Give up a room?

[MaxwellCat]

No council house hate please! I currently live in a 3 bed council house with 4 children, it’s a 3 bed on paper but technically 4 beds as it has a dining room but this is not counted as a bedroom and is considered a 3 bed (we are not entitled to a 4 bed) I want to move areas as I live in quite a rough area although our street is nice and quiet the area in general is a rough area and the schools in the area (more so secondary schools are not good) I would like to move to a better area as only moved down here for family support which was promised but never materialised. Anyway in order to make it sound more appealing to swap I was considering “downsizing” so losing the dining room and make it more appealing which could eventually be used as an extra bedroom so someone will get an extra bedroom and I would swap with a standard 3 bedroom. But would I be mad to give up the room? In order to live in a better area? I know how incredibly difficult it is to get a swap as I am on mutual exchange groups and I can’t see anyone wanting to move around here unless they are gaining something

Your children are only going to grow bigger, need bigger beds, room for study, to bring their friends round etc. the extra room isn’t just for a bedroom for one person, it equates to extra space for all of you .

To clarify we will never be entitled to any more rooms so I don’t want to get into a debate about council housing I was in an abusive relationship which is why I have a council house but we are considered adequately housed. So I do get that point but also this is a very rough area and gangs are a concern to me now the children are getting older so I can’t help but worry that’s more of a problem than having less space.

If you would stay quite local I wouldn't bother. Teenagers can travel. if you are talking about moving towns then I would consider it, but it'd depend on the swap. Teens can and have shared rooms since forever.

It would definitely be out of the area I have no reason to stay here any longer, the children also want to move and are not quite teens yet so no influences that will make them want to come back (my son is starting secondary in September and the school he has been allocated has an awful reputation) the kids also can’t play out here as we live on a main road so they never go out to play so would just be moving to improve life really it would be nice if they could play out and stuff like that.

If the DC are happy to share rooms in order to enable you all to live in a nicer area, I would.

Is it feasible/sensible for your DC to share rooms (ie do you have 2 boys and 2 girls?)?

Trouble with a lot of three bedroom houses is the size of the third bedroom so you might have to be cramped into the boxroom to leave the two bigger rooms for the DC to share. (I'm in an ex HA house and can cram a 4ft 'small double' and bedside table into the box room but that is literally all (although it does have built in cupboard). It's like sleeping in a ship's cabin!

A similar thread was started recently. My advice would be the same.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/property/4840001-moving-to-a-smaller-flat

Thanks for posting that thread I will have a look