Tax authorities don’t recognise unit numbers, no housing benefits
Tax authorities don’t recognise unit numbers, no benefits
Door Giulia Fabrizi
By Giulia Fabrizi
Giulia Fabrizi
Van uit de hand gelopen studentenfeestjes tot bezette universiteitsgebouwen en van kamertekorten tot dreigende bezuinigingen: Giulia houdt al het nieuws in de gaten. Ze praat graag met de mensen die het aangaat, schrijft erover en begeleidt freelancers bij het maken van nieuwsartikelen. Eerder werkte ze als stadsredacteur Groningen en gemeenteverslaggever Haren voor Dagblad van het Noorden.The student flat at the Esdoornlaan consists of ten storeys, which are divided into blocks that each have their own number, like 278. The rooms in each block are designated by the block number and an additional number, so 278-1, 278-2, etc.
However, this addition isn’t recognised by the tax authorities. This means only one student per block can actually apply for housing benefits, as any others get told that someone already applied on ‘their’ unit number.
Processed incorrectly
It’s unclear whose fault this is exactly. ‘Before we started renting out the units in Acero, we checked with the tax authorities whether residents would be eligible for housing benefits and they said yes’, says a spokesperson for housing agency Lefier.
She says they communicated the unit numbers ‘well before renting out the rooms’ to the tax authorities, but the latter says they never received the information. ‘We’re under the impression that the tax authorities didn’t process all the numbers correctly. We’ve contacted them to figure out how we can solve this.’
When students will be able to apply for housing benefits is unclear at this point. ‘We’d hoped everything would be taken care of by now, because they have a right to the benefits.’