BEDROOM TAX WIN!

HOUSING BENEFIT UNDER OCCUPANCY WIN

Blind tenant has ‘spare bedroom’ reclassified by the courts. 

Watch video here:

http://www.itv.com/news/london/update/2013-09-23/residents-bedroom-tax-victory/

On 20 September 2013 Robinson Wilson Solicitors won a victory in the First Tier tribunal regarding the Housing Benefit under occupancy regulations, commonly known as the ‘bedroom tax’. By way of background, Westminster Council made a decision in  March 2013 that the appellant (represented by Robinson Wilson Solicitors) had one additional bedroom and therefore it must apply the statutory reduction in his housing benefit entitlement.

The appellant and Robinson Wilson Solicitors argued that the room  in question  was not a bedroom and had never been used as such, as it contains necessary equipment to help him with his disability. Further, that his home had been specially adapted for him to meet the needs of his disability.

Judge C Haley-Halinski allowed the appeal. In his decision he stated that the term bedroom is “nowhere defined and I apply the ordinary English meaning. The room in question cannot be so described.”

Although decisions of the First Tier tribunal are only binding on the Secretary of State, in the absence  of a binding precedent this case should be considered favourably, as to our knowledge it is the  second case to succeed in challenging the term “bedroom”. The only other tribunal case on this point to succeed is SC108/13/01318 (held in first tier tribunal Kirkcaldy Scotland)