housing, overcrowded

gcasson

Housing Act 1985, Part 10
i am overcroweded and have been offered a council house, the rooms in the house i am living in currently are too small, but the estate agent says i cant leave someone on the forum stated Housing Act 1985, Part 10 this law , but i dont understand how it applies ??? and what i can do?

i am in 12 month tenancy and have only been here 9 months??

BitterAndTwisted

Are you saying that you have a fixed-term tenancy agreement and it has another three months until expiry? If so, your agent is correct: you cannot give notice and stop paying the rent unless your landlord formally agrees to an early surrender. If they do, they would be entitled to ask you to pay their reasonable expenses in finding a replacement tenant.

In your position I would accept the Local Authority property, move out and try to reach an agreement with the agent/landlord to pay the rent which you will owe if they won't release you from your contract. I acknowledge that having to pay two lots of rent could be an unacceptably heavy burden but I don't see that you have any choice under the circs.

Jowo_2

According to that act, how are you specifically overcrowded - too many occupants for the number of rooms, and/or too small in physical size? You've declared yourself overcrowded but not detailed how exactly it has been breached.

I'm not familiar with the legislation but here it indicates that particular legislation is of limited use for the purposes of serving notice and has a secondary act relating to it.

http://www.lacors.gov.uk/lacors/ContentDetails.aspx?id=16604


Here it says "The legal definition of overcrowding is very strict and hasn't been updated since 1935. Sadly, there may be little you can do about cramped conditions if they don't fall within this outdated legal definition, which is explained below"

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/overcrowding




http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/overcrowding

G_M

the rooms in the house i am living in currently are too small,

More information needed

BitterAndTwisted

I can't figure out how this alleged over-crowding has anything to do with the tenancy agreement. Presumably the OP wasn't frogmarched at the point of a gun and compelled to sign an AST against their will.

G_M

OP has moved in friends/family so now there are 3 people sleeping in each room? So room too small?

Cupboard under stairs being used as bedroom, but this 'room' is too small?

Jowo_2

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I can't figure out how this alleged over-crowding has anything to do with the tenancy agreement. Presumably the OP wasn't frogmarched at the point of a gun and compelled to sign an AST against their will.

I'm not particularly au fait with the legislation either.

The Shelter link made clear that one outcome is that a person can apply for social housing and be treated as a priority due to overcrowding but didn't indicate that the tenant could get out of their private tenancy on this ground. The OP has secured social housing on those grounds but its not clear to me if they can escape the last 3 months of their private tenancy agreement.

There is a cap on LHA for households, plus the maximum number of bedrooms for the rate is 4, so in the housing benefit calculations, there is no capacity for huge properties and high HB anyway, thus encouraging over crowding for some households.

PasturesNew

From that shelter link

...the floor area of a room also determines how many people can sleep in it:

floor area 70 - 89 sq ft (6.5 - 8.4 sq m approx) = 1 person

70 square feet would be 7'x10' .... much roomier than most box rooms, making most houses 'overcrowded' if anybody sleeps in a box room

Mine was 6'x7' when I was 10-29 and still at home.

bris

This has no impact on a private tenancy agreement. The OP put themselves in this position but only now bring it up because they have been issued a council house. There is no get out OP so the best thing to do is hope for some goodwill from the LL. Worst case scenario is you have to pay the last three months.

mustrum_ridcully

PasturesNew wrote: »

From that shelter link


70 square feet would be 7'x10' .... much roomier than most box rooms, making most houses 'overcrowded' if anybody sleeps in a box room

Mine was 6'x7' when I was 10-29 and still at home.

Ah but was there a dining room and/or sitting room?:D If so you could have slept there. A room is a living room, bedroom or large kitchen.

I've chatted to various East European and have been told it was (and still is to a large degree) the norm for 'living rooms' to double-up as bedrooms.

Wee_Willy_Harris

If the landlord KNOWINGLY contravenes Section X of the 1985 Housing Act at the outset of the tenancy, he commits an offence.....

331. Penalty for landlord causing or permitting overcrowding.


(1) The landlord of a dwelling commits a summary offence if he causes or permits it to be overcrowded.

(2) He shall be deemed to cause or permit it to be overcrowded in the following circumstances, and not otherwise—

(a) if he or a person effecting the letting on his behalf had reasonable cause to believe that the dwelling would become overcrowded in circumstances rendering the occupier guilty of an offence;

(b) if he or a person effecting the letting on his behalf failed to make inquiries of the proposed occupier as to the number, age and sex of the persons who would be allowed to sleep in the dwelling;

(c) if notice is served on him or his agent by the local housing authority that the dwelling is overcrowded in such circumstances as to render the occupier guilty of an offence and he fails to take such steps as are reasonably open to him for securing the abatement of the overcrowding, including if necessary legal proceedings for possession of the dwelling.

(3) A person committing an offence under this section is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale and to a further fine not exceeding one-tenth of the amount corresponding to that level in respect of every day subsequent to the day on which he is convicted on which the offence continues.

Be warned, Section X overcrowding regs are very different from the overcrowding priority stipulations used by the council when allocationg housing priortiy.