Council want 4 weeks notice rent

November2

My Niece has just transfered from a Council House to a Housing Association House as arranged by the Council. The council are now asking for another 4 weeks rent saying she had to give them 4 weeks notice however she had to move straight into the Housing Association House within days of them offering it her. Is there anything she can do to have this rent waived? She of course also has to pay the Housing Association rent so must pay double rent over the next 4 weeks! It seems to me a very sneaky way of the council making extra money! Has anybody else been in this situation?

poppysarah

She should speak to the CAB. Sometimes you can claim overlap.

She should point out to the council though that for the weeks she's paying rent she WILL be holding onto the keys.

squinty

This is very common. If your neice checks the tenancy agreement she will probably find that the four weeks notice is in the terms of the tenancy agreement. All the council are asking is for your neice to keep to her agreement.

However, as poppysarah has said is she recieves HB she may be leigible to claim 'overlap' on both properties.

PasturesNew

It happens all the time in private rentals, you have to take up the new place straight away and still have to give notice. In fact, 4 weeks' notice is getting off a bit light.

poppysarah

PasturesNew wrote: »

In fact, 4 weeks' notice is getting off a bit light.

It is when they could be using the time to check and relet the property. Turnaround on a well maintained property should be 24-48 hours.

barnaby-bear

poppysarah wrote: »

It is when they could be using the time to check and relet the property. Turnaround on a well maintained property should be 24-48 hours.

Surely the bidding process takes longer? Council have to know property will be available, check it - what upgrading/maintenance needs doing as between tenants often most appropriate time. Put details on database, market it to people with appropriate points, let them bid, top bidders view etc....

Turnaround isn't that fast in the private sector and councils have the legal obligations to do it fairly and consider the waiting lists etc...

poppysarah

Waiting lists - there should be someone at the top of the waiting list for that size of property. They could be offered it within 48 hours.
The idea of a bidding process never seemed sensible to me.

I waited 3 weeks for a property - it needed emptying of a filing cabinet in the back garden and they replaced two kitchen units and put a new loo in. How long should that have taken? It's not three weeks work even if you're carrying the loo back from the DIY shop on foot.
Anyone in the private sector letting that sort of turnround must have more money than sense.

barnaby-bear

poppysarah wrote: »

Waiting lists - there should be someone at the top of the waiting list for that size of property. They could be offered it within 48 hours.
The idea of a bidding process never seemed sensible to me.

I waited 3 weeks for a property - it needed emptying of a filing cabinet in the back garden and they replaced two kitchen units and put a new loo in. How long should that have taken? It's not three weeks work even if you're carrying the loo back from the DIY shop on foot.
Anyone in the private sector letting that sort of turnround must have more money than sense.

But I think the point is the bidding process is there - designed so people at the "top" don't have to take first thing available regardless of location... given the system is there 48 hours turn around is impossible. 48 would be impossible to get people into view etc. Trying to arrange work at short notice would mess up schedules - but if they don't know a property is going to be available and their crews are deployed on a refurb. program how are they going to know that in two days someone is just upping sticks and they need resource available and float resource is generally needed for emergencies.

4 weeks notice isn't unreasonable at all. The lack of notice by the HA of the availability of the next house is the problem here as it is unreasonable so expect people in the chain (the new tenant might not be able to organise a move in 48hours!) to work at such deadlines.

poppysarah

barnaby-bear wrote: »

But I think the point is the bidding process is there - designed so people at the "top" don't have to take first thing available regardless of location...

But the point of a properly run waiitng list is to match people with areas they'll live in and the right number of bedrooms. If you're on a council waiting list there should be very few reasons for turning down a property when you get offered one.

I agree the short notice from HA causes the problem - but perhaps they've been sat on an empty property for 6 weeks doing minor bits of stuff - there's so much waste in councils with long winded routines and paperwork. There's often so much insanity in the system because "we've always done it like this".

November2

Hi, thanks for all the replies. There was no bidding. My Niece was on the transfer list and she was told a house had become available two weeks ago but she had to wait for the keys. Her own house was inspected by the council last week in case she accepted the new property. On Friday a council worker bought the keys round and they inspected the new property, she accepted it and she was given the keys and told to move in by Wednesday. She handed the keys to her old property in at the council yesterday and was then told she had to pay 4 weeks notice. That is where the council are exploiting the tenancy agreement, it is impossible to give 4 weeks notice or you lose the new house, you have to move straight away, they then ask you for double rent. The Council Worker said she didn't agree with it but there was nothing that could be done. I don't know if she gets HB, will check and try to claim overlap if she does, thanks for that advice.

poppysarah

If I was her I would not have given back the keys until they agreed to drop some of the notice. They have the keys and she pays rent - doesn't seem fair to me.