Bedroom tax

[boozysuzi]

If youre living in a cooncil owned house and youve got an empty bedroom you will have to pay an extra £10 a week on top of your rent---£70 per month if you have 2 empty bedrooms !!

It also seems that having 2 children doesnt make any difference as it is now considered that 2 kids up to age 16 sharing a room is ok !! so if youve got 2 14 yr olds and a 3 bedroomed house youre classed as having 1 bedroom too many !!

what next ?? will we be having a loo tax if weve got 2 toilets in the house

[jj]

what if ye've fell oot and your not speaking and you've been put in the spare room?

[grumpy]

no allowed to hev a huffy room now

[birdsworth]

I agree with the tax.

[jj]

are their any council hooses left? and why just council hooses? surely the rich bastards living in great big hooses with whole wings closed, or their empty for 11months a year holiday homes should be made to pay........as usual all these ideas start at the wrong end.
Their wont be many empty bedrooms anyway coz kids cannae afford to move out.... and is £10 a week rise really gonna make someone move hoose? is it shite, their just gonna have to be even tighter with their money

[jj]

oops....... i don't agree with it.

[boozysuzi]

dont agree wi it either Birdsworth--what about people with a son / daughter in the services or at uni--they still need a home to come home too !

[boozysuzi]

so have you got a spare room yourself Birdsworth ?

[birdsworth]

For a start, the tax only applies to households that have a working age adult as the primary renter. If you’re on disabilities, pensions, benefits etc., you’re not eligible to be taxed at the higher rate for empty rooms.
Secondly, council or social housing was never supposed to be permanent. The idea, originally, was to give young families a leg-up when they were starting on the ladder, and for them to move onto private rent or homeownership once they could afford too. The higher their earnings, the higher their taxes brackets, and as such they paid back the initial help and allowed others to progress the same way. This obviously has not been the case in the majority of instances.
Thirdly, Britain is a small place. Our population, despite what you hear on the media about immigration, is dwindling. This ideally means we should not need as many new houses as you see popping up, but the trend used to be to take in elderly relatives and this has all but fallen away. Now, everyone wants a place of their own, and why not? We see it on TV and in the papers, location, location, location, escape to the country and suchlike.
What everyone does not want, is to save for a deposit. Kids move into council houses, citing irreparable arguments with parents and the like, and then realize that they cannot live by themselves on minimum wage. The best thing to do, would be to take the job and move home to the folks but again, what tends to happen is that they know the government will foot most of their living expensive if they are unemployed. How many times do you hear “I am better off on the dole,” or “there are no decent jobs in this town”. Of course, immigrants come in (with our governments backing), shack up many to a house to cut costs and happily take the low paying jobs that must be done. Strange how they can live but our own cannot.
This is important now, I believe, as council houses are being occupied by people that are able to work, or do work, when they should be occupied by our weakest or newest members of society enabling them to get ahead. Any tax or incentive to open up council houses or to encourage people to swap into smaller houses should be lauded, regardless of grandkids staying over etc. Beggars can’t be choosers, and council housing isn’t the only option, at least not for at least a minority of people that currently have the benefit of them.
And Boozy, I have never lived in a council house, or taken dole, as an adult, so I was always able to do whatever I liked with my spare rooms and money or lack thereof. I have been in the forces most of my working life too, however, So maybe it doesn’t count.

[grumpy]

think most folk started off in council housing as you say birdsworth, it gives folk time to save for a deposit but now they require so much for a deposit that most folk can't afford it so they're stuck with either private rents or housing assoc. didn't know that about those on disability benefits etc.

[boozysuzi]

Ididnt know about those on disability either-i was led to believe it was gonna be deducted from their benefits !!
If youve been in forces for most of your adult life then youve certainly done your bit for Britain !!!!

[jj]

£28,000 thats the average deposit needed nowadays................i bought my hoose for less, how can any 1st time buyer in Berwick afford that?

[boozysuzi]

didnt pay half of that for ma little 2 bedroom ex cooncil flat !!