Bedroom Tax affecting private landlords?!!!

Bedroom Tax affecting private landlords?!!!

8:44 AM, 14th August 2013, About 11 years ago 35

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As everyone knows bedroom tax is not  tax, but the above is a handy way to refer to it. Bedroom Tax affecting private landlords

Earlier this year I received a simple very clear brief about this, written by the chief housing officer of Purbeck District Council..  The essential features of the measure are:

  1. It only applies to people of working age.
  2. It only applies to people who are receiving Housing Benefit/Local Housing Allowance or whatever else it may be being called to pay their rent.
  3. It only applies to those living in social housing, i.e. Council Housing, housing provided by a Housing Association, or by some other Registered Social Landlord.
  4. It is concerned with “spare” bedrooms.  Thus for example a household of one or two parents and one child is considered to need a 2-bedroom dwelling.  If this family is living in a 3-bedroom dwelling it has a “spare” bedroom. The benefit paid will be reduced by, I think, 14%.  The same principle applies to smaller families, larger houses, etc.

The purpose of this measure is to free up  publicly funded accommodation which is under occupied for households who need larger dwellings, as we all know.

In the light of this I have been surprised to read and hear of private landlords whose tenants are having their benefit payments reduced, essentially on the grounds of under occupation.  Now it is happening to me!

This has prompted me to contact the local councillor who is Chairman of Housing at our local council who in turn asked the chief housing officer whether the rules had changed since early in the year.  The answer is that they have not.  They remain as outlined above.

What is going on?

Best wishes,

Michael Bond.


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Comments

Jay James

18:29 PM, 15th August 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Jay Jay" at "15/08/2013 - 18:27":

don't forget that for all this to be legally correct, you, the landlord, must be resident. f you are not resident, the tenant will be a tenant with very many rights and will not be a lodger. licences will not apply to private landlords.

Jay James

18:33 PM, 15th August 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "andrew townshend" at "14/08/2013 - 19:16":

if this man is not declaring the income from his lodger to the council and DWP, he is committing fraud. Strangely, under these circumstances (HB direct to landlord), the council can and often actually will obtain the overpayments back from the landlord

19:34 PM, 15th August 2013, About 11 years ago

The private "Bedroom Tax" all started because people where claiming for 6 or 8 bedroom houses and even Mansions eg Paul Mcartneys neighbour and now social tenants are being punished for the OVER abuse of Private landlords ripping off the benefits.......This is why Labour introduced it and now the ConDems are trying to say that the Bedroom TAX is a fairer system the only people who are gaining in this (Bedroom TAX) ii the government trying to say the housing benefit is TOOOOOO hign but the landlords have and always will reap the Benefits at the expense of the poor and needy

andrew townshend

20:10 PM, 15th August 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "John " at "15/08/2013 - 19:34":

the welfare state is out there to look after the genuine poor and needy, however there are a lot of people out there claiming to be poor and needy, but we see them smoking 70 cigs a day and drinking cans of special brew, as for work, well they have no intention of doing any of that, and before anyone says it there many jobs out there if you really want one .

Barbara Thorning

20:21 PM, 15th August 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "andrew townshend" at "15/08/2013 - 20:10":

Quite often I found I was dealing with a prospective tenant on HB, who would be 'negotiating' about paying a top-up due to their low income and then ask if it would be alright to have Sky fitted or a phone would ring and he or she would take the latest iPhone out of his/her pocket. It was a real eye opener.

andrew townshend

20:25 PM, 15th August 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Tilly Mint" at "15/08/2013 - 20:21":

yes tilly mint, this is quite the norm isn't it !

Anon

6:50 AM, 16th August 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Jay Jay" at "14/08/2013 - 16:15":

Mary is right that bedroom tax does not apply to private tenants with spare rooms. A private tenant does not pay bedroom tax if the LHA covers the cost of renting a property which is under-occupied, and in many areas LHA covers the cost of a spare room without penalty.

Barbara Thorning

11:08 AM, 16th August 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Anon " at "16/08/2013 - 06:50":

No-one pays ‘bedroom tax’ because there is no such thing, it’s not a tax [to be paid], it’s a misnomer for a reduction in HB. For fiscal reasons the reduction is usually linked to the number of bedrooms being used in the property, but a Social Housing tenant who is eligible for two bedrooms living in a two bedroom house where the rent is higher than their LHA will also face an HB reduction and have to make up the shortfall in the form of a top-up payment from the rest of their income, or move. This is because Social Housing tenants now will receive HB according to their assessed needs and not according to the rent on the property, as was previously the case. Alternatively, as Andrew Townsend suggests they could find the extra by cutting back on their 70 a day lol.

I would be surprised if there were many areas were the LHA covered the cost of having a spare room because most landlords who will let to HB tenants set the rent in line with the LHA rate to achieve the maximum. I never came across one who would accept less and this is not a criticism, it’s the obvious thing to do.

Jay James

14:41 PM, 16th August 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Anon " at "16/08/2013 - 06:50":

Some here really are in cloud cuckoo land. Private tenants have had their HB (and before that it was called rent rebate) restricted and / or completely refused because of having more bedrooms than needed. This has been going on for decades, yes decades. Thus two commenters above are completely wrong in claiming that private tenants do not have HB / LHA restricted because of too many bedrooms.

Jay James

14:43 PM, 16th August 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "John " at "15/08/2013 - 19:34":

Some here really are in cloud cuckoo land. Private tenants have had their HB (and before that it was called rent rebate) restricted and / or completely refused because of having more bedrooms than needed. This has been going on for decades, yes decades. Thus two commenters above are completely wrong in claiming that private tenants do not have HB / LHA restricted because of too many bedrooms.

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