we live in a 3 bedroomed council house, i do have to say its is quiet big. i have 3 children, my oldest is 10 years old. my second youngest is 6 years old - both boys. my 6 year old has autism and possibly adhd but is undiagnosed for now. my daughter is 3 years and 9 months and has a diagnosis of autism and GDD.

my daughter had her own bedroom (little bedroom) and my sons shared a bedroom. but this was far from ideal and on a daily basis my oldest son was being attacked by his brother and was being woken throughout the night. now i have taken my daughter into my room and given my oldest her room, as he is getting older now and its having an affect on him. at the weekend ive always sent him to his grandmas so he gets a break and some normal time. but as my daughter gets older she will have to go back into her own room.

i dont want to end up having to send my son to live at his grandma's, and was wondering if we could put in for a bedroomed house or a extention built.

If two people of the opposite sex have to sleep in the same room the accommodation will be overcrowded unless the two people are:

a married or cohabiting couple, or
at least one occupant is under ten years old.
The number of people of the same sex (unless they are a same-sex couple) who can sleep in one room is restricted by the size of the room.

Rooms that are counted include living rooms, bedrooms and large kitchens. For the space and floor area calculations:

children under one year old are ignored
children under ten years old and over one count as a half
rooms under 50 square feet are ignored.
As a general rule:

1 room = 2 people
2 rooms = 3 people
3 rooms = 5 people
4 rooms = 7.5 people
5 or more rooms = 2 people per room.
But the floor area of a room also determines how many people can sleep in it:

floor area 110 sq feet (10.2 sq metres approx) = 2 people
floor area 90 - 109 sq ft (8.4 - 10.2 sq m approx) = 1.5 people
floor area 70 - 89 sq ft (6.5 - 8.4 sq m approx) = 1 person
floor area 50 - 69 sq ft (4.6 - 6.5 sq m approx) = 0.5 people.

So basically the option availible to you would be to make a medical application on medical grounds.

The medical grounds could maybe be that you feel your son with autism needs his own room as your other children could be at risk with him if they were to share.
A medical needs assesment would need to be undertaken and you could gain support from doctors and social services.

Assuming you were awarded medical needs and the panel assumed the above this would mean one of your bedrooms could be discounted which would leave you with a 2 bedroom property for 4 people.

Because your one child is 10 years old and is a boy and your youngest in a girl they cannot be expected to share as housing law would class this as overcrowding and therefore you would be eligible for a 4 bedroom property.

In some cases it is more difficult for example if it was 3 boys and no girls were involved overcrowding would not be an issue but in your circumstance Becky you would be overcrowded assuming you can get the medical needs assesment.
A medical needs assesment would need to be completed and can be a timely process.
You would need to contact your local council for the relevant forms to complete and send to them.

thankyou i should start with speaking to my sons doctor, and asking what the councils policy is. although im not keen on moving, there is room however for an extention. and the house over the back has an extention on a council house.

Having an extension is a grey area.
Although a community care grant could cover this sort of thing as legally it should.
The council would much rather move you.
The council have been known to move people and pay for the move and pay for decorating because its cheaper than the 20 odd grand it costs them to build an extension.
Let me also warn you having an extension is no easy feat.
We had an extension in a previous house and it was a nightmare beyond belief and would never advise anybody lives in a house during these works.
It may also upset your son with all the noise and hassle an extension would bring.

just another idea, is one of your bedrooms big enough to be two bedrooms? council (or yourselves somehow) could possible partition it off into 2 rooms and then you'd have 4 rooms. I know our front room (which is our room) is the length of the fron of the house, technically, if were in your situation, we could take the larger of the two back rooms and then split the front into two. Just a thought.......

xxx