Landmark rulings exempting tenants from the controversial “bedroom tax” have been sensationally overturned.
Three High Court judges have thrown out a decision that size matters when it comes to defining a bedroom following an appeal by the UK Government.
However, the long-awaited determination the first of its kind in the UK has been dismissed as a “damp squib” by legal experts who say loopholes have left the door open for a further appeal.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) took the issue to a second tier hearing after a ground-breaking test case in Fife ruled that size and usage should be taken into account when deciding what constitutes a bedroom.
In a submission which had the potential to open the floodgates for thousands of appeals, tribunal judge Simon Collins ruled a room measuring less than 50 square feet is not a bedroom.
He also stated that a room measuring between 50 and 70 square feet could only be used by a child aged under 10.
The decision followed an appeal by Glenrothes man David Nelson, 58, against a 14% cut in his housing benefit because he was deemed to have a spare bedroom.
His case was on the grounds that the room in question measured 66 square feet and was, therefore, a boxroom and not a bedroom. The DWP always maintained that if a room was big enough to accommodate a single bed, it was a bedroom.
The latest judgment appears to agree with that, although Joe Halewood from housing consultancy HSM claimed it contradicted itself several times and could end up costing local authorities millions of pounds.
“The whole of the country has been waiting for this judgment but it is very much a damp squib for everybody,” he said.
Mr Halewood pointed out the appeal judges had said there was no legal definition of a bedroom and it was up to local authorities to explain why they had defined certain rooms.
“It’s a ridiculous judgment because what it means in effect is councils will have to go out and look at every disputed room,” he said. “The cost of doing that would be more than the ‘bedroom tax’ saves.”
Mr Nelson now intends to appeal to the Court of Session against the decision but the hearing is unlikely to be before the general election in May.
“The whole thing is just a shambles,” he said.
The DWP welcomed the decision.