The Housing Act 1985 ‘Space Standard’

This standard takes into account the number of rooms available for sleeping and their floor areas. A dwelling is deemed overcrowded if the number of people sleeping there is in excess of the number permitted in the tables below.

Again both bedrooms and living rooms are deemed to be available as sleeping accommodation, and this time, children under 1 are not counted, while those between 1 and 10 are counted as half a ‘unit’ (or ‘person’).

The permitted number is whichever is the lesser, looking at both tables below.

This standard takes into account the number of rooms available for sleeping and their floor areas. A dwelling is deemed overcrowded if the number of people sleeping there is in excess of the number permitted in the tables below.

Again both bedrooms and living rooms are deemed to be available as sleeping accommodation, and this time, children under 1 are not counted, while those between 1 and 10 are counted as half a ‘unit’ (or ‘person’).

The permitted number is whichever is the lesser, looking at both tables below.

Table 1 – Number of Rooms available for sleeping

Number of Rooms: 1 – Number of Persons: 2
Number of Rooms: 2 – Number of Persons: 3
Number of Rooms: 3 – Number of Persons: 5
Number of Rooms: 4 – Number of Persons: 7.5

Table 2 – Floor area of room available for sleeping

Floor area of room: 110 sq feet or more – Number of Persons: 2
Floor area of room: 90 to 110 sq feet – Number of Persons: 1.5
Floor area of room: 70 to 90 sq feet – Number of Persons: 1
Floor area of room: 50 to 70 sq feet – Number of Persons: 0.5
Floor area of room: Less than 50 sq feet – Number of Persons: 0