Pregnant and in a 1 bed housing association

[WildRubyCrow]

Hi,

I hope this is in the correct place!

I've not long discovered that I am pregnant, and my husband and I ate already living in a 1 bedroom apartment rented from a local housing association. My question/worry is that in time, as we would exceed the tenant limit on our contract that our social landlord could evict us as there would be too many humans so to speak (only 2 are allowed in our guaranteed lifetime tenancy).

Cab anybody please advise? We really love where we live (minus some of the people) and we would be in no rush to move to accommodate the new baby, we are sure we could manage just fine for the first few months in our 1 bedroom apartment whilst we waited for something larger but I'm concerned the landlord would have other ideas.

Thanks in advance!

[FTMaz]

Hi
I would just be open with the landlord. If you are good tenants I doubt they would be in a rush for you to move out and would prefer to keep people who pay their rent, keep the place nice etc. A baby doesn’t make any difference to them really. I think it’s a bad idea to not discuss with your landlord, they will find out and then it puts you in an awkward position.

[UnicornPrincessSarah]

@WildRubyCrow

Hi,

I hope this is in the correct place!

I've not long discovered that I am pregnant, and my husband and I ate already living in a 1 bedroom apartment rented from a local housing association. My question/worry is that in time, as we would exceed the tenant limit on our contract that our social landlord could evict us as there would be too many humans so to speak (only 2 are allowed in our guaranteed lifetime tenancy).

Cab anybody please advise? We really love where we live (minus some of the people) and we would be in no rush to move to accommodate the new baby, we are sure we could manage just fine for the first few months in our 1 bedroom apartment whilst we waited for something larger but I'm concerned the landlord would have other ideas.

Thanks in advance!

Hi is this privately rented from the HA or social housing they have provided you and you bidded on? as I'm in a council 1 bed property and my tenancy says 3 people can live here, but they don't actually class a baby/ child a person until they are 10

Once the baby is born if it's a social housing they may allow you to bid on 2 bedroom property I know that's what will happen for me with my council when baby comes

[WildRubyCrow]

@UnicornPrincessSarah

Hi is this privately rented from the HA or social housing they have provided you and you bidded on? as I'm in a council 1 bed property and my tenancy says 3 people can live here, but they don't actually class a baby/ child a person until they are 10

Once the baby is born if it's a social housing they may allow you to bid on 2 bedroom property I know that's what will happen for me with my council when baby comes

Hi,Thank you for responding, it's the latter but in my tenancy we can only have 2 people there which is why I'm worrying a bit!

[FlowersInAFlowerBed]

You're overthinking it the council won't care I just read of a woman with 4 kids living in a one bed flat and council won't move her hence going to the papers 🤷‍♀️ your flat with be aimed at 2 that's all as if they move everyone that's overcrowded 🫣

[hellomagnolia]

The child won't be on the tenancy, only on the household. You would be classed as overcrowded but whether the HA or local authority would move you anytime soon is another matter. But unless there's a specific reason that you cannot reside there with a child (ie you live in specialist/older persons accommodation) the HA are unlikely to care much.

[WildRubyCrow]

@FTMaz

Hi
I would just be open with the landlord. If you are good tenants I doubt they would be in a rush for you to move out and would prefer to keep people who pay their rent, keep the place nice etc. A baby doesn’t make any difference to them really. I think it’s a bad idea to not discuss with your landlord, they will find out and then it puts you in an awkward position.

Hi,

Definitely won't be hiding anything and I've never been in arrears or anything like that. I think I may be overthinking things!

[WildRubyCrow]

@FlowersInAFlowerBed

You're overthinking it the council won't care I just read of a woman with 4 kids living in a one bed flat and council won't move her hence going to the papers 🤷‍♀️ your flat with be aimed at 2 that's all as if they move everyone that's overcrowded 🫣

I think I may be too, thank you :)

[WildRubyCrow]

@hellomagnolia

The child won't be on the tenancy, only on the household. You would be classed as overcrowded but whether the HA or local authority would move you anytime soon is another matter. But unless there's a specific reason that you cannot reside there with a child (ie you live in specialist/older persons accommodation) the HA are unlikely to care much.

Thank you. We wouldn't be in a rush so to speak, we aren't homeless or anything I just hoped it wouldn't go the other way and they boot us out! Sounds unlikely though.

[CornishTiger]

They won’t end your tenancy. You need to go back on housing register and wait it out. Many many families have this. Please don’t worry

[SabreIsMyFave]

Is there nowhere at all nearby (that your social housing landlord can offer you,) that has 2 bedrooms? Maybe a 2-bed house, or even a 2 bed apartment? The landlord may be OK with you two living there for several years with the baby, but trust me, in no time at all, you will be craving a bigger place/an extra bedroom! When your baby is here, you will be knocked sideways by how much room all their shit takes up! 😆

Congratulations by the way!

[OpusGiemuJavlo]

If your landlord starts the process to evict you you will be high priority for being rehoused but whether this is likely depends on why they have this limit.

However a 1 bed flat with a separate living room is considered adequate and not overcrowded for up to 3 people even once the child is a teenager. You would only be classified overcrowded if you have a second child and even then not until the eldest is over 10 and the younger is over 12 months.

[WildRubyCrow]

@CornishTiger

They won’t end your tenancy. You need to go back on housing register and wait it out. Many many families have this. Please don’t worry

Thank you, I appreciate the reassurance!

[StarlightLime]

@FlowersInAFlowerBed

You're overthinking it the council won't care I just read of a woman with 4 kids living in a one bed flat and council won't move her hence going to the papers 🤷‍♀️ your flat with be aimed at 2 that's all as if they move everyone that's overcrowded 🫣

Going to the papers? Her choice to have 4 kids she couldn't accomodate!

[WildRubyCrow]

@SabreIsMyFave

Is there nowhere at all nearby (that your social housing landlord can offer you,) that has 2 bedrooms? Maybe a 2-bed house, or even a 2 bed apartment? The landlord may be OK with you two living there for several years with the baby, but trust me, in no time at all, you will be craving a bigger place/an extra bedroom! When your baby is here, you will be knocked sideways by how much room all their shit takes up! 😆

Congratulations by the way!

Thank you! :)

I will let the local authority and my housing association landlord know when I'm further along but we don't want to rush into accepting just anywhere when we are happy where we are. We rather wait for something local which I can guarantee they will have when push comes to shove so to speak! 😂

[WildRubyCrow]

@OpusGiemuJavlo

If your landlord starts the process to evict you you will be high priority for being rehoused but whether this is likely depends on why they have this limit.

However a 1 bed flat with a separate living room is considered adequate and not overcrowded for up to 3 people even once the child is a teenager. You would only be classified overcrowded if you have a second child and even then not until the eldest is over 10 and the younger is over 12 months.

Thanks for the reassurance! :)

[SabreIsMyFave]

@WildRubyCrow

Thank you! :)

I will let the local authority and my housing association landlord know when I'm further along but we don't want to rush into accepting just anywhere when we are happy where we are. We rather wait for something local which I can guarantee they will have when push comes to shove so to speak! 😂

Edited

OK fair enough. All the best! 🤗

[itsmeagainagain]

A) they won't know b) even if they know they won't care c) even if they knew and did care they would be unlikely to be able to rehouse you anyway. Lots and lots of families are overcrowded in both social housing and private rented/owned. You are massively overthinking this

[WildRubyCrow]

@SabreIsMyFave

OK fair enough. All the best! 🤗

Thank you 🤗

[WildRubyCrow]

@itsmeagainagain

A) they won't know b) even if they know they won't care c) even if they knew and did care they would be unlikely to be able to rehouse you anyway. Lots and lots of families are overcrowded in both social housing and private rented/owned. You are massively overthinking this

Overwhelming majority says I am! Thanks for your help!

[OlderGlaswegianLivingInDevon]

When the Social Housing tenancy says it's 2 people, it means it's not for 3 adults - so they don't want your best friend / aunty / his father / the lady down the road etc etc etc moving in too.

What you do now need to find out, is what age baby has to be before baby counts as half a person or a whole person.

Down here baby doesn't count until baby is one year old and counts as a half until aged 10.

So depending on the Social Housing providers in your area will depend on when you will be allowed to go on the housing list / start bidding for 2 beds.

[Notamum12345577]

You can’t be kicked out of a lifetime tenancy, only for persistent no payment of rent or persistent ASB. If you become overcrowded you will just go on the list for a bigger place (could take years though)

[FlowersInAFlowerBed]

For what it's worth you wouldn't even be considered as overcrowded in my area.

[FlowersInAFlowerBed]

@StarlightLime

Going to the papers? Her choice to have 4 kids she couldn't accomodate!

Yes she had two sets of twins whilst living in a one bed flat (apparently) single and on benefits... no idea why people think going to the papers is going to help in this situation but it was in the sun.

[UnicornPrincessSarah]

@WildRubyCrow

Hi,Thank you for responding, it's the latter but in my tenancy we can only have 2 people there which is why I'm worrying a bit!

Ok so yeah i don't think your have any issues whilst there a baby as I say not classed as a person until 10 but as soon as baby is born you can afford them and they will maybe let you bid for a 2 bed but could be a long wait, you can always phone the housing up yourself to find out but they are not going to evict you or throw you out social housing don't work like that and so many people are overcrowded these days due to shortage in social housing

[WildRubyCrow]

@UnicornPrincessSarah

Ok so yeah i don't think your have any issues whilst there a baby as I say not classed as a person until 10 but as soon as baby is born you can afford them and they will maybe let you bid for a 2 bed but could be a long wait, you can always phone the housing up yourself to find out but they are not going to evict you or throw you out social housing don't work like that and so many people are overcrowded these days due to shortage in social housing

Thank you, I was worrying over nothing. I will let them know once I'm further along but it seems like we'll just stay where we are until we can bid on a home. Thankfully we're not homeless so I'm certainly not going to complain!