This so called Bedroom Tax

claire2k

I was just sat here wondering how it is allowed that a council who allocated me a 3 bedroomed house 25 years ago when there was just me, my husband and one child can now start to charge for an extra room. I dont claim benefits because we both work full time and pay full rent but this Bedroom Tax does really bug me and i do worry that as we both get older and perhaps have to claim benefits are we going to have to move from what has been our family home for so long. The council gave me the house in the first place with just 1 child, it was technically too big for us then so how can they decide in the future it is too big. :mad:
xx

McKneff

If you are not claiming benefits, it will not affect you. It only affects people who claim housing benefit.

It isn't a tax, its a reduction of benefit. Save as much as you can towards your old age so that you don't have to claim benefits.

You could always put in for an exchange to a smaller property, or think about buying the house you are in,

I bet you were grateful at the time to have such a lovely 3 bedroom house.

claire2k

Yes i know it will not affect me now but it may in the future and it is wrong

sulkisu

claire2k wrote: »

I was just sat here wondering how it is allowed that a council who allocated me a 3 bedroomed house 25 years ago when there was just me, my husband and one child can now start to charge for an extra room. I dont claim benefits because we both work full time and pay full rent but this Bedroom Tax does really bug me and i do worry that as we both get older and perhaps have to claim benefits are we going to have to move from what has been our family home for so long. The council gave me the house in the first place with just 1 child, it was technically too big for us then so how can they decide in the future it is too big. :mad:
xx

Calm down. You are not being charged for an extra room. As you do not claim benefits, it makes no difference to you.

This 'so called bedroom tax' is not a tax it is a reduction in housing benefit. If you have to claim housing benefit when you are older, as long as you are above pension age, it still won't affect you because (at the moment) pensioners are exempt.

Personally I think you have been very lucky to have the benefit of living in a subsidised, three bedroom house for the past 25 years. Your 'anger' that at some point in the future, you might have to pay a little bit towards the cost of living there, is the kind of attitude that pi55es people off.

claire2k

I know it does not affect me and yes it is a reduction in housing benefits AKA bedroom tax does nobody get what i am saying here.
If the council see fit to house you in a property that is too big then how can they say at a future date it is too big. They put you there in the first place

suki1964

claire2k wrote: »

I know it does not affect me and yes it is a reduction in housing benefits AKA bedroom tax does nobody get what i am saying here.
If the council see fit to house you in a property that is too big then how can they say at a future date it is too big. They put you there in the first place

And 25 years ago if you had gone on to have another 4 kids you would have moaned the council were wrong to have given you a 3 bedroom house


End of the day if you dont like what the council offer, you do as I did, save a deposit and then get a mortgage on a property I did want

365days

claire2k wrote: »

I know it does not affect me and yes it is a reduction in housing benefits AKA bedroom tax does nobody get what i am saying here.
If the council see fit to house you in a property that is too big then how can they say at a future date it is too big. They put you there in the first place

The council are not saying it is too big. They are saying that they will not give housing benefit for any additional rooms. If you don't claim any money for the extra room, or can cover the reduction in benefits then the house is not too 'big'.

Pesky mortgage company lent me enough money to buy a 4 bedroom house, now I can't afford to pay the mortgage. How dare they give me enough to buy a huge house. They expect me to sell it and buy a smaller house I can afford. The utter cheek of it.;)

sulkisu

claire2k wrote: »

I know it does not affect me and yes it is a reduction in housing benefits AKA bedroom tax does nobody get what i am saying here.
If the council see fit to house you in a property that is too big then how can they say at a future date it is too big. They put you there in the first place

Yes, I get what you are saying. However you do not seem to grasp that it is not the Local Authority that housed you who are now saying that the house is too big, it is the current Government who have decided this.

And as I have added to my previous post, you have had the benefit of living in a subsidised three bedroom house for 25 years, and will probably do so for many years to come.
Do you not understand that for many people, the fact that you are so outraged that at some point in the future, if you are claiming benefits, you might have to pay something towards the cost of living there (out of the benefits that you will receive), seems ever so slightly nauseating?

Robbie64

claire2k wrote: »

I know it does not affect me and yes it is a reduction in housing benefits AKA bedroom tax does nobody get what i am saying here.
If the council see fit to house you in a property that is too big then how can they say at a future date it is too big. They put you there in the first place

It's not the council who are responsible for the introduction of the bedroom tax / reduction in housing benefit where the house is under-occupied. That responsibility is down to the coalition Government.Councils have to apply the law as it stands and most councils have already stated they are against this measure.

You may have been better off buying the house in the past, you could have bought it (like many others have done) with a generous discount. It's funny how people who complain about someone living in a 3 bedroom council house for 25 years aren't critical of people who decided to buy their council house and then sell it on, often at a handsome profit. The amount of rent you've paid over the years would most likely more than have covered the cost of buying the house.

The fact you haven't bought it and as a result at some point in the future it can then be rented to someone else should be worthy of recognition rather than people suggesting you should be even considering moving out into a smaller property.

Elzmumof3

I have always said that there should be a clause in council tenancy agreements that states once we dont need the bedrooms we will downsize - half the problems with the housing situation in this country are caused by people being giving a family home 20/30/40/50 years ago, and still being in them when they no longer have children living at home! (and yes i will downsize when my brood leave home in about 20 years haha)!

[Deleted User]

I think I need a 10 bedroom mansion to live. Its only fair I need the space.
Why wont the government pay for this? Its what I want.
Surely thats what the benefit system is there for - to provide me with what I want?