New hope for Bedroom tax appeal

Katykat

http://speye.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/judge-rules-housing-act-overcrowding-size-issues-apply-to-the-bedroom-tax/

Thought this case may help anyone appealing. Seems that some cases now have legal back up. This would only affect room of less than 70sq feet, but it may help some

rogerblack

Not so fast.
At the moment - this has not affected the law in any way. It solely applies to the person the judgement was made for.
In order for it to mean anything - the council needs to appeal this to the upper tribunal, and lose.
At the moment, any housing tribunal is free to come to their own decision. They are not bound in any way whatsoever by this judgement.

The basic problem is that the law can't really always be seen as one whole.
It's separate bits of legislation, and then decisions about what the law means as made by higher courts, after appeals of the decisions of lower courts.

You can't automatically say 'Oh - this word isn't defined, I shall look it up in this other bit of legislation' - without very good reason.
The view can reasonably be taken that the overcrowding rules are not relevant.

If the council does not appeal the above judgement, the only way for it to be decided would be for someone to have a judge decide the other way, and then for them to appeal that decision.
The upper tribunal can then make a decision that is binding on other cases.

The council deciding not to appeal does _NOT_ mean that the law changes in any way.

Dunroamin

70 sq ft is a perfectly respectable size for a single bedroom.

HappyMJ

Dunroamin wrote: »

70 sq ft is a perfectly respectable size for a single bedroom.

It is...for a single person...but when the family make up only allows 3 bedrooms of housing benefit due to having 4 children of a certain age and sex and the property they happen to have is a 4 bedroom house and 3 of the 4 bedrooms are single bedrooms with 2 adults occupying the main bedroom then the property is overcrowded and the occupier has to have their housing benefit reduced due to having a spare bedroom. Now that is wrong...and I'm all for the family not being charged...even though I do support the change in principle.

Dunroamin

HappyMJ wrote: »

It is...for a single person...but when the family make up only allows 3 bedrooms of housing benefit due to having 4 children of a certain age and sex and the property they happen to have is a 4 bedroom house and 3 of the 4 bedrooms are single bedrooms with 2 adults occupying the main bedroom then the property is overcrowded and the occupier has to have their housing benefit reduced due to having a spare bedroom. Now that is wrong...and I'm all for the family not being charged...even though I do support the change in principle.

I take your point but, with bunk beds, it's not an unreasonable size for two young children either.

rogerblack

Dunroamin wrote: »

70 sq ft is a perfectly respectable size for a single bedroom.

Quite.
I just measured my bedroom, and find it happens to be 79 feet.
Losing the extra 10 cubic feet would be annoying, admittedly, and would need extra storage for me that would somewhat reduce the floorspace.

Should it be the normal size of bedrooms - perhaps not.
For a non-able-bodied person that requires a wheelchair, I can see that yes - it may be a real problem.
Or for someone that requires access to both sides of the bed for care needs.

evenasus

I have a 4 bedroom house.
I've just checked the bedroom dimensions on original brochure, from when we purchased the house.

Two of the bedrooms are 'just' under 70 square feet.

Should I sue the builders who sold me the house?
After all I paid for 4 bedrooms.

jacques_chirac

Very shortly after the council reduce this to 14% as it agrees that one of the allegedly 2 spare bedrooms is used by a non-resident carer to sleep in.

So a bedroom that is not a bedroom is regularly used as ... a bedroom?

wildwestfan

Katykat wrote: »

http://speye.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/judge-rules-housing-act-overcrowding-size-issues-apply-to-the-bedroom-tax/

Thought this case may help anyone appealing. Seems that some cases now have legal back up. This would only affect room of less than 70sq feet, but it may help some

70 sq feet? Surely this would give a room of say 8ftx9ft or thereabouts? Could get a double bed in there with room to walk round, bedside tables etc. Absolute nonsense if anyone decides this is not big enough to be described as a bedroom.

nannytone_2

when i lived in a council house in london, the 3rd bedroom was 5 1/2 feet by 6 1/2 feet, so 36 sqft.
with the door, you could only fit a 2 ft 6 bed in it and it thouched the walls both ends.
my son managed well enough in it from the time he was 9 til 21

wildwestfan

Any room big enough for a single bed and a bedside table, with a window is a bedroom in my book. So I would consider 7ftx7ft quite adequate.

What is going to be next? It isn't counted as a bedroom in social housing unless it has an en suite?