WHATEVER the reasons the government gives for the bedroom tax, one of them is the reduction of housing benefit paid. However there is another way: 1. Scrap the bedroom tax 2. Give private tenants the same right to housing benefit as social tenants 3 Limit by law the amount landlords can charge in rent. Ten per cent above that charged by social landlords, and a minimum five-year tenancy agreement would be a good idea.

K Smith, Maple Crescent, Sebastopol