3 kids 1 room / renting

[Random458]

Hi all

We are renting a 2 bedroom flat. Kids are 5 and 3. Unexpectedly fell pregnant with 3rd and really worried about space now

I have looked around for a 3 bed rental however they are around £1800 where we live. Our rent right now is £1100

Problem is the 2nd room is a box room with an awkward wall which means the biggest we could fit in there is a single bed + a cot at an angle - we would never be able to fit our bed in there so we can't even swap rooms

If you're a landlord/have any experience, would you ask us to leave as we have 3 in one box room? Our plan is to put a junior bunkbed in for the 2 and a cot for the baby once they're 6 months

If we get asked to leave whilst i'm on maternity then we are stuck as on paper we won't have the income for a 3 bed, but obviously we have some savings which we'd have to use to pay rent till I go back

I'd keep the baby with you for as long as possible, not 6 months.

So would I. My brother in law was in his cot until,he was fine (with the side off) in his parents room.

I'd keep baby in with you till they need their own toddler bed which is around 2 onwards. Then you have enough time to make the needed adjustments like to look around for a 3 bedroom property within your budget.

As a landlord I'd want to check if there were local rules about crowding and how many people were allowed to occupy a space. You might need to check that with the council. If you have a living room as well as the two bedrooms, it might not be an issue. If there was a concern about bedroom usage, would it be feasible to put a sofa bed for yourselves in the living room and the two older children in what is currently your room when you want the baby to be away from you at night?

didn't think of that at all lol. Yes you're right. We could set up the cot in our room and they can stay with us till we are able to move to a 3 bed. It would be less crowded too, was dreading how tight the box room would become, plus with them waking each other up

We have a living room so can definitely put sofa beds in there! We will check the rules around occupants etc, thank you all!

My brother in law was in his cot until,he was five not fine!

You can fit two toddler beds or a cot and a toddler bed half under an ikea kura bed (so half poking out)

@Takeresponsibilityforyourownactions absolutely used contraception. Don't need to explain anything to you :-)

Thanks all for the helpful suggestions! I will take a look on Ikea

can you get something like this and then you can get normal bunk beds for the other room?

cot bed bunk beds!

@PotteringAlonggotkickedoutandhadtoreregister oh wow, I love the cot bed bunks!! What a clever idea. Thank you so much for sending that through! I will show DH tonight 😀

If you can’t afford rent for a bigger property then could you apply for a council property?
you might get a 3 bed or at least the second bedroom would be bigger?

Unlikely. Baby isn't considered needing its own room till 12 months and even then they wouldn't be considered crowded enough.
We had to have our house demolished due to structural damage so had to move into my in laws converted, uninsulated garage. With our 3 children one whom is disabled and when I approached the council our band was still only band 2 and would be a 14 year wait.