Maximum number of people in a 5 bedroomed house

configure my router

Are there limits to the number of people a landlord can put in a 5 bedroomed house?

Samuel T. Cogley

configure my router wrote: »

Are there limits to the number of people a landlord can put in a 5 bedroomed house?

Once they cant lie down you're probably at the limit but some will still try.

Council would be your best bet but there are some really crazy goings on that never seem to have the kibosh put on them.

Victor

In a domestic situation, a 5-bed would be expected to house a minimum of 7, although there will be practical issues like size of bedroom.

In a B&B or hotel, a double bed needs to be accessible from both sides.

If the landlord is letting individual rooms, it is down to how many people are willing to share a room.

There will eventually be a limit (15? 20?) where the council housing department, public health department or fire brigade will have an issue regarding toilets, waste storage, fire escape, etc.

Note the there are regulations that set out basic minimum standards for what should be supplied.

Slydice

Fire Safety looks to be the only route to limiting it that I can find and even then I can't find anything set in stone.

After a quick bit of googling, these articles link fire safety concerns to the number of people in a house:
'Nothing unusual about 40 people in a house'
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/nothing-unusual-about-40-people-in-a-house-35429888.html
Legal advice sought over fire safety in overcrowded properties
Dublin’s chief fire officer calls legislation covering overcrowding ‘poor’ and ‘difficult’
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/legal-advice-sought-over-fire-safety-in-overcrowded-properties-1.3133184

GGTrek

configure my router wrote: »

Are there limits to the number of people a landlord can put in a 5 bedroomed house?

It is a lot more than what some other posters have assumed in this thread. I know from personal experience since a tenant of mine grew a full family in a one bedroom flat and at the end I had to take him to RTB to terminate his tenancy due to overcrowding: he lost but the adjudicator still pleaded for the "poor" tenant in order for me to agree to more than 6 months statutory notice! RTB adjudicators in 3 cases out of 4 were pleading  for the tenant even if the evidence of the breaches was damning (no hope cases), that is why I say that RTB powers need to be curtailed massively and disputes (especially appeals) need to go back to a proper court where rule of evidence and impartiality are guaranteed. However if you are a tenant, just scream overcrowding to RTB or council and they will come down on the landlord like a ton of bricks!

First of all, section 63 of Housing Act 1966 gives a precise definition of overcrowding:
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1966/act/21/enacted/en/print#sec63
" 63.—A house shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to be overcrowded at any time when the number of persons ordinarily sleeping in the house and the number of rooms therein either—
       
(a) are such that any two of those persons, being persons of ten years of age or more of opposite sexes and not being persons living together as husband and wife, must sleep in the same room, or
       
(b) are such that the free air space in any room used as a sleeping apartment, for any person is less than four hundred cubic feet (the height of the room, if it exceeds eight feet, being taken to be eight feet, for the purpose of calculating free air space),
       
and “overcrowding” shall be construed accordingly."

Then you have RTB Tribunal Reference No: TR212/2011/DR643/2011

Then you have some official piece of interpretation from the RTB itself (who unfortunately uses double standards with tenants and landlords):
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/exclusive-undercover-probe-exposes-property-firm-overcrowding-houses-with-up-to-70-people-house-could-have-burned-to-the-ground-35291528.html
Especially the following statements made by RTB official imply some breach of the Housing Regulations 2009:
"A spokesperson for the RTB said that this many people renting one house is a serious health and safety risk.
"It is extremely worrying if the report that up to seventy people are living in a house is correct. While the 2004 Act does not set out precisely the number of persons than can reside at any one time in a property, it is generally expected that the most that could share a room, depending on its size, is two.
"Consequently, if the number is correct this poses serious health and safety concerns for those tenants in the event of a fire.”
…
"Given the serious health and safety issues raised, the property concerned could not possibly comply with the Housing Regulations 2009 for the provision of proper light and ventilation, cooking and hygienic food storage, and fire safety measures.”
"In light of the information received, the RTB will write immediately to the landlord setting out our concerns for the welfare of the tenants, and for the number of tenants in the property which does not conform with the registration of the dwelling.
"In addition, we will write to Dublin City Council, asking them to arrange, as a matter of urgency, an inspection of the dwellings."

Victor

GGTrek wrote: »

First of all, section 63 of Housing Act 1966 gives a precise definition of overcrowding:
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1966/act/21/enacted/en/print#sec63
" 63.—A house shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to be overcrowded at any time when the number of persons ordinarily sleeping in the house and the number of rooms therein either—
       
(a) are such that any two of those persons, being persons of ten years of age or more of opposite sexes and not being persons living together as husband and wife, must sleep in the same room, or
       
(b) are such that the free air space in any room used as a sleeping apartment, for any person is less than four hundred cubic feet (the height of the room, if it exceeds eight feet, being taken to be eight feet, for the purpose of calculating free air space),
       
and “overcrowding” shall be construed accordingly."

That means about 4.5 m2 of floor space per person in the bedroom.