DIL is homeless with baby

Fire_Fox

She needs to get advice to get the ex out of that house, then she will remain a council tenant, then immediately put in for a swap to her chosen area. It's madness to give up a council tenancy.

theartfullodger

As Fire Fox says it is madness to give up a council tenancy...

Shelter is a charity with limited funds & I'm sorry but calling their helpline on 0808 800 4444 requires patience: There is a huge demand for their (excellent) services, sadly...

Think she should go talk to Council Housing department sharpish and possibly the Police if the partner has been up to no good.. These disputes can get messy, but keep plugging away & you'll get there...

Best wishes & thinking of you all, especially the wee one...

Cheers!

Lodger

Jowo_2

Fire_Fox wrote: »

She needs to get advice to get the ex out of that house, then she will remain a council tenant, then immediately put in for a swap to her chosen area. It's madness to give up a council tenancy.

I agree that she needs to get expert advice from Shelter, asap, including any risks associated with giving up her tenancy and understand how she is entitled to move back in since she is still a tenant.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/families_and_relationships/relationship_breakdown/occupation_orders

I cannot see how she can hope to get her 'ex' out of the property. It's very hard to evict a social housing tenant and as a tenant, he has every right to live there. Why should he automatically have to leave because of the relationship breakdown anyway? His behaviour is appalling but it doesn't impact his status as a pretty secure tenant.

RecoveringAlcoholic

As above.

If domestic violence is one of the issues then more information here:

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/family_parent/family/domestic_violence.htm


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shellsmithcat

Well sort of gone a step further now - just had her on the phone in tears - mother yelling at her in the background - telling her she has got to pay her £50 tonight or she's sleeping on the doorstep - can't have my grand daughter sleeping in that atmosphere so my oldest daughter (bless her) on her way 20miles - to go and collect her - arrangement is she gonna stay here for 2 weeks - then going to go to another relative (my ex father in law to be exact) for 2 weeks - and gonna do it like that until something sorted about her getting her place back.

Fire_Fox

Jowo wrote: »

I cannot see how she can hope to get her 'ex' out of the property. It's very hard to evict a social housing tenant and as a tenant, he has every right to live there. Why should he automatically have to leave because of the relationship breakdown anyway? His behaviour is appalling but it doesn't impact his status as a pretty secure tenant.

A solicitor may be able to. Mine was keen to evict my ex-husband from the marital home (owned) on the grounds of abuse.

Bethankim

Hiya,

having just been through all of this - well still going but this is what i have been advised via a solicitor and shelter.

she needs to go to the magistrates court or if you look online you can find the forms for an accommodation order. if she see's a solicitor via legal aid they can help her, shelter may be able to help or at least give her some pointers to a solicitor.

the accommodation order can also include a non harassment order. Basically what she is asking for is the judge to decide which one of the joint tenants gets the tenancy in their sole name.

if she is named on the tenancy which from your post i presume she is - her ex has no legal right to evict her or stop her from living there (i know she doesnt want to be there with him) just saying what is the law.

the judge will decide if she is entitled to the tenancy - from what i have been advised is that as she has a dependent child she is more vulnerable than him but thats for the judge to decide.

if it goes in her favour then he has no right to live there and will have to leave, if she is worried he will kick off then she needs to get both orders and speak to the police.

if the judge does not find in her favour, then she is not intentionally homeless and an apply for housing in her own right as a homeless person.

but as you are trying she needs legal advice and fast

squinty

Although what Bethankim is saying is correct, there may be an alternative way of getting the same result. This however, comes with a health warning, it is not a route that she should try without advice - speak to Shelter or the local Housing Advice Centre, or Law Centre before following this.

I understand that your DIL and her ex are joint tenants. She has a child but he is a single man.

This suggests that when they were originally offered the property as a homeless person it was beacause the council accepted that she was vulnerable (due to the child).

Your DIL may apply to the council again as a homeless person. The definition of homless does not mean roofless but can mean either having acommodation that it is unsutable to live in (which may apply) or having accommodation that you cannot access (which does seem to apply).

What can happen with a 'sympathetic' council is that your DIL may be encouraged to end the tenancy. This will have the effect of ending the tenancy on behalf of all joint tenants, and she can then be offered either the tenancy in her own sole name, or a different tenancy (assuming she is accepted as homeless). He would have to leave the property.

The health warning come if the council is less sympathetic. They may argue that unless your DIL takes her own legal action (as described by Bethankim) to try and secure the tenancy in her own name she has not acted in a way to prevent her becoming homeless and therefore treat her as intentionally homeless. The difficulty with this is that the legislation really applies to married couple who have split, or under the Childrens Act - it will be more difficult for your DIL to use this legislation.

As you recognise, and others have siad, you need specialist advice and you need this quickly. Try to see one of the agencies mentioned in the first paragraph - very few general solicitors will have the skills and knowledge to help (apologies for the sweepiing generalisation)

Good Luck

shellsmithcat

Thank you everyone for your help, she has been to CAB and they have got her an appointment with a soliciter on Tuesday as they state she has a good case to keep her tenancy. I will keep you all posted.

foxy-roxy

Good Luck, how awful of her ex to see her in this situation with a child.
Makes me so angry the selfishness of some people.