mum and dad left

wayrin

my wife's mum and dad have split and both left the house, my wife and I and our two children and the wife's brother are left in the council house with no where to go, can we get the tenancy changed, neither parent will co-operate and neither wants to move back in help!

BitterAndTwisted

The only way I can think of to get someone else to take over the tenancy in their own name is for them to be already registered as living there with the Local Authority.

It's not possible to inherit a LA tenancy. Have you had a look on your LA's website to check what information is availalbe?

wayrin

thanks for that BitterAndTwisted it seems a bit of a minefield, I rang Shelter and they say that I should be able to take it over, will ring housing tomorrow and ask them, just very worried at the moment

PasturesNew

With old style council houses, there would be one "transfer" allowed. Traditionally, a tenancy might be in a man's name, then when he dies, his wife gets it transferred to her name ... then when she dies, if there are any kids/anybody living at home still they have no rights to stay and are turfed out.

In your instance, it is possible that the one allowable transfer has not occurred yet.

If there is no allowable transfer for you, then you'd have no rights to stay and would have to leave, with the person highest on the current waiting list winning it instead.

Good luck!

squinty

This can get complicated.

Generally it is not possible to assign a secure tenancy except in specific cirumstances that are laid out in legislation (the 1985 Houisng Act). There is one ground that may apply - it is posible to assign the tenancy to someone who was entitled to suceed to the tenancy.

A person is entiteld to suceed the tenancy if they are eithe the spouse (not in this case) or a close family member (listed in legislation but does inlcude a son or daughter) who has lived with the tenant for a period of 12 months prior to the death providing there has been no previous succession to that tenancy. ie in this case there may be a case if your wife has lived with parents continously for 12 months, and there has been no previous succession.

However, your main problem may be with the parents. You say that neither will co-operate, and even if they were to co-operate and agreed to an assignment - they are relinquishing any right they have over the tenancy. (and if they approach the council in the future this may be regarded as intentionally homeless). If they do not co-operate it is not possible to assign the tenancy. Both parents need to seek independent advice on thier options.

Another issue that you need to be aware of, assuming that the parents are joint tenants, that either of them can end the tenancy by giving notice to the council. The wil end the tenancy on behalf of all joint tenants and their tenancy will come to an end. It is not unusual after a relationship breakdown that one partner will do this.

And one final issue. This needs to be sorted out quickly. There is an argument that as both tenants (assuming joint tenants, but may be just one of them) is no longer living in the property, then the tenancy in no longer a secure tenancy. If this happens the council can take quicker action to remove you from the home.

You really do need to seek specialist advice as soon as possible. Shelter, a local housing advice centre, a law centre should be able to help. I would help them to give correct advice if you could confirm a coupple of things:
1. How long you have lived with them, and
2. Did they suceed to the tenancy or was it offered to them, and
3. Is the tenancy currently in joint or single names.

Good Luck

blckbrd

Ditto what squinty said. You said you were going to phone today - if you called the housing officer/estate manger you may have received advice from a management perspective so do ensure you follow squinty's suggestions to make sure you get the best advice for you.

Additional barriers to granting a tenancy may be the person-size of the property in relation to the ages/sexes of people living there and whether brother or sister or both have the right to succeed.

Councils will not grant a new tenancy where the family will be overcrowded and they may not consider rehousing (say) the brother if the sister took over the tenancy. How many beds? Doubles/singles? What are the sexes/ages of the children and is the brother over 18?

Are there any issues with arrears that you're aware of as that might cause more problems? If there aren't, maybe mum or dad can be persuaded to help given the mess the situation could leave you all in.

Hope things go OK for you.

debrag

I'm in a similar situation. Living in a 5 bed place with only 3 people living in property and named tenant moving out in new year. We should be down for downsizing but am unsure if we will stay on the list after the named tenant moves out.

LHA is £150 for a 1 bed place and £184 for a 2 bed place. I only get arond £500 every 4 weeks and the other person has just finish his Christmas job. We wouldn't get full LHA and most properties are above the max LHA anyways.

richardgates

Hi, i am currently living with my mum, girlfriend and our daughter who is 4 months. my mum is getting married this year and moving in with her fiance. I cant afford to private rent and have no where else to go. is there anyway i can take over the tennancy on our 3 bedroom house? we need to do this as we are in desperate need of a home and would love to stay here as we have decorated etc to how we want it. Can someone please advise me thank you

Fire_Fox

Welcome to MSE!

What has the council said about you taking over the tenancy, is your family already on the council housing list? Why can't you afford to rent privately, are you confident you are getting all the benefits you are entitled to?
http://www.entitledto.co.uk/
Or do you have debts? If so complete the following budget planner and post on the Debt-free Wannabe board:
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

honeyD

richardgates wrote: »

Hi, i am currently living with my mum, girlfriend and our daughter who is 4 months. my mum is getting married this year and moving in with her fiance. I cant afford to private rent and have no where else to go. is there anyway i can take over the tennancy on our 3 bedroom house? we need to do this as we are in desperate need of a home and would love to stay here as we have decorated etc to how we want it. Can someone please advise me thank you

I know that the tenancy can be "passed on" once from the original tenant. So if you mum is the first tenant she may be able to "pass on" to you. However if it was say.. your fathers tenancy then he moved out or whatever and you mum became the named tenant, then you cannot take it over.
I was in the position of my parents moving out with my sister, which left myself and my Husband with nowhere to go as we had no savings or money to pay for a private let. We spoke to our housing association who said they would look into it and after we had explained we had absolutely _nowhere_ to go and my parents were only moving because they had to care for my grandparents. They let us stay and this is a 3 bed house and we have no children. It is always worth asking, as the worst they can say is no.