To think if you're a fan of the bedroom tax

[NicholasTeakozy]

That means you are at best a spunktrumpet and at worst a cunt. short video and see what it's doing.

Some people are just beyond help. They see benefits as "their right" and any kind of change is "cruel". These are the people that have suffered the most under the benefits system.

Hagle if people have paid into the system than as far as I'm concerned benefits are a right. and even those who have not paid into the system what do you suggest they should be left to starve. x

I'd like to give this country a good shake.

There is no more money

In which case how was Cameron going to pay for his stupid war against Syria? Buttons? Scratching down the side of the sofa?

There's plenty of money. The Bank of England have printed oodles of it and given it to the banks, who instead of loaning it out just gave it back to the BOE to buy government bonds.

You might find that one of the reasons MPs voted against taking action in Syria is because we actually don't have the money to do teh job properly.

We might have found the money to go in and do something, but we certainly don't have the money to equip or protect our forces properly, or compensate them adequately for what they and their families will lose if we attack Syria.

Of course the country has money available, it borrows shitloads from other people, and takes in plenty of tax. But it is very short sighted to say that we can afford to continue paying for people to have a spare bedroom that they don't need. And it's not just about the money, it about fairness to all of a country's citizens, including the ones that don't claim benefits.

I am curious; for those of you who oppose the bedroom tax because of the many practical issues noted here, would you support it if those issues were remediated i.e. disabled exemption, adequate access to smaller houses, etc?

Nickolas does that mean the banks are buying equity in Britain?

SaucyJack

*He didn't slit his wrists properly for chrissakes.

Just a media stunt.*

That remark fucking stinks.

YANBU.. I'm being bedroom taxed (whatever you want to call it, it's costing me 15.00 per week) my 2 yr old should be sharing with my 11 yr old according to the council.. Er no definitely not, 11yo has beads, makeup, biting hamster etc.. I can't afford it and now I owe rent. Won't be long before I sink but what do I matter, I'm just a single parent.

I think it would be a fantastic idea if there were actually spare 1 and 2 bedroom houses for people to move into but there aren't any so it's ridiculous.

I do know a few people who have had lodgers move in, but I can't really see that as the ideal solution.

Taking in lodgers is also forbidden by many tenancy agreements.

Good point expat - didn't really think about that. In our local area, social tenants in council properties are basically being told that if they can't afford the rent with the deduction they need to take in lodgers to make ends meet. It's definitely not ideal though and, as you said, a lot of private renters don't have that as an option either.

Many social tenancy agreements don't allow it, either. Ours doesn't.

YANBU.. I'm being bedroom taxed (whatever you want to call it, it's costing me 15.00 per week) my 2 yr old should be sharing with my 11 yr old according to the council.. Er no definitely not, 11yo has beads, makeup, biting hamster etc.. I can't afford it and now I owe rent. Won't be long before I sink but what do I matter, I'm just a single parent.

Where in the UK are you? (are you in the UK?) I know a lot of people in London who have kids with ridiculous age gaps (and boys/girls) sharing.

I can empathize more with this position if you're not in the SE.

Crowler so does the Over 10 rule Only work if the DCs are opposite sex? ~

Precisely expat It's an Immediate Eviction Breach of Tenancy in the LA's agreements here ~

Yes, but I know that only from the boards here. I may be wrong.

No you probably aren't I've heard similar stories but it's not the same iyswim? Where are you by the way? North or South? ~

Yabu. I work in housing. I see the overcrowded/homeless families in need of a 3 bed property.....i see the single older woman whose children have all left home, still living in her 3 bed council house and thinking she should still get ALL of the rent paid by the council.

The travesty is that if she were of pensionable age the 'bedroom tax' would not apply. There are huge amounts of pensioners under occupying. There are lots of sheltered housing bungalows/flats that are liw in demand. They won't move to free up bigger properties for families with children.

Ella your friends story does not add up. The bedroom tax does not apply to private rented. Your single friend will get the Local Housibg Allowance rate for a one bed property. If it is £450 pcm thats what he gets whether he has 1, 2 or 7 bedrooms.

That's what a few of us were saying earlier Nottalotta before the thread got derailed (not even going to give the slit wrists comment a Biscuit by the way!). That it's flawed as the very people who probably are underoccupying are exempt. The only New houses being built in my City are Private ~

Misspixletrix I'm not sure if your question was for me but I'm in the south.

I'm frankly just not sympathetic to this idea that it's inconvenient for kids of a certain disparity in age or boys/girls to share rooms because that's the reality for a lot (most? I don't know) people in the south. Again, as I've said upstream not everyone living in an expensive one or two bedroom flat in central London or beyond is there by inheritance, and they are subsidizing the rents on the social housing in expensive post-codes.

the focus shouldnt really be on whether someone is considered to have a 'spare' room or not but the disparity between rich and poor, by you spending any effort at all in trying to reconcile this as being good or bad you are missing the point completely.

this is no more that the govt playing on stupid 'Sun' [newspaper] mentality by turning you and i against each other - we aren't looking at where the real crimes are taking place.

please google the amount of invetment the govt is making in building new properties - its pennies in comparison

the demonisation of the poor is headline news - and i despise with my whole being the stupd fucks who subscribe to it

Hi crowler, I am in the south east.. I think it's entirely unfair that boys can't share with girls when there is such a huge age gap but girls can share.. I took it up with my MP before the tax was introduced and he agreed he didn't understand the reasoning behind it either. I wouldn't mind if it affected people like my parents who happily live in a 3 bed even though all us kids have left home. But they both work so it doesn't! Just seems another way to target the unfortunate.

Crowler yes it was. I'm in the North. Ds's Teacher moved up here last year. 2bed Flat = £800.00 a Month down south. Up North = now paying £400.00 a Month for a 2bed flat here so I'm more than aware of the difference. Like I said previously before the goaders started I was moved in a Hurry and I grew up in a 2bed sharing my bedroom with my Dsis for most of my teenagehood. We get on...now!

Tortington Agree. P.s The Sun isn't allowed in my house

I agree with BoffinMum earlier though. The 5year lease was a good Idea to review your Tenancy ~