Overcrowding
What is overcrowding?
Overcrowding occurs when your home is too small for your household, meaning there are too many people living in the home.
Your household may be classed as overcrowded if two people of the opposite sex are forced to sleep in the same room as each other. However, there are two exceptions:
- Cohabiting or married couples that can live in the same room, without causing overcrowding
- This also excludes children under the age of 10
If you are a Private Rented tenant
More often than not in a private rented home, you are unable to make extensions to the home yourself. Therefore, it may be wise for you to consider taking some of the following steps:
- Find a bigger home, with more bedrooms/rooms
- Register to HomefinderRCT to start looking for suitable homes
Housing Association tenant
If you are a tenant in a home owned by a housing association it may be possible for you to get a transfer to another home owned by the same public landlord. The waiting time will depend on the size of the household required, as the larger the home needs to be, potentially the waiting time would be longer, as larger properties are less widely available.
Another option that may suit your needs and is available to you is Mutual Exchange.
Based on RCT's Housing Allocation Scheme, the level of severity of overcrowding will affect your priority banding. If you are in need of two more bedrooms than your home currently has your application will be placed in Band B. Priority Band C will be awarded to your application if your home is short by one bedroom suitable for your needs.
The waiting time for a home will also depend on the available housing stock that is suitable for your housing needs.
Before making any important decisions regarding moving homes, it may be wise to gather advice from a number of different sources first. You can access this advice from the following websites:
- Shelter Cymru - 08000 495 495
- RCT's Housing Advice Centre - 01443 495188 or email them at: homelessness@rctcbc.gov.uk