Taking on a house

honeyD

Hi, I was forwarded here from another forum and hope you can help me.
Myself and my Husband currently live with my parents in a house they rent from a housing association. However they have decided to move and today found a house and they move in in 4 weeks. We do not wish to move there with them so would like to take over this house but were not sure if its possible? We hope so, since if we cant be here we have nowhere! Its a 3 bedroom house and the housing association are aware we are here and we pay rent to them also. Would they let us stay do you think? They couldnt make us homeless surely? We cant check with the housing association until tomorrow so just looking to see if anyone else has been in this situation.
Thanks

ETA: I have lived in this house along with my parents for nearly 6 years and my Husband has lived here for 3 if that would make any difference at all.

tweetyshells

I think you have to have been there for 6 months plus so can't see it being a problem but obviously they are the only ones who can confirm that.
Is the house size the correct size for your needs?

honeyD

It's a 3 bedroom house and there is only 2 of us so that could be a problem. Though I would be willing to swap for a 2 bedroom house but we have been on the housing associations waiting list for nearly 3 years and got nowhere so far so I doubt we will get anything else! We cant afford to move to a private rent house since we would have to pay a bond and months rent up front which we just cannot do financially at the moment.

tweetyshells

If they let you stay i would assume they would move you to a smaller house as it is too big for your needs.

oldMcDonald

Are you on the tenancy agreement? When you say you have been paying rent to them, do you mean that the HA have been knowingly accepting rental payments from you, that you have been paying rent to the HA on behalf of your parents or that you have been giving your parents money as a contribution to the rent?

honeyD

oldMcDonald wrote: »

Are you on the tenancy agreement? When you say you have been paying rent to them, do you mean that the HA have been knowingly accepting rental payments from you, that you have been paying rent to the HA on behalf of your parents or that you have been giving your parents money as a contribution to the rent?

My parents currently get housing benefit due to my dad losing his job recently. So on the forms it shows what is paid for them and what is deducted for us to pay. It says my name and the amount I must pay. If that makes any sense? Not sure how to word it lol.

Prudent

My bf's mum recently died. My bf's brother was able to take over the house on his own even though it was 3/4 bedrooms. He had lived there for a few years.

oldMcDonald

honeyD wrote: »

My parents currently get housing benefit due to my dad losing his job recently. So on the forms it shows what is paid for them and what is deducted for us to pay. It says my name and the amount I must pay. If that makes any sense? Not sure how to word it lol.

That is just on the forms for housing benefit? If so, then they are classing you as a non-dependant adult living in your parents house, it doesn't really mean anything tenancy-wise.

Are you named on the tenancy? If not, and the council are not making you homeless as your parents are choosing to move, then I doubt they have a duty of care towards you.

Have you contacted the housing office and spoken to them about this? Some councils have differen rules, but the above would apply to ours.

honeyD

oldMcDonald wrote: »

That is just on the forms for housing benefit? If so, then they are classing you as a non-dependant adult living in your parents house, it doesn't really mean anything tenancy-wise.

Are you named on the tenancy? If not, and the council are not making you homeless as your parents are choosing to move, then I doubt they have a duty of care towards you.

Have you contacted the housing office and spoken to them about this? Some councils have differen rules, but the above would apply to ours.

No, we havent spoken to them yet due to being told on a different forum to speak to CAB first and we cant do that until tomorrow. Im getting worried about asking the HA now, I would hate to think we could be homeless and have to move from here when we dont really want to, and we cant afford to pay for a private rent house. Is there any way we can get added to the tenancy before they move out? They move in 4 weeks.

oldMcDonald

In all truthfulness, could you afford to rent privately? Not going by if you would wish to or not, but could you afford to? A 1 bed flat is what you would need - could you afford this? If not then this may be useful in discussions with the council - if you could then I really don't think they would think of housing you unless there are other issues involved - a disability for instance.

honeyD

Sorry, forgot to update here! We take over the tenancy next week, they decided we could have the house.