Bedroom Tax Loophole?

Housing association beats Bedroom Tax by knocking through walls.

16:50 23 November 2015

A housing group has found a way to avoid Bedroom Tax – by knocking down walls to provide smaller homes.

 

Cobalt Housing in Liverpool are converting their three-bedroom properties into two-bedrooms as the demand for their houses has dropped since the charge was introduced.

 

Alan Rogers, the company’s managing director, said that the business was affected as people couldn’t afford houses or didn’t qualify, as children under 10 were expected to share rooms.

 

He said: “Empty properties in the area present a problem for us as they are open to vandalism and they quickly become uncared for and derelict.

 

"If people saw loads of ‘tinned-up’ properties, they wouldn’t buy and we don’t get income from empty properties.”

 

Talking about the tax, he said: “The problem with the Bedroom Tax is that it is retrospective, it isn’t fair as it affects people who didn’t expect it when they signed a tenancy.

 

“The rent will be less but it is a sustainable outcome as the houses will be let.

 

“We are looking to find other ways to make housing affordable such as doing away with pre-paid meters.”

 

“People now have difficult choices to make, like whether to pay their rent, their bills or food.

 

“We want to get a better dwelling mix – different sizes of families and backgrounds – to create a community and once people move into their homes, we want them to stay.

 

“We have got demand, we have let our homes, but we have lost money. It is not going to be the solution for everyone but it is about supporting who we can.”