A jobless couple are demanding a new four-bedroom home from the council – after having SIX children while living in a tiny one-bedroom flat.
Maggie Flisher and husband Gavin have not worked a single day between them since the birth of their first child in 2005.
They get a total of £27,000 in benefits for them and their six children who are all aged under eight.
Maggie, 26, who claims she is ‘super-fertile’, says she has needed a bigger home ever since her first child – but has still gone on to have five more.
She blames repeated failures with the pill, condoms, arm implants and a contaceptive injection.
Maggie meanwhile says she cannot work because she is ‘depressed’ and Gavin, 30, has to stay in their cramped home to look after her and their offspring.
Their three eldest children Lacieann, eight, Elektra, six, and Gavin Jnr, five, all currently sleep in the only bedroom.
Maggie and her two-year-old daughter Lilyrose sleep on a sofa bed in the lounge alongside three-month-old twins Martinjames and Paris Nicola in moses baskets.
Gavin meanwhile beds down wherever he can find a space.
They couple say they have so little room they have to rent a nearby lock-up to store their childrens’ toys – paid out of their dole money.
They currently get an annual total of £22,900 in benefits, including £540-a-month in jobseekers allowance, child benefit of £85-a-week and child tax credit of £1,000 a month.
They also get housing benefit of £270-a-month to pay the rent on their flat in Maidstone, Kent.
Maggie said: “I’ve been here ten years but I’ve wanted to move since I had my first child and she’s eight now.
“I had the twins this April and the council knew I was pregnant because I went and told them.
“I bid for a house and they said I was top priority but another person had been on the list longer so she got it.
“My girls are literally always arguing because they want their own space and my son has a pink and yellow room.
“Why can’t they just give me a three bedroom? It would be a damned-sight better than this.
“The four-bed homes are like gold dust. I’ve been told I’m a main priority but then they are given to someone else.
“I reckon they should build more four bedroom houses because all the ones they have are full.
“All my friends and family say it is disgusting and that I shouldn’t be in this situation.
“I just have to keep pestering the council if I’m going to be given a move.”
Maggie was working in telesales when she first moved into the one-bedroom council flat in 2003 by herself.
The following year she married labourer Gavin and their eldest child Lacieann was born in 2005 – and the couple haven’t worked since.
Maggie claims she can’t help getting pregnant because she is “really fertile”.
She says she begged her doctor to be sterilised but was told she was too young to be considered.
She added: “I had contraception for all the children apart from my first one.
“I had the needle, I took the pill, I had the implant and for the twins I was taking the pill and had an implant.
“The doctor just said I was really fertile and they don’t know what to do.
“I am too young to get sterilised and Gavin tried using a condom as well.
“The house has no space for storage so I have to spend £137 a month for a storage space on a industrial estate.”
Maggie’s midwife, health visitor and local Tory MP Hugh Robertson have all written to the authorities about the family’s plight.
Maidstone council said they would not move a family into a new home if there was still going to be an issue with overcrowding.
A spokesman said: “Housing associations do not accept nominations for houses where applicants would be classed as overcrowded so applicants with a four-bed need are advised not to bid on three-bed houses.
“Social housing is scarce and bids made through the Kent Homechoice website are considered by the waiting time on the housing register.
“Where families have a need for large homes, they are offered support with looking for a house in the private sector and given information on a mutual exchange swap.”