The charity Contact a Family reports that some tenants have successfully appealed housing benefit cuts by challenging whether a room in their property is a bedroom.
The law on overcrowding says that a room is too small to be treated as a bedroom if it’s less than 50 square feet, and is too small for anyone except a child under 10, if between 50 and 70 square feet.
Some families have successfully argued at appeal that these rules should also apply to the bedroom tax and that box rooms of this size should not be counted as a spare bedroom.
However the Department of Work and Pensions states that these overcrowding rules aren’t relevant and are appealing these decisions.
In the meantime, Contact a Family says if you do not agree with a decision to treat a room as a bedroom you should seek further advice about lodging an appeal.
Further advice is available free from their helpline 0808 808 3555.
