Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether a bedroom which is currently unusable pending repairs by a social landlord is included by his Department in its assessment of whether a household under-occupying accommodation.

Justin Tomlinson

This is a matter between the claimant and the landlord and we would always advise claimants in this situation to contact their landlord in the first instance.

Some landlords may choose to reduce the rent whilst the bedroom is uninhabitable others may not. The reduction that applies for under-occupation depends on whether the rent has been reduced to reflect that the property temporarily has one less bedroom.