Disabled Mum Set To Become First Person in Scotland Evicted Due To The Bedroom Tax

reply to post by midicon


Currently, they are allowed but have to declare it, which can affect their other benefits yes, but if she only charges £10 a week, this should be well under any annual threshold for income, or if it isn't, the impact would be small.

However, come October, council/housing association tenants will be able to take on lodgers and keep all the rent, tax free as well as keep their existing benefits totally unaffected. Nice, huh? Wish I could get the Government to pay my rent and council tax and then allow me to turn a profit renting out a room in the house I don't pay for.

Im sure the lady in question could do a lot of thing to make up the extra money.

She could indeed take in a stranger that she does not know as a lodger.

Maybe should could even sell her arse eh, that could make up the shortfall?

Or maybe, just maybe she should be left the hell alone in the home provided to her by the very same government agency now responsible for her current predicament. AKA Council scum.

And as to all the garbage directed toward it being Labour's fault. Last time i looked we don't have that many Conservatives up this way. In point of fact 99% of Scots voted Labour in the last general election to no avail.

So Labour don't make the rules anymore they just follow them.

And its being called THE BEDROOM TAX deal with it! The phrase has been coined.

Edit: My bad, only 42% of Scots voted Labour in the last General election, not that it matters since the Scottish vote counts for nothing.

Originally posted by andy06shake
Im sure the lady in question could do a lot of thing to make up the extra money.

She could indeed take in a stranger that she does not know as a lodger.

Maybe should could even sell her arse eh, that could make up the shortfall?

Or, Andy, instead of being all melodramatic, she could just charge her son who already uses the room some rent. Apparently the lad is 19 years old and a student, so what precisely is stopping him getting a part time job?

Originally posted by andy06shake
Or maybe, just maybe she should be left the hell alone in the home provided to her by the very same government agency now responsible for her current predicament. AKA Council scum.

Once again, you're insinuating that the rules which apply for everybody else shouldn't apply in this case and yet have failed to make any convincing argument as to why she should be exempt!

Do not forget - and I know you have dodged this point through the whole thread - the woman has made no effort to remedy her situation by engaging with the council and applying for discretionary funding. and this is entirely of her own making.

Originally posted by andy06shake
And as to all the garbage directed toward it being Labour's fault. Last time i looked we don't have that many Conservatives up this way. In point of fact 99% of Scots voted Labour in the last general election to no avail.

No they didn't Andy. If 99% of Scots had voted Labour, then we'd see with our FPTP system every one of Scotland's MP's being a Labour one. We do not. In actual fact, Labour got only 42% of the Scottish popular vote.

Originally posted by andy06shake
So Labour don't make the rules anymore they just follow them.

Another point you have failed to address, which is in 2007 (I think - might be earlier) Labour are the ones who brought in these very same rules (ie; "the bedroom tax") on private tenants in receipt of housing benefit. I don't recall you getting your panties in a twist back then..... All the current Government have done is make the law equal no matter if you have a council house or private rent.

Originally posted by andy06shake
And its being called THE BEDROOM TAX deal with it! The phrase has been coined.]

Yes, by idiots and political shills. Doesn't mean I have to use it or even accept the use of it. Once again, the use of the English language here is poor. It isn't a tax - as defined by the Oxford English dictionary it is a "compulsory contribution to state revenue". As it is a reduction in entitlement of money you receive from the state, it cannot be a tax.

It also annoys me how some describe benefits as "income", reflecting the expectation these days of simply being handed cash, rather that it being there for the safety net it is supposed to be.

Why don't they just move her to a one bedroom flat? Sounds simple enough. I mean if she is already using housing assistance, they should be able to move her to a home that meets everyone's needs.

reply to post by stumason


"Another point you have failed to address, which is in 2007 (I think - might be earlier) Labour are the ones who brought in these very same rules (ie; "the bedroom tax") on private tenants in receipt of housing benefit. I don't recall you getting your panties in a twist back then"

Why should you be able to recall me doing anything back in 2007? Its not like I was a member then.

Please don't be thinking i favour Labour over any of the scum that regard themselves as a political party.

They are all as bad as each other in my opinion. They are in it simply to line their own pockets, nothing more!

And its still called "THE BEDROOM TAX" im afraid the name has stuck. Idiots and political shills have nothing to do with it, I think it was Labour that coined the phrase.

On that note im off to the boozer ta get single fished!

Have a great Friday night everyone!

reply to post by andy06shake


I get ya. So she receives housing money, but has a spare bedroom. They reduce her income where she can no longer afford the house, all because there is a spare bedroom. As a result, she can no longer live in her own home. Can't she simply make the other bedroom a bigger living room? This law makes no sense because anyone having the ability to modify their own house should be able to get around this. It appears the law was designed to curb abuse of housing monies in apartments, where every child got a room, versus sharing a room.

reply to post by ExPostFacto


It is a flat she rents from the local housing authority. She cannot modify it.

There is a shortage of council homes. So it may not be so simple to relocate her.

And of course the new home will have to be suitable for her needs.

They may have to modify that one!

That sucks .... but this is what happens when government gets involved in all aspects of a persons life .... compassionate feudalism ...... a modern serfdom for the peasants .... LOL

As an aside, Labor leader Milliband is giving a Q&A session in Edinburgh right now.

He's refused to say whether a new Labor government will abolish the bedroom tax.

God, I'm watching him now. He's such a gonk.

reply to post by andy06shake


Did you then?

I doubt it - no one even batted an eyelid over those changes.. None of the bleeding hearts spoke up, none of the papers ran stories, everyone just sucked it up and got on with it. But now the Tories are just making it all fair, they're the font of all evil....

reply to post by fnpmitchreturns


I think you misunderstand what any of this is and are merely here to trumpet some US view of "socialism"...

This isn't about the state interfering as she is the one who has requested and received state help and I for one am glad to live in a country where those in need do get the help they require - albeit this particular woman has made a meal out of it and bodged it up, but that is entirely of her own doing.

people are forgetting this woman is on £200 + per week she can afford to pay this £248 over say 6 months .

i cannot figure this out why the council are not offering this as a court case costs £ ?

Originally posted by geobro
i cannot figure this out why the council are not offering this as a court case costs £ ?

If you read the article and the thread, you will see that the Council have tried to mediate, but she refuses to engage in any correspondence and refuses to even accept financial help from the discretionary fund designed precisely for cases like this. This is why they are evicting, because it is the last recourse.

reply to post by stumason

then she has made her own bed let her lie in it they should just take it out of her money direct like the courts can
she must be a topper they have done enough for her but all she has to do is talk to them

reply to post by geobro


Indeed - however some bleeding hearts would have us simply leave her be and not apply the law as would be expected for anyone else.

reply to post by stumason


"Did you then?"

To be perfectly honest, I was not even in the U.K that much back in 2007, so basically I did not really have a clue as to what was transpiring back home except from any information i gleaned from exported Sun or Mail Newspapers. Not the most reliable source of information. LoL

"I doubt it - no one even batted an eyelid over those changes.. None of the bleeding hearts spoke up, none of the papers ran stories, everyone just sucked it up and got on with it."

I'm sure you doubt many things Stumason, you sound more like a Glass is half empty sort of fellow.

"But now the Tories are just making it all fair, they're the font of all evil...."

I'm glad you said that, as i'm sure many others will agree!

reply to post by andy06shake


Not at all, I am actually a rather optimistic fellow!

I do however call a spade a spade when I see one and this whole furore surrounding this bedroom tax is a total political smokescreen, pushed by Labour who actually began the whole process of reducing Housing benefit for extra rooms - problem is, people like you are falling for it.

The government should regulate to enable the DWP to deduct the shortfall from her social security benefits & to let them pay it directly to the council. That'll end all the dying swan routines.

reply to post by andy06shake


I hope you understand that your nation is bankrupt and being run by idiots, the only thing keeping it up is it being the second economic center of the world (the US is in even worst shape). Its a race to see who pops first the UK or the US.

The "Bedroom Tax" is just a way to justify cutting costs nothing more it has nothing to do with social justice so do not make that the core of the discussion the issue is cutting costs and I bet you can pull out of your head many more cuts that seem as idiotic as this one. The idea is who does it affect and what power have they to do something about it...

Precedent

In common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts