We might be. There are lots of reasons an extra room is absolutely necessary for tenants.
It’s always worth anyone renting from the council or a housing association checking the list of Bedroom Tax exemptions. Asking an advisor with Citizens Advice or employed by our landlord can be a good starting point. The local council housing office might also be able to point us in the right direction.
The Bedroom Tax is charged to benefit claimants if they have one or more spare bedrooms. (Calculate bedroom tax here.) Normally, if a room is left empty it will count as a spare room after 13 weeks. Someone who has recently become unemployed and started a claim for Housing Benefit may not have the deduction applied for 13 weeks. If things change because of a death in our household, we will have a year before any cuts apply to you.
The following issues could be a starting point for an appeal or a claim for extra help.
Disabled person or partner
If someone in our household gets a qualifying disability benefit and cannot share a room, we’re allowed an extra bedroom.
- Attendance Allowance (higher rate)
- Middle or higher rate of DLA care component
- Standard/enhanced PIP daily living component
- Adult Disability Payment
- Armed Forces Independence Payment
- Child Disability Payment (middle/high)
Carers
If a non-resident carer regularly stays overnight to provide care, we’re allowed one extra bedroom. This applies even if there’s more than one carer.
For Housing Benefit, if the care recipient doesn’t receive a qualifying benefit, councils can accept alternative evidence, for example, letters from a GP
Disabled child
A disabled child who can’t share a room and receives the middle/higher rate DLA or Child Disability Payment gets their own bedroom
Foster children
Foster parents (including kinship carers in Scotland) are allowed an extra room. Foster parents can apply to the local council’s discretionary housing fund (more here) to cover the reduction in housing benefit. But there may not be enough money to help everyone.
Separation
If we’ve split up but still live in the same home, we’re each counted as a separate adult. That means we don’t have to share a bedroom.
When parents live apart, the one who gets Child Benefit for the child is usually the one who gets the bedroom for them in the benefit calculation—even if care is shared.
Grown-up children
When our child turns 16, they can have their own room. If they stay in education and live at home most of the time, their room won’t count as spare. If they go away to study, their room won’t count as spare for up to 52 weeks. But the council might still decide they don’t mainly live at home and then we could lose the benefit.
If they leave education and are looking for work, get a job, or claim Jobseeker’s Allowance, new rules apply. They’ll be seen as a non-dependent adult and a deduction might be taken from our Housing Benefit. How much depends on their income.
If they serve in the Armed Forces and plan to return home, their room doesn’t count as spare. We keep the room allowance while they’re away on duty. More here.
Shared ownership
Where a home is partly rented and partly being purchased the deduction will not apply.
Need more help?
If the council says we have too many bedrooms, we can:
Apply for Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP)—councils are advised to prioritise cases with disability adaptations or care needs .
- England & Wales: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments
- Scotland https://www.mygov.scot/discretionary-housing-payment
- Northern Ireland: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/discretionary-support
Appeal their decision. Find out how to start an appeal here: https://www.protaxaccountant.co.uk/post/appeal-bedroom-tax
