Can I meet with a total of 7 people if several live together?

[Dramatica321]

Can I? I am planning on going to a friends for dinner. It will be her plus two other friends, me and my boyfriend (who lives with me). Then her parents will be in (2) but a different part of the house (it’s very big). So in total it will be 7 people but Me and my boyfriend live together, and her parents live together?

@raddledoldmisanthropist

Are any of them twins, OP? Surely no-one is going to say twins count as two people?

What about if two or three of the people are really short, that would be OK wouldn't it? Or is it by mass, like a lift, I can never remember.

I don’t think MN fantasy twins count at all. Cos like they usually don’t exist.

I think quite a few MN struggle to remember if they have 3, 4 or five children. And a few parents /IL have arisen from the dead.

It's five at the gathering, therefore totally fine (as long as you manage some social distancing/ventilation/other mitigation). Personally, I'm sticking to outdoor gatherings, but you're within the law to meet indoors in a Tier 1, medium risk area.

I had four friends round to toast marshmallows over an open fire in the back garden. DH and the kids were indoors. The gathering was for five people. We were 1m+ apart, in the open air. No problemo. The hysteria on here beggars belief.

Have all the sarcastic people replying actually read the legislation?
Which specific piece and section of the legislation are you referring to?

Please don't just say Coronavirus Act

Having read the legislation (am I the only one?!), my view is:

• It doesn't matter that some of you live together.

• if the parents aren't socialising at all (even with each other) whilst you and your friends meet, then it's legal because you have less than 6 people participating in a gathering. Gathering being defined as "two or more people being present in the same place in order to engage in any form of social interaction with each other, or to undertake any activity with each other."

• if the parents are socialising with each other, and the 5 of you are socialising elsewhere on the same premises, it's a bit of a grey area. It would depend on the interpretation by the courts of the words "the same place" in the definition of gathering. This legislation is new so there obviously haven't been any cases to test this yet.

Having read the legislation (am I the only one?!)
Please provide a link for your information and I will read it.

^ I should have added, assuming you're in tier 1 in England OP.

Thank you

Simone
I agree it’s a bit of a grey area and can understand op coming here to question this.

The rules are in the various Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 - there are 5 of them IIRC and all need to be read together.

You can find them for free on legislation.gov.uk

My understanding is that there are new Regs that have just come in for tier 2 and tier 3 btw, which I haven't got to grips with yet, but I'm assuming if OP is asking this question she's in tier 1.

If 5 of you are downstairs with a downstairs wc available and the parents are upstairs with a different bathroom then I can't see the harm.

That assumes you completely clean and ventilate the downstairs loo before the upstairs people come down.

@steppemum no it doesn't. It would be legal if the person upstairs had gone to waitrose instead. You wouldn't have to clean and ventilate the downstairs toilet before they got back with their shopping (when the guest had left).

This is another of the rules that Mumsnetters interpret their own way like 'only one hour of exercise allowed', in England.

you do know there was never any limit on the no of hours you were allowed to exercise for don't you? the one hour was the myth.

If the parents are in a sperate building, I'd go.

the upstairs people

Despite getting increasingly frustrated with some of the "Yes it's fine, go ahead and break the law for a dinner party" responses and the search for loop holes, this really made me smile. Puts me in mind of The Borrowers or something

@SimoneAndGarfunkel
Thank you.

I had four friends round to toast marshmallows over an open fire in the back garden. DH and the kids were indoors.

That conjures up a rather poignant image of your dh and dc with their Daily Mail sad faces pressed up against the window watching mummy and her friends having a jolly time

@MotherPiglet

The rule is 6.. with social distancing. I don't know why people dont understand this.

I know, it’s not exactly hard to count to six is it and SD hasn’t been stopped nor amended to not include children which many seem to think don’t count.

@HunkyPunk

I had four friends round to toast marshmallows over an open fire in the back garden. DH and the kids were indoors.

That conjures up a rather poignant image of your dh and dc with their Daily Mail sad faces pressed up against the window watching mummy and her friends having a jolly time

Yes, yes it does. So I made sure to draw the curtains 😂

I have a household of 5. So I can’t have a couple of mates round in the garden while all the kids are asleep are in bed?!??! All people with mulitiple kids can have no life forever more according to mumsnet. But others can have a gathering of 6 different househoulds. Ie just people without kids or with babysitters. Or we could use just a modicum of common sense. I stop interpreting the rules in its most severe form.

Boris called it the 'rule of 6' to make it simple - clearly not simple enough for some people judging by the number of posts I've seen on here asking if it's OK if 6 are in one bit but others are in another room/upstairs/out in the garden! It is 6 people on your property - unless more than 6 already live there in which case you can't have any visitors!

@Didyousaynutella

I have a household of 5. So I can’t have a couple of mates round in the garden while all the kids are asleep are in bed?!??! All people with mulitiple kids can have no life forever more according to mumsnet. But others can have a gathering of 6 different househoulds. Ie just people without kids or with babysitters. Or we could use just a modicum of common sense. I stop interpreting the rules in its most severe form.

Sorry but that’s the rules. Just because you feel like it would affect your social life is of no consequence. The rules aren’t there to be interpreted. They are rules and that’s it. What can’t people understand?

Sorry but that’s the rules.

No. Those aren't the rules. The rules are in the legislation, and sleeping children cannot count as part of a gathering as defined by the legislation 🤷‍♀️

@SimoneAndGarfunkel

Sorry but that’s the rules.

No. Those aren't the rules. The rules are in the legislation, and sleeping children cannot count as part of a gathering as defined by the legislation 🤷‍♀️

Where the line though? What if one of the children gets up and comes outside? Then there’s 7 in the gathering so the rule is broken straight off. Does the rule count upstairs and downstairs then? I can have 6 upstairs and 6 in my kitchen? As I read it, 6 in a household whether that’s out or in surely.

But “the line” as you calls it is discriminatory to families. 6 separate household mixing, catching it then taking it back to their respective households is far more risky than me having two mates in the garden and one of my kids possibly coming out for a cuddle. It’s still 4 in a garden.
So no the 6 rule is bollocks. And sod “the line”.