IN the past year housing benefit claimants who live in social housing in Warrington will have been affected by the removal of the spare room subsidy or the bedroom tax.

It was meant to reduce waiting lists by freeing up under-occupied properties. Sadly, this doesn’t appear to be working because there are insufficient smaller properties. As a result, many are having their benefit reduced and have nowhere else to go, thereby suffering financial hardship for nobody’s benefit except the DWP.

Either the coalition knew there weren’t enough alternative properties, in which case the idea of reducing overcrowding was a cynical ruse, or else they didn’t do their homework before introducing important legislation.

However, when they drew up the legislation they didn’t bother to define what a bedroom actually is.

Unfortunately, this has come back to haunt them as two recent tribunal cases ruled that the dictionary definition of a bedroom will suffice. In other words, a bedroom isn’t what the landlord says, it is, in fact, a room in which people sleep.

If a room is used for any other reasonable purpose – such as a study, or playroom or dining room – then it isn’t a bedroom and isn’t subject to the bedroom tax. Moreover, all local authority decisions so far have been made on the basis of what they have been told by landlords.

The rulings mean that local authorities should have inspected all properties to determine what use is being made of rooms. This raises grounds for appealing existing decisions, but you must do so within 13 months.

Furthermore future bedroom tax rulings, in order to remain lawful, mean that each and every property will have to be inspected.

As few, if any, councils will have the manpower or money to do this, this suggests to me that the bedroom tax is effectively finished.

Unless the council inspect your property, any imposition of the bedroom tax can therefore be appealed.

DAVID BALL Latchford