Council flat query...

e60london

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right lpace to post this but here goes...

Got a 21 yr old friend being evicted froma 2 bed council flat that belonged to her father. He left the country and left her to live in the flat. Now, the tenancy is in his name and she is listed as an occupant. Before leaving he wrote a letter to the council saying he leaves all responsibility to his daughter.

So, where does she stand. iniitally the council agreed to swap her fathers 2 bed for a 1 bed but have since had a 'panel' meeting and will take ownership of the falt.

Advice anyone?

karenlisam

I think if he (the father ) was still here then you can sometimes transfer it once within the family . I have a friend who went through the same thing and the council seemed a little unsure over whether the mum needed to be dead for transfer to the daughter to take place (eeek). The final answer from Birmingham cc was that she could have been added to the tenancy while the mum was still in the country and then took it over but as the mum had emigrated by the time the council were asked about the addition to the tenancy then as far as they were concerned my friend was not legally there as the mum had abandoned the property

Get your pal to call and try and speak with the housing officer asap. If they have need and the list in the area isn't a mile long they may let her stay butit all depends on the area manager

If you look up my previous posts then I did actually get a flat some time ago this way ( although not from a relation)

Good luck

diable

Get the father to move back in and say he made a mistake as most councils do not pass the tenancy on to children.

Fire_Fox

Your friend should take advice from Shelter.

benoit

diable wrote: »

Get the father to move back in and say he made a mistake as most councils do not pass the tenancy on to children.

Since when? The property may only be succeeded once to ANY family member who has lived at the property long enough to qualify for the right to succeed. The tenant’s husband or wife, or a family member. Any council who does not pass the tenancy onto an adult child who qualifies for the right to succeed will be in breach of the rules set out under the Housing Act 1985, so i am not sure where you get your information from but it's wrong.

• A husband, wife or civil partner can succeed, as long as they were living there at the time of the tenant’s death.
• If the tenant was not married, or the tenant’s husband, wife or civil partner was not living at the property, then a family member can succeed, as long they have been living in the property as their main home for at least 12 months before the tenant died (A family member includes a non-married, including same-sex, partner or a close relative by blood or marriage.)

Obviously if the property is deemed too big for the needs of the family member who succeeds it there will be other issues but it is not factually correct that 'most council's' do not allow a child to succeed a property full stop.

e60london

cheers guys. Her father is not coming back to the uk so she been goin to the cit adv bur for help.

They seem to want to recover this 2 bed so they can rent it out and put her in some shabby hostel in nw10 area of London. Feel for her an got a feeling this cannot be legal or ethical.

I take heed to benoits post about breaching the housing act1985 and hope this helps. They should just put her in a 1 bed and that be that?????

benoit

They should offer 'suitable alternative' accomodation & that's the grey area because what they consider to be suitable may not be what your friends considers as suitable. It doesn't mean they have to offer her a 1 bedroom flat unfortunately, just suitable alternative accomodation to suit her personal requirements.

e60london

Cheers mate. Seems like a bit of a gamble.

So "suitable accomodation" seems to be the catch.

God, I hope this works out nicely. Seems like it depends on the person behind the desk and the mood they're in when they decide what is suitable accomodation

Engelbert

I would take the view that the tenancy is no longer secure as he has left, and is no longer using it as his only or principal home as required by the tenancy agreement. Thus his daughter cannot succeed, and the tenancy can be ended by NTQ. The council can take court action to get her out and would then assess their duty to her under the homeless legislation.

She needs to get legal advice is the long and short of it. Its arguable - look at the cases of R v LB Croydon ex p Toth and Preston Borough council v Fairclough.

G_M

Does she actually need a 2 bed flat if she's now living alone? Lots of families do and there's a chronic shortage of council housing. Whilst sympathising with the young lady I can't help feeling the council is rightly trying to make best use of its limited housing stock.

Fire_Fox

benoit wrote: »

Since when?

• A husband, wife or civil partner can succeed, as long as they were living there at the time of the tenant’s death.
• If the tenant was not married, or the tenant’s husband, wife or civil partner was not living at the property, then a family member can succeed, as long they have been living in the property as their main home for at least 12 months before the tenant died (A family member includes a non-married, including same-sex, partner or a close relative by blood or marriage.)

Since when did the OP's friend's father die? It could be viewed he has simply handed his notice in and terminated the contract.