Mutual exchange overcrowding q

dasophster

A relative of ours has a large three bedroom house under a different housing assoc than our own and they want to swap with us, we have a three bedroomed flat. In terms of square footage and room size both properties are considerably larger than average and both have three double bedrooms, albeit with one of them being on the long and narrower side. Where we are now we have no garden and my husband is starting to get really depressed about the children growing up in a flat, when we moved here we were insecurely housed for various reasons and so we just wanted the security but the kids were much smaller then and so it wasn't as much of an issue.

The problem is we have five children though they are all boys under ten and one of them is under one so doesn't count as a person when it comes to overcrowding. We would rather not move to a three bedroom and I know if we exchanged within our housing assoc they would not allow us to move into a three bedroom only to a 4/5 bedroom, but we have been trying to swap for nearly three years now and have got nowhere, nobody wants to downsize and especially not to a flat and we know that our relative is not going to mess us around. We aren't quite overcrowded enough to be considered for a 4 bedroom via the council or internal housing association bidding system, we have to have 7.5 people apparently, and our local council won't even let us register as you have to be in need of at least two extra bedrooms now, and/or have a disabled family member and a whole bunch of other needs we don't have.

I've been doing some reading and while I can't find our relative's particular housing assoc's policy it seems some housing assocs will allow 4 children over one in a 3 bedroom provided that all the bedrooms are doubles and will approve swaps where this is the case, as well. Just wondering whether anyone else has moved via mutual exchange to a property the same size or smaller even though by some criteria this would be classed as overcrowding? Or is it a no-go and we should just forget it? Xx

fidgit

The only way you'll know for sure is to approach your relatives HA directly. We live in a 3 bed house and have been looking for an exchange for a while, we've had two different families, both with 4 children, interested in ours but our HA have said no because it's only classed as a 5 person house (I've queried the 0.5 person thing for really young children, but it got me nowhere).

On the other hand would your relative have enough people living with them to qualify for your 3 bed flat? For someone to take our place they need two children of opposite sexes where one is over 10, or 3 children. But not 4, because that's too many!

dasophster

Thanks. I know this HA allows one spare bedroom in any property you're swapping in to and our relative has two adult sons living with him. When we have had others with similar family set ups wanting to swap with us in the past, our HA has approved the swap from our side but for various reasons it hasn't gone through. I suppose we can only ask but not getting our hopes up. There are loads of families who are considered overcrowded in a 3 bed but not considered overcrowded enough for a 4 bed, and there aren't many 4 bedroom properties in London and surrounding areas. I'd move outside of London in a heartbeat but hubby is a black cab driver and fuel and expenses are extortionate as they are and also he is expected to do errands etc for family as his culture is very family oriented-and this wouldn't change if we moved xx