Re: Housing, the economy and growth : Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:14 am  

The "bedroom tax" is right, in principle, too many people are underoccupying social housing, especially the elderley, the execution appears somewhat flawed I would agree.

this could have been avoided if Labour had the balls to abolish RTB and start building, instead they allowed HA's to borrow money and build shared ownership schemes that work out more expensive than private renting.

Re: Housing, the economy and growth : Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:17 am  

samwire wrote:

it isn't their house. a simple, undeniable fact.

And just how many people do own their own homes?

I mean as in fully paid-up, owned, with the title deeds and everything.

Re: Housing, the economy and growth : Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:32 am  

samwire wrote:

ah, so it's suddenly no longer a 'tax'. clawing back? so people will have their benefits reduced? or those that don't claim benefits yet live in la housing? just how will bob crowe be affected?

what's this fund that has been set aside? have you seen the qualification criteria and where can i get access to a copy that you clearly have. why will many not meet it? do you work in the department that will adjudicate on these cases?

it isn't their house. a simple, undeniable fact.

Nicely swerved, how about addressing the issue ?

Or get the puppeteer to address it for you.

Re: Housing, the economy and growth : Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:45 am  

Standee wrote:

The "bedroom tax" is right, in principle, too many people are underoccupying social housing, especially the elderley, the execution appears somewhat flawed I would agree.

this could have been avoided if Labour had the balls to abolish RTB and start building, instead they allowed HA's to borrow money and build shared ownership schemes that work out more expensive than private renting.

The whole issue for me boils down to my wifes family and what her parents situation was at the end of their lives (8 years ago now) and how they would have been affected by this.

In a nutshell they moved into a brand new 3 bedroom council house in 1964, two adults and four children which increased to six children, all raised int hat house with her father working hard all his life and barely missing a day off sick, paying rent for forty years and occasionally getting the front door repainted by the council for their pains.

After he died her mother continued to live in that 3 bed house on her own on a single state pension, she got the benefits that are automatically awarded (bus pass, winter fuel) but never applied for any other benefits, thankfully if this law had come to pass back then she would have been unaffected but if she had then it would have been simply unaffordable to ask her for an extra £22 per week.

As it happened, before she died she had requested a move to a 1 bed bungalow on the same estate but the waiting list was huge and I just cannot imagine her reaction if her council had offered her a bungalow in the next town, to uproot her from her community in her last few years just for the sake of a civil service scoring some points on a spreadsheet.

The people who have to enforce this rule of law do not like doing it (see press reports) for the simple facts that they, as humans, have to sit in front of other humans and tell them that they are being treated as something less than human and more of an annoying statistic that a person much more worthy than them has considered needy of being wiped from the ledger.

Its a nasty little piece of legislation in the familiar divide-and-conquer theme that can only have been invented at arms length from a person uncaring of the consequences and probably completely unaware of any social implications at all.

Re: Housing, the economy and growth : Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:49 am  

brearley84 wrote:

word of warning for others who do betting online too... like i do, got refused as they see it as a risk.

had to have 3 months clean bank statements with no betting transcations at all

Wow - thats a revalation !

Well worth knowing about too, and not widely publicised - and you won't get to know about it until your application is refused and a note on the refusal made on your credit file - nasty.

Re: Housing, the economy and growth : Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:57 am  

A couple of brief points:

1) what constitutes a 'bedroom'? Technically, we have a two-bed flat (and to clarify, it's not council). One of those bedrooms is, however, barely big enough to put a single bed and small table in. Somehow, we've wedged two desks and a couple of bookcases in there as an office (as a freelancer, I need it), although to describe it as cramped would be a massive overstatement.

2) I did read somewhere (apols, don't have a link) a woman who worked for a housing association saying that they don't actually have any properties that are listed as having just one bedroom – and that very few properties do. Flats are certainly now being built with just a single bedroom, but in our bit of London, such a thing goes on the market at around £250K – or £125 for 'key workers'.

Re: Housing, the economy and growth : Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:59 am  

brearley84 wrote:

ill try not too!

word of warning for others who do betting online too... like i do, got refused as they see it as a risk.

had to have 3 months clean bank statements with no betting transcations at all

That is astonishing – and very 'Big Brother'.

Re: Housing, the economy and growth : Sun Feb 24, 2013 12:09 pm  

Mintball wrote:

That is astonishing – and very 'Big Brother'.

and also, not true.

Re: Housing, the economy and growth : Sun Feb 24, 2013 12:14 pm  

Mintball wrote:

That is astonishing – and very 'Big Brother'.

Not really.when we first applied for a mortgage, we had to show two years of regular saving history (as well as a 20% deposit), it's just a move back to the way things were

Re: Housing, the economy and growth : Sun Feb 24, 2013 12:18 pm  

Mintball wrote:

A couple of brief points:

1) what constitutes a 'bedroom'? Technically, we have a two-bed flat (and to clarify, it's not council). One of those bedrooms is, however, barely big enough to put a single bed and small table in. Somehow, we've wedged two desks and a couple of bookcases in there as an office (as a freelancer, I need it), although to describe it as cramped would be a massive overstatement.

2) I did read somewhere (apols, don't have a link) a woman who worked for a housing association saying that they don't actually have any properties that are listed as having just one bedroom – and that very few properties do. Flats are certainly now being built with just a single bedroom, but in our bit of London, such a thing goes on the market at around £250K – or £125 for 'key workers'.

One local Housing Association, knowing that they didn't have sufficient stock to cover low-occupancy, have been re-classifying their two & three bedroomed homes to one & two bedroomd plus a study. They know that they will lose out on reduced HB but as they said "being a social landlord is not about making continual profits"