Law regarding cohabiting male and female siblings

[nykkieberry]

Does anyone know whether a law exists governming the age restrictions on siblingsof different sexes sharing a bedroom? I was sure that such a law exists and set the limit at 7 years for the older child (or 11?). Is this correct? Thanks!

[zknight]

Hi, your right there is a law. the age is 13 years old!.

[Headtime]

znight, is that a new lay or an old law?

[brachiopod]

Have you got a reference for that, zknight?

Does that mean if you live in a two-bedroom house and have two children (one of each sex) you will be breaking the law after 13 years because you can't afford to move to a three-bedroom house?

[stoo_pid]

I was looking into this myself a few months ago & it is not illegal at any age.  There is a recommendation that if you are renting property out, children of different sex over the age of 13 should not be forced to share a room.  However, as far as I could find out at the time even that is not enforceable. (The housing regs are more concerned with square footage - i.e. how many people are forced to share rooms in rented accommodation).

I'm afraid I can't find the website links I had to back this up but I can confirm that this was verbally confirmed by the Social Services dept I was dealing with at the time.

[LoungeLizard]

Hi nykkieberry,

I agree with the above answers but I can add how the 'law' manifests itself.

If you are renting accommodation and make a housing benefit claim; the amount of benefit to which you are entitled is limited by a number of factors.

One of these factors is the number / age / sex of your dependant children.

If you have, say, 2 children who younger than 13 then those children will be expected to share a bedroom, even if they are of different sexes.

Once one of those different sex children passes 13 then you can claim for 2 bedrooms (1 each).

However, if both children are the same sex, then you may only claim for 1 bedroom because they are expected to share however old they are.

So, if a man and a woman (partners) have 2 children of different sexes who are below 13 and they apply for a 3 bedroomed house; they are likely to have their claim for housing benefit reduced because their need is only for a 2 bedroomed house.

I think that the same logic applies if you are applying for social housing to work out how many bedrooms you are entitiled to; though I have no expertise in this area.

Also, the details may vary from local authority to local authority; some may enforce the rules more strictly than others; some may be more flexible if you can make a case for special needs (eg disabled child with wheel-chair, etc)

 Apart from housing benefit claims and social housing allocation, I'm pretty sure there are no laws about who anyone shares a bedroom with.  Of course, it is illegal for certain close relatives to have sexual intercourse, but that is a different matter!

[mNms]

yes auctuly there is a law that if and oppisate sex (boy and a girl) can not share a room!lets say as an example a girl is 7 and a boy is 5 they can not share a room! if at least 2 years appart they may not share a room! how do i kno u ask? i read it on a website if i still had the link i would be happy to give it to u but i am sorry i dont have the link!

[kevbsarahj]

hi all i have been searching the internet and i dont think any such law exists like a previous person said the only thing that seems to matter is when u want more bedrooms and u on benifits as for the one who said if you have a 2 yr age gap that is deffinatley incorect id love to see something to back that posting up !