Staying somewhere else

[LorraineQuiche]

Good morning wise mumsnetters,
I’ve been looking everywhere online and can’t seem to find a definite answer... wonder if you can help?
We are having a new bathroom fitted next week, we can’t cancel as I hoped as tradesmen are still able to work. We were planning to stay somewhere else as I am asthmatic and last time we had work done, I had an asthma attack from all the dust etc. We were hoping to stay in an air bnb (house to selves) for 3 nights, down the road - is this allowed? We would be home schooling and working, keeping to ourselves... but don’t want to do the wrong thing or be fined. The Airbnb host has said she is allowed to book people if our home is uninhabitable... not sure if it is classed as that?
Thank you 🙂

Not sure if it’s allowed but I would do it anyway as surely it’s safer for your family if you’re staying in a self contained air bnb rather than around workmen who might not distance well?

I would imagine it goes against the rules because we're not meant to be staying away from our homes overnight. Having said that, my personal view is that renting an airbnb for a reason such as yours is acceptable. The rationale makes sense and I see it as low risk, provided the airbnb host deep cleans the property between rentals and socially distances if they let renters into the property.
I'm actually going to be in a similar position to you soon, OP, as we're having a new kitchen and bathroom fitted. If it's going to become a problem for us I would happily book a local airbnb for a night or so.

It's perfectly within the rules if staying in your house would put you directly at risk of illness or harm re, asthma attack. Schedule 3a, Part 1, para 2 (7)c to be precise, "to avoid illness, injury, or risk of harm".

See here
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/1374/schedule/3A/part/1

We were in exactly the same position. We had works scheduled that would last at least 4 weeks (probably more if we are in the house). We looked at getting an air B and B. It seemed the most sensible and safest option as we would be increasing risk of catching or transmitting covid if we stayed. It would also have been incredibly disruptive as the work was being carried out on all 3 bedrooms and we are working from home AND homeschooling. I could not see that my position was covered in the regs but we didn’t have a specific risk of harm unless increase in covid risk could be called that. We potentially could be covered under general reasonable excuse as the exceptions are non exhaustive but was worried that we would be fined by over zealous police officer, despite it being by far the safest option. We ended up postponing but we really do need the works done so we may have to just go for it soon. I agree that increase in asthma is probably covered by risk of harm by the way.

Fabulous, thank you for your helpful answers and taking the time to reply