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There are laws against overcrowding in sections 324-344 of the Housing Act 1985 and they do apply to council homes. But they are complicated, and do not meet modern expectations of how much room is enough.

There are two standards and a home is overcrowded if it does not comply with either. The first is the "room standard". There have to be enough bedrooms and living rooms so that two people of the opposite sex who are older than 10 years of age, and who are not married or cohabiting, do not have to sleep in the same room. You do not say how old your sons are, which may affect whether you are overcrowded by this standard.

Under the "space standard", children under one are not counted and children under 10 count as half a person. So if both your sons are under 10, you therefore have three people to count. This means you have to have two rooms – which you do. Rooms that are less than 50 ft² do not count but your living room does – so even if one son is over 10 you have three rooms, which on this standard is enough for five people.

There is a further floor area test. Measure the floor area of the two bedrooms and the living room (and the small bedroom if it is more than 50 ft²) and then look at the numbers permitted for each room. Two people can have a room that is 110 ft² or more, one-and-a-half people (working on the same premise as before, that children under 10 count as half a person) can have a room that is 90-110 ft². One person (and your sons count as this if they are both under 10) can have a room of 70-90 ft².

I suspect that when you work through this you will find you are not overcrowded by law, and may not be even when the baby is one year old. It is worth checking to see if your local authority has a more generous policy on overcrowding – some do and it may then be worth applying for a transfer.
Catherine Hand
Partner at solicitor Jenkins & Hand

The rules governing overcrowding are found in the 1985 Housing Act, but I do not think they will assist your case.

The space standard for rooms is found in section 326 of the act, which says any room of less than 50 ft2 does not qualify. It does not say anything about the shape of the room. But even if your room is less than 50 ft2, the act still does not help you because section 325 specifically states that the living room is available for someone to sleep in.

A further point is that the new baby will not immediately be taken into account, because the overcrowding rules assume that a child under the age of one will sleep in the same room as its parents.

The overcrowding rules have been criticised as being too harsh and a private member's bill is currently before parliament. It would have the effect of requiring households to be allowed more space, but it is unlikely to become law.

Many housing associations and local authorities have their own policies specifying more generous space standards, but what I have described is the statutory minimum.
John Bryant
Policy officer, National Housing Federation