Pregnant and have a 9 year old... need some council housing advise..

[Jessie2017]

I moved into a council property after the separation of my partner and have since met someone else and been happy for the last 3 years, he moved in and obviously not I'm pregnant, we have a 2 bed but my 9 year old daughter room is more of a box room and can only fit her bed in, there is no way we could put a cot in there and also surely with her age they wouldn't expect us to put a baby in her room?

Just wanted some advise as not sure what to do as we couldn't afford to privately rent.

I don't think the council has to offer you a three bed but i don't see any harm in asking or looking for an exchange. In three years you will be on a better position and my three year old still sleeps in a cotbed so the little one won't need too much room.

A possibility is changing your room into a room for the children, change your daughters room into your storage and dressing room and getting a sofa bed downstairs to sleep on.

Good luck

To be honest, I've worked since I left school, had my first child at 19 and put myself through evening college to get a good job, had another child when I was 23 and only had six weeks off work (and still studying!), I'm just really looking forward to a full year off with this baby, you can miss so much in that first year and you never get it back. Being slightly squashed is a small compromise for me, our bedroom is big enough for us dd and new baby, my son has his own room and another year or so won't be too bad

Sounds good! I took really really short leave with all of mine so know it's doable (ill health or recovery excluding) but think a lot of people don't realise that 1 yr is a luxury not a necessity. It is a personal choice though so no criticism either way.

If you pay full rent and your partner has a good job, why don't you just rent somewhere more suitable privately?

Yes I agree 100%. If we were struggling with bills or my partner ending up out of work I'd go back a lot sooner. This will def be our last child though so fingers crossed I get to enjoy the time off this time! Until I can afford to retire in about 45 years!!

Assuming you have a full income coming in through your partner, maybe look into private rent? Some HAs will help you find landlords that will accept housing benefit.

user1484247439
Thanks for your understanding comment and yes you are right :)

FrankAndBeans We don't claim housing benefit, my partner got himself into some debt a couple of years back and we have to wait 2 years at least till his credit is back on track so would be hard to rent with credit checks etc x

this sets out the rules on overcrowding

england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/overcrowding

are both bedrooms and lounge over 50sq feet?

your baby won't be counted as a "person" for overcrowding purpose until he or she is 1 and only counts as "half a person" until the age of 10.

as such you certainly won't be overcrowded before baby is 1. after that if baby is a girl then children would be expected to share. also if you have a living room of over 50 sq ft then regardless of sex of baby you won't be overcrowded as living room counts as a bedroom regardless of whether you use it as one

as others have said you can move your bed over to fit cot in for 1st year at least.

Is your living room bigger than either bedroom ? A friend had a di liar problem and she swapped her bedroom and the living room as it was bigger and that helped.
If not then like others have said , cot in your room and then bunk beds further down the line

di liar - similar !

I'd stay put in your position. You can fit a cot in your room, you may need to remove the bedside table, that's what we did. If your baby is a girl you could then get bunk beds in your dd's room. I've seen 3 kids 14,16,18 share a room the size of your dd's (bunk bed with drawer as third bed). It will be a squash but that doesn't make kids unhappy. Quite the opposite in fact, both my kids like sleeping in with me and dh.

Where do you live? Your local council needs to have an allocation policy that will be unique to your area. Have a look at what you may qualify for. However as people have said the baby is unlikely to qualify as a full person until they're one and if the kids are the same sex they may be expected to share.
I would recommend strongly that you look into a mutual exchange, councils schemes are not usually that generous with overcrowding.
In terms of privately renting I would consider this a last resort. Your council tenancy provides you with a lot of security from eviction and is not something you should give up unless you have to or you're buying somewhere.
As to the comments about your choices, ignore them. You cannot apply for a bigger flat before you get pregnant in council housing, so people inevitably end up overcrowded. What other option is there? Never get pregnant if you're a council tenant?

Also look into side cots for your bed. It saves a lot of space.

Hope that's helpful

Isittimeforwineyet - rightly said, yes very helpful thank you :)
You have to expect some people to give negative comments I guess, I was scared to post but it is what it is, just needed the advise.
Thank you

I wasn't been negative. I understand you had a harsh few years with ex. What I was saying is you were housed perfectly adaquately for you and child. It was your choice alone to then move partner in, then your choice to have another child. All is perfectly fine. But it's then not the councils fault that your home is now not to the size you would prefer.

Sorry if that's harsh. But it's life. Life is a series of choices. You could have chosen to not have a second child, or to move to a different property or location first beforehand. Or have a child now but work with the current logistics you have. It's your life. You cannot expect others to compensate for what you decide.

We have a one bed flat. We chose to have one, then second child, knowing full well this is where they would most likely be growing up. I cannot now complain of 'overcrowding' as have Dh, myself and two primary age children here.

I think you need to just look at it from a different perspective. Your now in that position, and from info not likely to move yourselves in the next few years, so you need to look at all solutions you do have at your disposal like people have mentioned for it to suit.

This really isn't a hardship there are people lots worse off. Council won't help as baby won't count until they're one, and if it's a girl they can share till 16. You can easy fit a crib In your room.

I would suggest to begin with cot in your room & then if your living room ceiling height allows, have a mezzanine/loft bed built into lovely no room. See photos

DD can then move into,your room, your clothes can mostly stay in there with her. Older Baby in DDs room.

Use living room as a family room & when kids are in bed, you climb up tye ladder & sleep in the loft bed.

Lovely no room should have been living room

An old friend did this in similar circumstances as she couldn't afford to buy bigger in the area she lived in & loved, so to keep good school, parks etc, this was the compromise they made - it worked

I'm with art on this one. You had a home suitable for you and dd. Brill you met someone after your ex but why should the council rehome you as you wanted another baby

You can post on local fb sites for a house swap. Might be someone who wants to go from 3 to 2

But doubtful you will qualify for a 3bed house ESP as baby isn't born yet and can share with dd in bunk bed /cot under cabin bed /or you can get bottom cot bunk beds

Look I'm not after a 3 bed, I'm after a larger 2nd bedroom, as the previous person said, accidents happen and council tenants do fall pregnant, its no different to privately renting but you can exchange and you can get given a bigger house if your needs are correct which is a bonus for being a council tenant) I'm not being awkward but if you expand your family then the council do sometimes help.

All I've asked on here is whether I can get given a bigger two bed, it was a question to see if anyone else had been in similar situation, if I have to share with baby for long term then that's fine.

Just because people live in council housing doesn't mean they just have to deal with it, we pay our rent like an private tenant, when I moved into my house was told by council that the house for for 3 people ONLY and she even double checked I had one child as the 2nd bedroom is so small...

I will happily exchange but didn't come on hear for a lecture just some advise...

There are people that are worse off than me i understand but as I said I wanted advise not criticism..

Now I know how celebs feel being scrutinised!!!!

Don't let people get you down op. I live in a 2bed and we choose to have another baby knowing the 3rdwould have to be in with us for a while. My age is creeping up on me and I wanted another so was now or never. You may well be offered a bigger. Are you on the list with updated details? I updated ours to say I was expecting. We have 2boys 9 and 7 and now entitled to bid on 3 beds. Depending on what area your happy to live in you may be lucky

Don't worry OP, other people's digs and judgements don't matter a jot. You have a problem to solve. I guess all you can do is put yourself out there for a swop, speak to the housing people about a move and in the meantime, make plans for how to make your current place work in case the move doesn't come about.

Go to your local authority website and download the housing allocation policy. Where I work, we have low, medium and high band for housing need. You are currently adequately housed so would be in low band. Once your baby is born, you would have a home visit to assess overcrowding. (measure bedrooms) the size of bedrooms would indicate which band, your dd is currently 1/2 unit, your and partner are 1 unit each. Baby would be 1/2 unit. Your dd becomes 1 unit at 10.

Lacking 1 room = medium
Lacking 2. = high
However, in my area, if you are sharing a bedroom with a child over the age of 6 months, WITH NO ALTERNATIVE, you would be high band.