On benefits? No spare bedroom Blitz on claimants in 'too big' houses By GRAEME WILSON, Deputy Political Editor HOUSING benefit claimants will soon have to pay extra rent if they live in properties with more bedrooms than they need. The crackdown means a couple in a four-bed house will only get the cash for a two-bed and will have to make up the difference. Ministers think a third of the two million working-age housing benefit claimants live in homes with more bedrooms than they need. The annual surplus paid to them is estimated at £500million. The imbalance means there could be a million "spare" bedrooms in council and housing association homes across the UK. At the same time FIVE MILLION people sit on social housing waiting lists and 250,000 tenants struggle on in overcrowded homes. Welfare reform minister Lord Freud said: "It's not fair or affordable for people to continue to live in homes too large for their needs. "It's only right that we bring fairness back to the system and make better use of the social housing stock. "From April 2013 we will expect tenants to make a contribution towards the rent if they live in accommodation larger than they need, just as housing benefit claimants in the private sector do now." He stressed the changes will NOT apply to pensioners, only people of working age. Ministers say if no action is taken the annual £21billion housing benefit bill could hit £25BILLION over the next four years. A blitz on tenants illegally renting out their council houses is already under way. Ministers say up to 200,000 people are involved in the scam which costs taxpayers £5billion a year. g.wilson@the-sun.co.uk
Simon Anderson ● 4987d