Do I have to tell my landlord we're having a baby???

[MrsHuxtable]

We've been renting our flat for 3,5 years now. I'm not sure if the original ad said "no children", it did say "no smokers/pets/students/housing benefit", but I just checked our contract and there is no mention of children.

Our landlord seems to be flexible enough. After we had been here for a year, we wanted to adopt a cat, so we asked for permission and sent the landlord the online profile of said cat. We had to put down an extra pet deposit but were allowed the cat.

So now I'm pregnant! I'm wondering how we handle this in the right way. I mean, we have half yearly flat inspections so they will notice once the baby is here and at some point we'll have to ask the landlord if he can take the bed out of the spare bedroom that DH uses as his office now (it's a furnished flat). Of course this doesn't need to happen right away as baby will be in our bedroom for probably the first year anyway and there is enough space to play in the living room but at some point, it'll have to happen.

Or does it mean we have to move because I'm pregnant??

[Karmanna]

Not at all - your tenancy rights are not affected by having a baby!

I'd just make sure you tell him sooner rather than later so that he can help make any preparations required, such as moving furniture out.

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

[FruitSaladIsNotPudding]

I wouldn't tell him at all unless you want changes made, as the above poster said. It would be pretty outrageous for him to object.

[FruitSaladIsNotPudding]

Oh, and congratulations!

[LaWeasel]

Congratulations, no you don't need to say anything.

I kept my 1st pregnancy quiet out of paranoia, but our LL was delighted when he found out.

[MrsHuxtable]

Thanks everyone,
feeling a lot better now. I was already seeing myself out on the street because I'm pregnant.

Do you people think it's a reasonable request to get the bed taken out of the spare bedroom so we can fit a cot in?

[yummymango]

It shouldn't affect your tenancy. We told our landlord just out of courtesy really, and just to keep the relationship open. He was happy, didn't say anything negative at all.

[newartriotstar]

I told my landlady at about 14 weeks, she said congratulations and that was it!

[crazyhead]

I am the landlord of a flat, and I'd have thought that it is a contractual issue really - in my case, it certainly isn't in the contract not to have a baby, and I wouldn't think much of it if my tenants had one.

For plenty of landlords, it is worth a lot to have someone in your flat who you know is reliable and who you have a relationship with - by now you are very much a known quantity and they are likely to value that.

I suppose in some situations, if renewal was an issue, the landlord might want to know that you were still going to be in the position to pay the rent, but this is much less of an issue if you've been there a while - it isn't like you've moved in under an affordability check last month, then announced that your circumstances are changing.

I suppose the only other possible issue or reason where a landlord might not renew the contract (and obviously only once the lease had ended) would be if all of the neighbours were constantly complaining about noise and it was coming back on the landlord. Not very likely in most set-ups though!

Just for the sake of good relations, I would personally tell the landlord - I just think it is polite and as others have said, you might want to try and negotiate a few little shifts in furniture or whatever. Also, if for instance you currently pay half and half rent from two separate accounts and will just be paying from one account in future, you might want to mention that - good way of reiterating you have a plan.

I told my tenants that I was pregnant, so they'd be aware that I was on different contact details when they needed to get in touch - and if I pop over for any reason, next time it'll probably be with my LO ... I would expect them too tell me likewise, and the neighbours might mention it to me anyway.

Anyhow, thought it might be useful from the other perspective so to speak.

[MrsHuxtable]

crazyhead,
thanks for your reply. It really is helpful to hear the other side. None of the financial aspects will be changing. We will still have enough money to pay the rent and it has always just come out of one account.

I also think that there won't be a noise problem. We are rather having the opposite problem in that we had 2 male students move into the flat next door and DH had to go complain to them as they kept having parties in shared hallway at 4 o'clock at night. So I'd be surprised if they ever mentioned a crying baby...

We will let the landlord know on the phone and just hope that he is ok with it. Phew, one less thing to worry about!

[SanctiMoanyArse]

Ours have been fine- in fact the first one sent the baby a tenner as a gift (he was lovely)

Second lady is very family orientated anyway so came over to coo

[Wafflepuss]

My friend was served notice on her flat this year because her landlord found out she and her partner had had a baby but hadn't told the landlord. It hadn't occurred to my friend to mention it but the landlord felt she didn't want the additional wear and tear that a baby may bring to the flat and gave them notice. This was 4 months ago so fairly recent

[MrsHuxtable]

Wafflepuss, I actually want to cry now!

What happened? Did they find another flat easily enough?

[MrsHuxtable]

And also, you'd think she would have had a "no children" clause in her tenancy agreement then..

[Wafflepuss]

Don't panic. No, there wasn't a no children clause in the contract but he askec thm to leave which is her perogative and they found somewhere else to live quite easily. Sorry, didn't mean to make you cry! This particular landlord clearly had an issue with children in her properties and I think took the huff because my friend hadn't told her about the baby. Lots of my other friends have continued renting with no issues. But to answer your original OP yes you ought to tell your landlord so that if there is going to be an issue you have plenty of time to deal with it.