Do I need to tell my estate agent I’m pregnant

[BabyMama2025]

Hello all,
so I am looking for some advice me and my partner have just put a offer for a one bed. As it’s what we can afford for now and I would like baby to be in the same room as us for more than 6 months. I am currently 29 weeks pregnant. Our offer has been excepted and references done. Only thing the estate agent and therefore landlord does not know we are expecting. I was just going to send them a message a few days after baby is born to let them know we have someone else living with us. However, now I’m not sure if I tell them now it could risk us the flat. If I wait and tell them later we could lose more money. As so far we’ve only paid the holding deposit. Also I haven’t seen our tenancy agreement yet and what it says but we did our documents saying how many people would be in the property and we said 2 only. As we just going to tell once baby is here. But now I feel like I would have more security knowing the landlord is fine with it at first. And wouldn’t want to cause any issues.
sorry for the long one but yes any advice would be much appreciated:)

That does not usually apply to babies, especially ones that don't actually exist yet.

I wouldn't, it might spook some landlords about a potential drop in income when on maternity leave.

“Someone else is living with us” - I don’t know why this is funny 😂

It's not necessary in my view tbh

I rent out a one-bed flat and, in that borough, you are required to have a landlord licence. The council tried to claim my flat was only suitable for one person, which I queried and was instantly fixed. I don’t know what the rules are around an infant, but I would double-check whether a licence is needed in your area and how an infant in the property would affect it.

You really don’t understand the rental market, do you? 😆

😀😀😀

I do, and I'm a landlord. Very little negotiation. None of our tenants make offers on rent, just pay what we charge.

And have you not considered that in an area with a shortage of properties, tenants might have to offer more than the asking price rather than negotiating downwards?

Never happened for us, but wouldn't stop them if they did want to do that. Sadly, none of my properties are on the rental market at the moment, and one has just gone up for sale.

Our fairly comprehensive rental contract for the period 2005-2011 said that the tenant will not allow children under the age of 18 to live at the property without the written permission of the landlord and that permission will not be unreasonably withheld.

The line below said exactly the same about pets.

We didn’t have children at that point but did have some small pets in a cage. We never sought permission and the LL never visited to see we were in breach of contract.

OP, it depends what’s in your contract.

Due to my job I put around 4-5 rental offers a month for clients, in the past 2 years not one has been under the advertised price and bidding wars are not unusual.
There are likely to be multiple people trying to secure this property and I woudl advise OP to do anything and everything she can (without actually lying) to secure it. If the Tenancy agreement when it arrives clearly states you can't reproduce there (doubt it) then deal with it, until then keep quiet until baby arrives

As far as i am aware for the purpose of housing law, a baby does not constitute another occupant, or put another way “a person”, until they are over one years old and then they only count as half a person until they are 10 years old.

As there is not a baby yet it is not any bodies beeswax leave alone a letting agent.

If you are a heterosexual couple in your 20s or 30s and the house you're renting has space for a family, I doubt they will be surprised or put off by the prospect of a baby!

(Agree no need to tell them until after moving in, though!)

Can landlords really evict a tenant for getting pregnant and having a baby??

Don't bother, it might wreck your chances of getting the apartment. I've read stories of women who didn't know they were pregnant until they gave birth. So if they ask when the baby is born just say you didn't know 😂

No but she hasn't moved in yet so they might decide to rent to someone else if they don't want a baby there

This is correct, the LL hasn't confirmed that they can have the property yet and there might be others in the running. Being pg (and potential maternity leave) will not count in OP's favour.
Once they are (hopefully) in then they can not be evicted for having a baby unless it breeches the contract in some way and even if it does (which is very very unlikely) evictions are taking up to a year right now