Bedroom too small - LA help please

TJ27

red40 wrote: »

There is only guidance on room sizes, there is no legislation in existance that gives room sizes, mainly because all houses will have different features. The only reference to a room size is that it is 'reasonably' suitable, the good or ideal room never existed in the legislation.

That's true. Personally I use the 6.5 sq metre thing as a rule of thumb. If a room is less than that but well proportioned and laid out I don't worry too much. As a rough guide for "reasonableness" I think it's OK though.

But isn't it the case that most notices served by local authorities are based on guidance rather than specific legislation? Next week for example, on 23rd July, new fire safety guidance is being published by LACORS which all councils in England (and probably Wales) will be using as a standard for HMOs. It's been drafted by chief fire officers and the CIEH, and has gone through quite a lengthy consultation period. Whereas it too is only guidance, it will become the standard document used when serving means of escape notices in all of England and Wales.

MissMoneypenny

QuirkyChemistry wrote: »

It was marketed as a 5 bed house and there were 5 of us living in it (students).

When was this and was it registered as an HMO?

red40

TJ27 wrote: »

But isn't it the case that most notices served by local authorities are based on guidance rather than specific legislation?

Absolutely TJ, the notice is a legal document afterall. The point of this thread is that it gives people reading it the impression that there are legal room sizes when considering a HMO or single occ houses, when regardless of rule of thumb or what guidance there is, the simple fact remains that there isn't any legal room sizes. It would be better to inform new and existing landlords and tenants for that matter the simple truth. If a small room can be rented and the occupier is happy to live there, is there any reason the council should say otherwise.

On a different matter, the draft fire safety guidance is only what has been put together from existing documents already in circulation, the Building Regulations, British Standards, Manchester guide and the London Guide, etc. Its just another form of circular 12/92. The reason of its existence is to try and 'unite' the requirements of all the above documents, which has always been there anyway. The problem has been that councils and fire authorities interpreted them differently.