooms you have, no matter what size one of them is. BUT there are some tenants going through legal stuff at the moment because the government/DWP have stated that a way to make up your benefit reduction is to take in a lodger, now the rent officer has stated that a bedroom has to be a certain size before it can be rented out to a lodger, if a SH bedroom is smaller than the regulations state then they cannot take in a lodger to help out, some have used this clause to get DHP or have appealed and been given exemption because they cannot do what is suggested to help out, through no fault of their own.

MissMoneypenny

iluvmarmite wrote: »

, now the rent officer has stated that a bedroom has to be a certain size before it can be rented out to a lodger, if a SH bedroom is smaller than the regulations state then they cannot take in a lodger to help out, some have used this clause to get DHP or have appealed and been given exemption because they cannot do what is suggested to help out, through no fault of their own.

They can do what what is suggested. They could take the smaller room themselves and give the lodger one of the bigger bedrooms. Rent officer happy; lodger happy and tenant won't have to get a benefit reduction (although the tenant might not be happy if they were trying to get around the new rules).

neverdespairgirl

tiggernik wrote: »

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?

The square root of 43 is over 6 feet, so I don't see why a room that size can't have a single bed in it?