Bedroom tax rent arrears issue

One th i rd of South Lanarkshire Council tenants affected by the bedroom tax in Rutherglen and Cambuslang are in rent arrears.

But the local authority says it is making up the deficit in people’s rent via discretionary housing payments.

Figures obtained by the Reformer show that as of December 31, 2015, 352 tenants in Rutherglen were affected by under occupancy rules which sees a person’s housing benefit docked by 14 per cent if they have a spare bedroom. That rises to 25 per cent in households with two or more extra rooms.

In Rutherglen 114 council tenants affected by the bedroom tax are in rent arrears, as are 133 of the 497 people affected in Cambuslang.

The council said the vast majority of discretionary housing payments made in the first three quarters of the 2015/ 16 financial year were to cover the gap left by deductions in housing benefit.

It said 5,061 discretionary housing payments were directly related to the bedroom tax. The remaining 829 payments made relate to factors such as the benefit cap and other circumstances where a tenant, in receipt of housing benefit, can demonstrate genuine financial hardship. For kitchens as individual as you are QUALITY KITCHEN FACELIFTS

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