A Liverpool woman has won her battle with a housing association to prove that a bedroom in her house is not big enough to be considered a bedroom.
Jacqui Kelly has lived in her rented house in St Michael's in south Liverpool for the past five years.
The property, owned and managed by social housing provider Onward Homes, had been rented out to her as a three-bedroom house.
However, Ms Kelly, 38, was recently alerted to the fact that a bedroom must be 75sq ft to be classed as a bedroom in social housing.
She asked a surveyor to measure her third bedroom and found it to be less than 50sq ft in size.
This means the bedroom should not be classed as a bedroom at all - and should actually be classed as storage.
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Having raised the issue with her landlord, Onward Homes agreed to reclassify the property as having just two bedrooms and reduced Ms Kelly's rent from £121 per week to £108 per week.
But Ms Kelly said that looking at the government's fair rent register, she believes she should be paying less than that.
Onward say this is not the case because of her tenancy type.
Ms Kelly, who lives in the house with her daughter, said she wants to raise the issue because she is concerned that many others may be in the same position as her and have been paying too much rent for an incorrectly classified home.
She told the ECHO: "I think we need to let the tenants of social landlords in Liverpool know what size a room has to be.
"I know lots of social tenants in my street who are in the same position as me and have the same house layout."
A spokesperson for Onward Homes said: "In response to a customer query about bedroom size and rent, Onward visited the home to clarify the situation.
"As a result, the customer’s rent has been adjusted accordingly, although the rent amount on the Fair Rent Register is not applicable in this case due to the customer’s tenancy type.
"We are confident that the adjusted rent level is correct for this customer in this property and we are continuing to work with the customer further."
