Housesharing and support bubble

[Flowersinthewindowstill]

I live in a houseshare (flat in London) but until the last week had been living in the flat entirely alone. I developed relatively severe mental health problems during the lockdown, which I'm still recovering from. Once it was allowed, I formed a support bubble with my boyfriend and he's the only person I've seen regularly since the end of June.

A new housemate has recently moved in, but is constantly out working, I've seen them once in the time they've moved in. Whilst they're very friendly, it's not like living with a genuine friend or family member who could provide support in a crisis or if I was ill.

Does anyone know if you're legally counted as separate households if you're on different tenancy agreements? We're in Tier 1 in London at the moment, but I imagine we'll soon be Tier 2. For the sake of my sanity, I'd like to keep my boyfriend as my support bubble, otherwise I will have basically 0 human contact again for months.

Does anyone know how this works?

The gov.uk site defines a household as ‘a group of people (who may or may not be related) living at the same address and who share cooking facilities, bathrooms or toilets and/or living areas’ - no mention of tenancy agreements unfortunately.

The only way to live with her & bubble with your boyfriend would be if she was happy to bubble with him too, so...

Is there any way one of you can move in with the other?

Is your boyfriend in a single household? If so, it should be fine.

No, he's living with his brother. It's not really possible to move in at short notice as A) I'm in a house share where I can't really move my boyfriend in B) He has a business (manual) based in a different location that he can't really just ditch to move here.

I'm so worried about it as he's literally my only contact at the moment and just don't see how my mental health will survive round 2 of total social isolation.

According to the letter of the law you're not meant to, but honestly, I would. The rules have been set up in a thoroughly unfair way for people who don't live with their DP.

I can understand limiting household contacts, but I think there should have always been provisions for those who live alone and couples.

The government website is currently saying that couples who don't live together but are in an 'established relationship' don't need to distance. So as long as they don't take that down I presume it might be OK.

id do it anyway, but if he wears a mask in communal areas then maybe your housemate would overlook it

but also, i think if there was another lockdown, it wouldnt be the same as before, and you could actually meet your boyfriend outside in a cafe etc. I dont think its feasible to do an extended lockdown. I think it would only be a few weeks max

hugs though, you sound really anxious

I think my housemate (based on my limited social interaction with him) has a girlfriend who has been over a few times already. So if he continues seeing her in the house I guess he can't really criticise.

yeah, he might be just as worried as you as to what youd think if he had his gf over