Claiming back bedroom tax

kerry6387

Hi,


My mother has been paying bedroom tax since April and has lived in her house since May 1996 and I have been read online that she could claim this back due to a loophole.


How would she go about claiming this back as I can't seem to find any info online.


Thanks in advance

cattermole

She would also need to have been in receipt of Housing Benefit continuously since 1996 as well. Does this apply?

Housing_Benefit_Officer

She has had to be living and claiming continuoulsy since 1st January 1996 - if she moved in May 1996 then no she can't claim anything back due to the loophole.

The Government are closing this loophole from 3rd March 2014.

kerry6387

cattermole wrote: »

She would also need to have been in receipt of Housing Benefit continuously since 1996 as well. Does this apply?

yes she will have had housing benefit for the whole period

iluvmarmite

Even though they are closing it in March she can still claim as they can't close it retrospectively, tell her to give them a ring and give her details, also write to them as some HB depts tend to "forget" someone had phoned

Poppie68

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

She has had to be living and claiming continuoulsy since 1st January 1996 - if she moved in May 1996 then no she can't claim anything back due to the loophole.

The Government are closing this loophole from 3rd March 2014.

No one seems to be listening to you HBO:)

kerry6387

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

She has had to be living and claiming continuoulsy since 1st January 1996 - if she moved in May 1996 then no she can't claim anything back due to the loophole.

The Government are closing this loophole from 3rd March 2014.

Sorry just saw this post now, thank you for your advice

MidnightHour

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

She has had to be living and claiming continuoulsy since 1st January 1996 - if she moved in May 1996 then no she can't claim anything back due to the loophole.

The Government are closing this loophole from 3rd March 2014.

The Government have applied to close the loophole, it's not written in stone yet!

Housing_Benefit_Officer

MidnightHour wrote: »

The Government have applied to close the loophole, it's not written in stone yet!

We plan to re impose the bedroom tax on the 3rd March 2014 to all those we exempted due to the loophole.

iluvmarmite

Sorry HB officer but your last post sounds so smug, like the tenants think they have won but we plan to get them back! Well this so called BT will soon be dead and buried thanks to the UT ruling that a bedroom is not a bedroom unless it's used for sleeping purposes, this means a HB dept can no longer take a HAs word for it that a property has 2/3 bedrooms, they can't say a dining room or conservatory can be used as a bed room, if a tenant states their "spare room" is used as an office, to store disabled equipment in, a study etc then the HB will have to send someone out to inspect this, how much money will this cost?

The size of a room will also be taken into consideration, a lot of councils aren't even bothering to show up to appeals now because they know they will lose, and what is the governments response to this? Naff all! Because they know they are in the wrong, they know this stupid rule is costing more to implement than it was just letting things be. Some HB depts are really trying it on though, really trying to crack the whip but luckily for most tenants there is help and advice out there, help with appeals and people who are willing to accompany tenants to meetings and appeals to show the councils what's what.

I'm not affected by this thing and never will be but I can sympathise with those who are and I'm glad things are coming to a head now, it's been nothing but lies, if the reason was to ease over crowding then everyone would be affected including pensioners, they wouldn't allow a childless couple to move into a 3 bed house just because they can pay the whole rent amount themselves. They knew there was not enough smaller properties for downsizing but they still went into this, and the only reason was because they could, because they are in power and can do what they like and sod the consequences. Well they are wrong and the upper tribunals are not siding with them.

They keep going on about how poor this country is, how we are nearly bankrupt yet Cameron is now stating they have unlimited funds for the floods, no limit on the amount that can be asked for, which is brilliant to help those poor people affected, but it also shows what a liar he is and is just singling out the poor people, on benefits or low waged, taking away what little they already have.

RANT OVER.

cattermole

I understand your frustration but I can't read smugness into the written word. It's just giving facts.

LA's Housing Benefit staff are probably as fed up with the BT as well as the rest of us. Especially with staff shortages, job posts frozen etc.

They don't make the laws, they have no choice, but they are the ones who get all the front line flack for it.

Yes Councils not turning up to appeals can be annoying, because it can delay things but it is because they are applying the law as it stands. It's not their place to defend legislation that is incompatible with DD & HRA, so if they do go there isn't anything they can say apart from they are applying the regs. Plus they don't have the staff to attend all these appeals.

Yes DC's comments are very irritating and I doubt they will live up to his claims.

It's not HB staffs fault and I don't think giving facts amounts to smugness.

It's MP's we need to be putting the pressure on.