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Bedroom Tax megathread


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There was an interesting piece on Liverpool radio station CityTalk this morning. They were interviewing a woman who had been evicted "because of the Bedroom Tax".

 

But scratch the surface and you find out the true facts:

 

Woman had a 4 bedroom house, she lived alone.

 

She had built up rent and council tax arrears for several months, if not longer.

 

She'd had council tax problems before due to the size of the house.

 

She was unable to work because of depression.

 

She'd been given warning letters dating back well over two years about the unsuitability of her occupying such a large house. She'd ignored them.

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That's as may be, but (and this is a BIG BUT) People don't always want to move away from their friend/family base, especially people who can't afford to travel.

 

Imagine being reliant on public transport and moved from (say) Chapeltown to Walkley, That has to be at least a £3.60 per day cost if you have an infirm relative who needs your help/assistance for their daily routine.

 

It would be cheper to pay the suppliment in the long run I think.

 

To be fair tho you could argue that if you want to stay in an area you buy property there, and it's not like council tenants haven't had enough incentive to.

 

Renting is IMO a temporary arrangement, so you'd expect people accept they will move sooner or later.

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There are 44 one bedroomed properties advertised this week here: http://www.sheffieldpropertyshop.org.uk/thisweekprop.asp?ID=705AF6F824AE49A5BCFAC0064B1EC573

 

19 have no age restrictions, some are for over 40s, and some for over 60s. Anyone in social housing in Sheffield whose benefits have been cut because their household size is classed as too small for their current home qualifies for priority to downsize.

 

Qualifying and getting are two different things. I think personally councils would rather take a homeless person from a B and B, and save themselves money in hoousing benefit, than trying to move a person from a two bedroom, to a one bedroom property. I may be wrong.

 

---------- Post added 25-07-2013 at 17:01 ----------

 

Liverpool is a terrible place for tax arrears as it is:

 

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/towns-dont-pay-council-tax-111649089.html

 

which works out at £10 a week per household.

 

---------- Post added 31-07-2013 at 18:59 ----------

 

well a judge made everyone happy. even the government know how messed up it is, thats why they keep pumping money into DHP's. why not reverse the policy, save councils lots of work, and stress. call it a tax, an underpayment of benefits, but at least admit that it is making people struggle.

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