*Urgent:* Is it illegal to stay in a 1st floor 1 bedroom flat (private tenancy) with a newborn baby? Please Help! New Mum!

[MumsofAnarchy24]

I have recently renewed my 1 year tenancy agreement in my 1 bedroom 1st floor flat, 3 weeks later I found out I'm 12 weeks pregnant.

I will clarify I wasn't trying to conceive as I've been on the pill successfully for well over 10 years and according to my midwife, while I was ill in October the anti-biotics I was on probably affected my contraceptive pill and that's how I conceived.

I am very happy to be pregnant but I am scared that it isn't legal for me to stay in this flat with my baby and I am unsure of how to leave my tenancy if this is the case. When I moved in it was advertised for couples/working professionals, no pets and no children but there is nothing in my contract that definitively states no children, it just says no pets.

As far as I am aware there is no break clause in my agreement, admittedly I am not sure how I could check to see if this is the case. I am currently dealing with a lot of stress and difficulty getting my life organised for the baby's arrival as relationships soured at my work once I told my work that I was pregnant (unfair treatment, being made to work 55+hrs and generally being strict and unreasonable with me all because I asked for my hrs to be lowered back to my contracted 45hrs, the work is manual and I'm on my feet most of the day, with my shifts being between 12-15hrs each day 5-6 days a week).

So with that going on, I am scared to speak to my landlord who is lovely and we get on very well (never missed payments nor have we ever had any issues), as I am frightened that as with my work's response to my pregnancy, my landlord may not take the news well either.

I am happy to stay in the flat until my tenancy agreement ends and I am also happy to leave before then if I am not allowed to stay because of the change in circumstances.

I am not unreasonable and would be willing to give my landlord 3-5months notice to look for another tenant, I also do not mind helping him find another tenant. The only thing is that I'm unsure if the baby is allowed to live in this flat legally.

I may be overthinking this but with how badly it has affected my job, and how toxic and aggressively unco-operative my work has been towards me since I revealed my pregnancy, I am scared to put a foot wrong.

The only thing I am scared of is being told if I do leave before the agreement is up that I have to pay all rent owed til the date the tenancy agreement ends in a lump sum because I have ended the tenancy early. I need some advice urgently.

Also, teens are completely irrelevant to this thread and pp who doesn't like babies.

We were in a property that dated “no children” when I fell pregnant with Dd1, the landlord was fine about it short term, we did say we would move out before Dd1 turned 1. I think the main reason the landlord didn’t want children in the property was because it was furnished by him and also the property was on a working farm, he didn’t hate children.

Talk to your landlord.

@Coronawireless I think you may be misunderstanding why landlords ask how many people are in their property. 3 or more unrelated people in a rented property are classed as a House in Multiple Occupation (although in some areas it only needs additional licensing for 4 or more people).

It is a criminal offence for a landlord to have an unlicensed HMO, and a strict liability offence, meaning that even if they didn't know, the courts take the view that they should have known. The property tribunal website is full of cases where landlords are facing fines of £30k to £40k in almost every instance. Some clearly knew they were running illegal HMOs, but there are a lot who have been caught out because they hadn't been asking these sorts of questions on a regular basis.

I'm actually quite relieved to hear you say that you aren't a landlord.

I am a landlord and I very much doubt that your landlord will do anything more than offer his congratulations.
Landlords generally try to keep good tenants, and I can’t see any issue with a baby in a one bedroom flat.
My lovely tenant invites me round for cuddles with her adorable 6 month old daughter.
You might decide that the flat is no longer suitable for your needs once the baby is here, but that will be your choice. Please don’t worry.

And back to the OP, I hope you are reassured by all the sensible advice.

I'm a landlord, and it wouldn't make any difference to me. I let to all sorts of people in different circumstances, including those with children. I wouldn't make a special point of informing your landlord, maybe just mention in passing.

Good luck with your pregnancy and I hope things improve for work. As pp said, don't leave, better to go sick if needed. And make sure you follow everything up in writing with your manager.

Thank you to so many of you for your comments. I really do appreciate the support as I'm just so exhausted and stressed I can't think straight.

To anyone who thinks it's funny or that I'm silly for asking the question, I would like to simply say that when your work treats you like your barely human, you begin to believe it.

No I'm not aware of all the rights I have because I've contacted citizens advice and they say they can't offer me advice over email but they are only in office on Thursdays so i am waiting for them to call as I can't get through on the phone when I call them.

Acas have told me that I have to go through my union rep for further help as they can't offer legal advice.

My union has told me I haven't been with them long enough for them to weigh into the legal issues with work and have strongly advised me against rocking the boat as they believe I may be at risk of losing my job if I ruffle too many feathers.

My doctors have given me medical certificates suggesting that i work no more than 45hrs per week but my employer won't recognise this as a valid medical concern as they believe I am trying to "dictate my hrs" when really I'm just trying to take care of my baby as I'm really scared that all the stress and long hours could potentially cause harm to my baby. I feel like a bad mother when i work such long hrs, get home and have to eat something quick like baked beans on toast coz I'm so tired I can't stay awake long enough to be able to stand and cook at 1am.

I am very grateful for some of the help contained in these comments. I'm pretty sure the only way out is to find another job because my work will fight me every step of the way and if i take them to a tribunal they won't take it lying down and I don't wish to spend my whole pregnancy stressed and fighting some pitiful dispute over people who gets some satisfaction out of treating a pregnant employee like trash.

My baby means more to me than the unfair work situation, so I've gotta just suck up the unfair treatment I've received and leave for the sake of my child. I will continue to speak with CAB and my union to try to get more advice if i can and i will try that pregantthenscrewed as suggested by some of you.

But I fear that I will just have to bite the bullet and look for a job with a company that won't treat me so poorly because at least I'll be able to continue working until I'm due and hopefully it'll take off some of the stress.

My partner has been my rock through all this, its his first baby as well and hes been appalled at how run down i look day to day, when i first found out we were so happy and now we just feel frightened to be happy and frightened to tell our friends because we're so scared of the big M word (I don't even like typing it). It feels like the joy of my pregnancy is just being destroyed by the fear of the baby not surviving due to how worn out mentally and physically I am. I just wish i could focus my energy on baby and not on jumping through my work's hoops like a trained seaworld dolphin.

I keep getting told that by work that I need to be more considerate of the company and my colleagues as if I don't do 55hrs my coworkers will have to take on the extra hrs but I feel like thats an excuse to guilt trip me into not questioning them, because they know I'll feel bad for being the 'difficult' pregnant woman who can't just suck it up. I just hope things change soon 😔

So you already have a fit note recommending not doing more than 45 hours.

If you read the small print on the fit note, it says you 'may' be fit for work if your employer is able to accommodate the advice. It goes on to say that if the employer is unable to accommodate this, then you will be unfit for work. I'm paraphrasing as I don't have a fit note to hand, but it is a common misconception by employers to think that the GP's advice is purely a recommendation that can be disregarded.

I'm relieved because your knowledge appears somewhat patchy.

If you are planning to become a landlord in the future, I can recommend speaking to your Council. Lots provide free or discounted training for landlords to upskill them on their responsibilities. Ours has a specialised Landlord's Unit, but there are also various landlords associations which run CPD events and are a great resource.

The ll and housing is the least of your worries. Just chat to the ll and explain the situation and ask him what he thinks he would like you to do. That will be fine.

You’ll find it difficult to get another job if obviously pregnant. I’d actually go on long term sick leave. It really is making you mentally ill. The company is acting appallingly. Try to talk to CAB ASAP.

OP I’m really sorry to hear your situation with work and how you feel physically and mentally. I think you’ve maybe got into a (very understandable) tailspin of anxiety, and it’s affecting all areas of your life. So your work is incredibly stressful and then you find yourself arguing with your partner which is the last thing you need and worrying about the impact on the baby and then it’s sparked off into worrying about your home. Please try and stop and take a breath. Think about your priorities. Please don’t have any qualms about getting signed off even for a week or two, purely on mental health grounds if nothing else. Allow yourself some time to relax. Sit on your sofa. Drink a cup of tea, watch something funny, read a nice book, go for a walk with your partner. Think about money and what you need to cover and how easy or hard it would be to find another job. What will you lose in terms of maternity pay versus what will you potentially gain in lack of hostility etc? In the general scheme of things maybe this job isn’t so important and definitely not worth feeling like crap if you can possibly avoid it (without serious financial consequences). Your health is so important. Your self esteem is so important.

I really think you should call “pregnant then screwed too”, it exists solely for people in your situation, set up by someone who found herself in a similar one to you.

Please look after yourself.

Keep us posted

When we lived in a first floor flat it didn’t even cross my mind to tell the landlord that I fell pregnant (he definitely wasn’t on my list to inform)

I had the baby around the same time as the next year contract was due again we just carried on rolling it over - I guess as long as we paid our rent every month no issues. We did take advantage of the six month break clause as we found a two bedroom flat - no issues we left deposit retuned.

I also had only recently started my new job finding out I was pregnant and then was very sick - they also made me redundant when I was 8 months pregnant!! All very stressful but it did all work out. Even though I’d been there less than a year when made redundant. I was treated awfully & very isolated by the team i worked in,
I focused on the baby and looked for work when she was around 9 months and have never looked back!
Take care and look after yourself and baby first! Work can figure itself out (they don’t sound like nice people) and the landlord as long as they paid im sure will be all fine.

Hi there, I work in Homelessness and your landlord cannot evict you during a fixed term because you're pregnant. If there's no break clause you're able to stay until the end of the term. Once you've come towards the end of your term he will be required to serve you a S21 notice which at the moment is 2 months notice. This needs to be in a prescribed form called a 6A.

I'm not sure what kind of job you do that makes you work such long hours and so often - are you able to say the type of work?