living room as a sleeping area

Anthillmob

theres a thread in benefits that mentions that a living room mustnt be classed as a sleeping area. i dont want to hijack the thread so thought id ask here instead.

is this correct in the case of overcrowing in a council flat? only this is what we have had to do as we are about to have our second child. we almost have 'top points' for a move and will once baby is born but we are being penalised because our rent is always in arrears because we pay it monthly by direct debit as opposed to weekly which would keep us in credit.

DrFluffy

I'm not sure, but I do know that a large proportion of people in and around the 'true' East End of London live like this - it's not uncommon to find an 8 member family living in 2 rooms...

Is there any reason why you have to pay monthly, if weekly would help your cause?

milkydrink

Anthillmob wrote: »

theres a thread in benefits that mentions that a living room mustnt be classed as a sleeping area. i dont want to hijack the thread so thought id ask here instead.

is this correct in the case of overcrowing in a council flat? only this is what we have had to do as we are about to have our second child. we almost have 'top points' for a move and will once baby is born but we are being penalised because our rent is always in arrears because we pay it monthly by direct debit as opposed to weekly which would keep us in credit.

If you were to overpay a little each month, you would catch up & in a few months be paying a month in advance.

Say its £100 a week. If you paid £100 extra per month, in 4 months you would be paying a months in advance rather than arrears, or £50 a month in 8 months you would be in advance.

Anthillmob

we pay monthly because we get paid monthly. the 2 rent free weeks at christmas should hopefully bring us into credit but obviously not for long.

milkydrink

Anthillmob wrote: »

we pay monthly because we get paid monthly. the 2 rent free weeks at christmas should hopefully bring us into credit but obviously not for long.

I understand what you are saying. But you are paying monthly in arrears & its susposed to be in advance. If you overpay what you can every month then you will be paying in advance & able to be rehoused.

What you need to do is work out your yearly rent (taking into account any free weeks), then divide it by 12. When you have "caught up" are are paying monthly in advance, then paying this amount will even it out over the year for you nicely.

Anthillmob

were already overpaying, only by about £30 on the advice of our (useless - he really is) housing officer.

i shall go down there in person and see if we can come to some resolve.

Engelbert

http://england.shelter.org.uk/advice/advice-6497.cfm

In terms of statutory overcrowding then a living room is counted as sleeping space and a child under 1 doesn't count at all, children under 10 count as half. You probably aren't statutorily overcrowded, but ask for a copy of the transfer policy to see how points are awarded.

Re the rent - your tenancy is that you need to pay weekly in advance, so I would echo the earlier advice to overpay. Get a rent statement and try and work out how long it will take you to get up to date.

HTH

PasturesNew

Re living/sleeping. Thousands of people live in bedsits, where the living room is the sleeping area. Call them what you will, bedsits, studios. Same thing.

I am in one right now. Living/sleeping area = 9'x14'. Total size of whole thing is under 15' square (living/sleeping, kitchen, shower, dressing area).

geordie_joe

PasturesNew wrote: »

Re living/sleeping. Thousands of people live in bedsits, where the living room is the sleeping area. Call them what you will, bedsits, studios. Same thing.

I am in one right now. Living/sleeping area = 9'x14'. Total size of whole thing is under 15' square (living/sleeping, kitchen, shower, dressing area).

Yes but these are usually single people or couples. Once you have children and the are over ten years old the sexes have to be in separate bedrooms. If you have a boy aged 9 and a girl aged ten then they should have separate bedrooms.

Similarly children can sleep in the same room as their parents until they reach the age of ten.

Having said that, just because you are over crowded it doesn't mean you will be rehoused. Many councils have more people who are over crowded than they have available housing.

PasturesNew

geordie_joe wrote: »

Similarly children can sleep in the same room as their parents until they reach the age of ten.

Having said that, just because you are over crowded it doesn't mean you will be rehoused. Many councils have more people who are over crowded than they have available housing.

My friend was 13 and sharing her parents' bedroom.
If the council don't have a spare place of the right size, they can't magic one up

geordie_joe

PasturesNew wrote: »

My friend was 13 and sharing her parents' bedroom.
If the council don't have a spare place of the right size, they can't magic one up

Exactly my point, in a lot of places there is a big difference between being entitled to a bigger house and actually getting one.

Every year the government release statistics that show 1000,000's of people are living in over crowded accommodation. This is because the councils just don't have the house to rehouse them.