Over crowding?

Building_Surveyor

i doubt the LL would get in trouble, they are probably unaware. Unless all are on the tenancy the onus is on the tenant to inform the LL of who is living there.

if its privately rented the council wont do anything unless they can legally class you as homeless due to severely overcrowded conditions in which case they would rehouse them.

However the tenants may be happy with the current set up, or it may just be temporary.

lighting_up_the_chalice

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

...and, on a serious note here, some people here have tried to report a Council house to the Council as being overcrowded (because there is no doubt whatsoever that it is).

Did it actually work? Errr...well...no...because Councils generally have guidelines (I believe adapted for more "overcrowded times") that have absolutely derisory measures to work out whether a property is going to be officially proclaimed as overcrowded or no.

I don't recall the exact details, but the net result was that 10 people in a 3 bedroom house IS very overcrowded in anyone's book - unless its the Council deciding ...in which case it suddenly transmogrifies into "totally acceptable level" because the rules have been twisted so much on that point to help cram extra people in 9due to the shortage of available Council housing).

I suspect that those errr....rather "generous" guidelines have carried over into other sectors of housing besides the public sector one:eek:

So Mr/Mrs Sensible In the Street knows very well that each individual adult or couple needs a bedroom each etc - but that simply won't carry over into "official rules" in the 21st century:cool:

The landlord (including local authorities) can only commit an offence if they were aware of the overcrowding (or should reasonably have been aware) at the point of letting. If Mr and Mrs Dont-believe-in-contraception decide to rent a 1 bed flat then spend the next 10 years popping out 10 offspring, it's not the LL who is responsible (The obvious exception applies).

The only DUTY a local authority have if the overcrowding is due to children present at the point of let meeting certain ages (1 or 10), is to make reasonable steps to ensure that the tenant has applied for re-housing.

The statutory definition of overcrowding is contained within S10 of the 1985 Housing Act. It's a pretty harsh definition and most social housing providers have a far more enlightened definition within their own allocation policies.

lighting_up_the_chalice

bodmil wrote: »

They'll have a lounge so probably have it set up as a two bed with the babies in their room, they're both definitely under 1. They're very quiet and won't talk if I say hello unfortunately, but I definitely wouldn't want to report anything!

Assuming the landlord is even aware of the extent of occupation, children under 1 aren't counted (under 10 if number of rooms is the issue) and a lounge can be counted as a bedroom. So it sounds as if they aren't overcrowded at all. Well, legally at least.