Premise behind bedroom tax is ’fundamentally flawed’
A new study shows that more than half of English homes - which are the smallest by floor area in Europe - fall short of modern space standards, calling into question the premise behind the so-called 'bedroom tax' In most of the UK, you simply have to under-occupy houses in order to have an acceptable amount of living space - Malcolm Morgan A study into the available space in English homes has found that more than half fall short of modern space standards, with 'spare' bedrooms required for other uses. The study also found that households receiving housing benefit were more likely to be undersized, suggesting that the policy of withdrawing benefits from these households is misguided. The research, from the University of Cambridge, analysed 16,000 dwellings in England and compared them to the London Housing Design Guide internal space standard. It found that 55% of dwellings fall short of the standards based on floor space alone, and 21% fall short when the number of current occupants is taken into account. The findings are published today (18 June) in the journal Building Research & Information . The UK has the smallest homes by floor area in Europe: the average newly-built home is just 76 square metres, compared to 137 square metres in Denmark. The reasons for this are complex, but are related to the removal of minimum space standards through the 1980 Local Government, Planning and Land Act, the high value of land, and the low number of houses built by public authorities and housing associations.
