Bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless families: your rights

Homeless with children, or pregnant? The council may place you in a bed and breakfast, a B&B, while it weighs your application and finds something better. Here are your rights there, and the rules that bind the council.

Key facts

• Government figures show 42,640 households in England were owed a relief duty after being assessed as homeless in October to December 2025. Statutory homelessness in England, GOV.UK
• Another 33,630 households were owed a prevention duty after being assessed as at risk of homelessness in the same quarter. Statutory homelessness in England, GOV.UK

What is B&B accommodation in a homelessness context?

Councils sometimes use B&B hotels and hostels as an emergency roof. B&B is meant to be short-term only: a stay while the council finds a better temporary place, or a settled home.

Do councils have to house homeless families in B&Bs?

No. Councils can use a range of temporary housing: self-contained flats, hostels, arranged private lets, their own stock. But high demand with nothing else free means B&B gets used.

How long can you be kept in B&B?

The rule comes from a 2003 order on the suitability of homeless housing. Families with children, and pregnant women, should spend no more than 6 weeks in B&B in total. Past 6 weeks, the council must move them somewhere better.

The 6-week cap covers only households with dependent children or a pregnant woman. Single adults and childless couples carry no time limit. Even so, the housing must still suit them.

What if you have been in B&B for more than 6 weeks?

Challenge it. Write to the housing team and point out the 6-week cap has passed. A council that still sits still means legal advice. A judicial review of its decision may follow.

Contact a housing advice service early: Shelter, Citizens Advice, or a local law centre.

What makes B&B accommodation unsuitable?

A B&B can also be challenged as unsuitable at any point, however long the stay, where it:

• Lacks the basic facilities your household needs
• Runs unsafe: poor conditions, dangerous fittings, weak fire precautions
• Sits far from the schools, healthcare, or services your family leans on
• Packs your family into too little space

Believe the place unsuitable? Ask the council to review the decision, with its reasons in writing.

What about disrepair in B&B accommodation?

A B&B placement can come with serious disrepair: no heating, damp, unsafe conditions. Report it. Anywhere the council places you must meet basic standards.

A B&B is no normal private tenancy, so the usual landlord and tenant rules work differently. But the place must still run safe and fit. Where it does not, complain to the housing team in writing. Bring in environmental health if needed.

When should I contact Support for Tenants?

We help tenants in private rented homes with housing disrepair claims. In a private rented home, not B&B or emergency housing, with disrepair unfixed? Call us.

Call us on 0800 030 4669. No upfront cost. You only pay if you win, and the fee comes out of the compensation, not your pocket. If you don't win, you pay nothing.

Sources

• Section 206, Housing Act 1996 (discharge of functions) (legislation.gov.uk)
• Section 210, Housing Act 1996 (suitability of accommodation) (legislation.gov.uk)