What are your views on the bedroom tax?

[Cheekychops84]

the new tax for hb claimants where u loose some hb for bedrooms u don't need? we work so at the moment won't b affected but if workers later on down the line are affected I think is a bit unfair as we are paying all rent and bills ourself at the same price as Private Rent?

This rule will not affect pensioners. I do wish people would read the facts.
www.housing.org.uk/policy/welfare_reform/bedroom_tax.aspx

www.housing.org.uk/policy/welfare_reform/bedroom_tax.aspx

We do have bungalows, not exactly lovely, but no where near enough to house all the OAPs you want to turf out of their homes.

Thanks, just trying to fiqure out what the HB cap is in Britain or if there is one at all, having read that some houses are costing 1500 pounds per month I was wondering if the entire rent could be covered by HB as the limit in N.I is about 360-370 PCM

No under 25's can claim but they can only claim a room rate so would be expected to get a flat share or bedsit

sorry that is as it is now not iwith the furture changes

That makes a little bit more sense then.

So they wont get HB?

Arrgghh im confused. Maybe I should take myself off and read about the changes first hand.

NO OAPS ARE AFFECTED. In case you didn't hear me.

I know, I was responding to someone who said it should apply to OAPs.

I just don't think the pensioners should have any extra special privileges, if my relative had been born 2 years later she could stay in the house she is in now - how is that fair? She is in a huge house alone but given the choice she would have stayed in that house forever. Meanwhile, families are overcrowded elsewhere.

It isn't fair to force people into moving but the bottom line is that we don't have enough houses so nobody should expect to underoccupy a property at tax payers expense.

She won't live forever though.

She could have another 30 years in her with a bit of luck, and she really can't manage the house, its sentimentally that has made her stay. I do think it is in her best interests to move and have said to her she will look back and think it was the best decision she ever made! One of her neighbours is 10 years older, alone in a 3 bedroom house and yet she gets to stay as she is a pensioner.

bureni the Local Housing Allowance is different in each area but is around £1000 a month for a two bedroom flat in London. So no, it will rarely cover a private rent. However council rents are much lower, everywhere. So council tenants will be fine and can have rent covered by benefit. This bedroom tax is only for people in subsidised housing (Council or Housing Association).

While I agree with people not taking the p* with social housing, I do agree that this tax is completely cock-eyed. They should be charging everyone who has a good income a much higher rent for subsidised housing. Pay poor people in any housing, not rich people in social housing subsidised by the taxpayer.

OAPS shouldn't be affected the way things are at the moment, but there's no good reason why someone in their sixties couldn't move out of a property that is too big for them.

Hopefully this rule will prevent people from staying in 4 bed properties when they don't need them in the future, so eventually we won't have a problem with people who are too old to move taking up houses that should be given to families. People need to be made to leave family houses when their children have moved out so that they don't end up still being in them when they are too old to safely be moved.

I think about my poor old mum, who paid for her house many, many times over via the rent system, who couldn't afford to buy her council house because of a husband who drank and was not good with money. They were only on benefits toward the end of their lives as my dad's employer absconded with his pension money in the last recession.

I think of an old lady who hated change and who kept her council house immaculate and clean for the 40-odd years she had it. A 3 bed house with 6 children at one point. She lost her husband to cancer whilst she was in that house. It was all she had in the world and she loved it dearly.

And I read on here that people think it's ok that she should be pushed out into a smaller property, possibly some distance from where she currently lived, because she was hogging 3 beds. I thank God that my mum is gone now. She can't be affected by any of this nonsense.

When I'm older and contemplating the end of my life, I hope that I have the sense to take on something smaller. I don't rent, though, so I'll have the privilege of keeping whatever house I happen to have.

As someone said earlier...bashing the poor again.

Plenty of owner occupiers downsize when their children have left home, there is no reason why tennants can't do the same.

I'm with you groundhog, there are a lot of people rattling around in houses, including my own mother, but you just can't kick them out at the end of their lives, it's morally wrong.

On the other hand it is unprecedented that we now have extremely wealthy pensioners whose children are much poorer than they are, and have nowhere to put their own children. Some people would say that's morally wrong, but the ones rattling around don't, they just think we don't work hard enough!

What will happen after this bedroom tax is that there will never be OAPs rattling around in social housing any more, because by the time they reach pension age they will have already downsized. I'm starting to think this is a good idea and I'm a socialist...

'And I read on here that people think it's ok that she should be pushed out into a smaller property, possibly some distance from where she currently lived, because she was hogging 3 beds. I thank God that my mum is gone now. She can't be affected by any of this nonsense.'

But someone in their 40s who's been in that house all their lives, should be pushed out?

Pensioners won't be affected, yet it's likely they are the most significant percentage of over-occupiers.

'Plenty of owner occupiers downsize when their children have left home, there is no reason why tennants can't do the same. '

Owners who downsize have been, until recently, in profit upon the sale of their homes, with capital to downsize.

We're talking about poor and working poor tenants here who will be hard-pressed to find a LL who will take HB, won't be able to afford top-up rents with the LHA caps.

But hey, stuff 'em!

Why shouldn't they move to make space for young families that need a home? Why would you want to have more space for yourself that you don't need and expect other people to pay for it?

Right, so poor people who are fit and able bodied should be exempt from any of the hardships of life, shouldn't have to move house like the rest of us do, should just be able to stay put their whole lives no matter how many families are desparate to move into a property suitable for their needs then?

The HAs and councils aren't going to force people out onto the streets FFS, they won't be made to move until there is somewhere for them to move to! They might have to Move out of their chosen area, but again, why should people be exempt from that? It's not that big a deal, and people often move for work, or family or other reasons.

'Right, so poor people who are fit and able bodied should be exempt from any of the hardships of life, shouldn't have to move house like the rest of us do, should just be able to stay put their whole lives no matter how many families are desparate to move into a property suitable for their needs then?

The HAs and councils aren't going to force people out onto the streets FFS, they won't be made to move until there is somewhere for them to move to! '

No, HA's and councils aren't going to force them to move, instead they'll just be poorer, particularly those who are lone parents and so only one person can work and as HAs and councils have so little housing stock anymore, that could be a while.

And this doesn't make them exempt anymore than anyone else, it just makes them poorer and less able to be able to move to private rent because they will be even less able to save up the money needed to move to a private rental.

I believe most home owners who downsize when the kids move out make a profit. And they choose to move.

If you have your house just the way you want it, but your kids have gone off to uni, it'll be alright to make you move into a 1 bed home that needs everything doing to it? They won't move people like for like, ie they won't check that the neighbourhood is similar or that your new place is well decorated and cared for, but hey....you've had your time with the house. Time to move on now your kids are grown and your value in the world has completely diminished.

People don't just invest themselves into private housing...they do the same with rented homes. And that's the problem here. Houses become homes, places with good memories and our particular persoality stamped upon them.

I could say, I've got my own place so I don't give a monkeys about what happens to anyone else.

If the government hadn't been so gung-ho about selling off social housing in the 80's/90's, there would be enough property to go round. But don't push the gvtmnt to rectify this. Let's just push people out of their homes. For once I'm actually glad about the Human Rights laws from Europe.

Of course houses become homes and over the years become more than just rooms. But when those rooms become empty you can't expect anyone else to pay for them. Keep your empty bedroom if you like but pay extra for it. If you don't need it you can't expect the taxpayer to pay for it for you.

But equally, if you are wealthy you shouldn't be paying the same for a council flat as someone who is earning peanuts.