Housing association home

[Axalot]

I live in a key worker home. It’s a two bed flat. It’s £500 a month. To live in one of these homes
there are some set rules.
You have to be a British citizen
Earn between 21,000-45,000 a year before tax
Have no more than 3 people living there

My Husband came to the U.K. on a spousal visa using my parents address as his address for the application. But chose to live with a friend in a one bed flat as it did not work out is living with my parents. Just not enough space.

I moved with my Son into the two bed apartment with key worker accommodation. We simply couldn’t afford private rental and still can’t so the only option was this. My Husband stays over a lot anyway (but we follow the rules of less than 4 nights a week).

We have since found out that he was entitled to live with me. He just wasn’t allowed on the tenancy agreement. So we were given incorrect information. He wasnt working at the time so there would have been no issues had we not been given incorrect information. We immediately contacted the housing association to ask if he could move in with me.
They said that’s fine as long as his income and mine combined is less than £45,000 a year. Otherwise he can’t move in.
No issue as he doesn’t work at the moment. Doesn’t matter if there’s a job offer. They assess on circumstances right now.

But we have one issue. He has only been in the country one month so has to wait two months before he can submit his bank statements.
He has been offered a job with the NHS and this starts on 22nd June with first payment around 22nd July. Maybe he could delay the start date?
It is only minimum wage as he is an oversees doctor not qualified to work in the U.K. and just wanted to support his family and get known to the hospital for when he does qualify in a couple years following the international exams.
I earn £26,000 a year so with his income and mine would be over the threshold but we aren’t as I will be going on maternity leave in August and will go down to SMP so overall we meet the income threshold.
issue is if we tell the housing association we actually do meet the income threshold we would need to tell them I’m pregnant and then they still won’t let my Husband in as we will be over the number of people allowed in the property (if you’re approved and then have a baby they won’t chuck you out). According to tenancy agreement they only need to be told once a baby is born.

The 45,000 a year income threshold no longer meets its purpose as that’s just minimum wage for two people. Not enough to rent privately in our area. You’d not even be approved. What this has led to is a huge number of people on the estate just not declaring their partner living with them but we wouldn’t lie like this.

It’s a two bed flat so it’s odd there’s a three person limit. It’s more than suitable for two children and two adults.

Has anyone got any advice?

what should we do?

With me going on maternity leave we cannot afford to leave this property. I also won’t be returning following maternity leave. So we will be earning just minimum wage.
should we just not move him in?
It just makes me sad that he won’t be living with us.
And before anyone judges us for getting pregnant in this situation. I got pregnant when we were living with parents (on honeymoon technically but that was our address). And we didn’t expect to not be able to stay living with my parents until it just stopped working and I had to move out.

So you’d rather commit fraud than live with your parents?

It doesn’t matter if it’s common in your culture. You got pregnant in an unstable situation straight away with a new partner. You did not think of your child(ren)’s best interests.

Will u be returning to key worker status after maternity? As nhs maternity pay usually is enhanced and u have to return for a minimum period or pay back. And I'm wondering if they class the total income from april/April so you will fall below that I assume if on maternity?

Shame on you, op.

This is the trouble with social housing, too many people with no scruples whatsoever happily gaming the system. And also pretending to be single parents as far as the welfare state is concerned, especially as UC dumb Decision Makers now seemingly accept that people are "separated" but still living under the same roof. Tenancies need to be reviewed on a regular basis, and time limited, along with every single existing social housing tenancy audited. It is grossly unfair that we have so many people struggling in the private rental sector when pisstakers are sitting pretty

If they allow 4 why did you bring it up as an issue?

There’s a minimum term of employment to get enhanced leave. Something like a year by the 25th week of pregnancy

Having worked as a housing officer for a local authority I can say that the rule about the number of people allowed in each property is often an attempt to not overwhelm the area and local services. So it's a matter of the population density of a specific area. Allowing an area to have a huge influx causes issues in that respect, so your flat with 4 rather than 3 and all of the other properties with similar excess might make a huge difference. And also some bedrooms are only suitable for one person, in the rules of the housing department. You might feel it's OK for 2, but they might disagree.
And you do need to be honest with them about your circumstances, it looks worse if you aren't.

Well she will be found out! The system always wins!
& she’ll probably lose the flat also as she will have inform the HS of any changes!
they will want all information again once the baby is born.

I know this is an older thread but god, the inhumanity. The system is BROKEN. Stop trying to point fingers at people who are trying to find or keep housing in an inherently unaffordable 'market'. Start looking at why we have very little social housing, 'affordable' housing that is unaffordable anyway, and in this instance, someone worried about not being allowed to live together with their husband and kids. Meanwhile, I live in London where billionaires are allowed to buy up properties as investments and leave them empty. I'm not sure why everyone is so accepting of this situation when government policy could do much to remedy it.