Right to Buy council house - elderly tenant in hospital and carer/son lives with her

bitsandpieces

3Dogs wrote: »

Secondly, my brother has some savings but would need the small amount of Mam's savings, together with some help from my sister and I to buy the house under RTB

Remember that - if you, sister and Mam would contribute to buying a RTB place - you could also contribute to your brother buying somewhere else instead (though get advice on how this will impact on any potential benefit claim first). If it's not too personal a question, how much is the RTB discount - I didn't think it was such a massive amount nowadays.

emmell

I think he would be better off trying to get housed due to his possible disabilities. Are there no retirement properties that he could put his name down for.
We (my sister's and I) bought our parents council house years ago, we did everything we could to enable them to continue living there as long as possible having a stairlift fitted a disabled shower. We bought it because my Dad had maintained it as best he could within the rules of council properties but it was dated, damp, old window frames that had been repaired and painted for 20 + years and an inefficient boiler that cost a fortune and the house was still freezing. All these things were done including new bathroom and kitchen after we purchased it.
As my Mum's health got worse and she found it harder to manage even climbing on the stairlift she was told by her Doctors she would have to consider leaving the home she loved and apply for something more suitable to her needs, and I'm sure they had some influence in her getting a retirement bungalow from the council, whether it was a letter or something on the form where they can contact your Doctor.
I would try this route first, he can always tell the council that it's his fear of being homeless that makes him seek alternative housing and his Doctor may be able to help, ours are fantastic by the way.
It's a terrible time for you all but even if you try to buy the house time may be against you, but I sincerely hope I'm wrong.
Best of wishes to you all.
ML.

nearlyrich

Someone I know who has recently lost his Mum with whom he lived has been granted continuing tenancy of their three bed local authority house. He is almost 50 with some disabilities. My sister bought with my Mum several years ago as my Mum was panicking sis would get evicted if anything happened to her they got a joint mortgage based on affordability, LA don't care where the money is coming from and the mortgage providor just wants to know you can afford to repay it. Granted we don't seem to have the same problems with lack of housing as some parts of the country as our LA regularly advertise property for rent.

neverdespairgirl

nearlyrich wrote: »

Mum was panicking sis would get evicted if anything happened to her they got a joint mortgage based on affordability, LA don't care where the money is coming from and the mortgage providor just wants to know you can afford to repay it.

That has changed, significantly. Mortgages are a lot harder to get at the moment.

BitterAndTwisted

Quite honestly, the discounts available under the TRB legislation now aren't really worth it, especially for people coming up to retirement age who have limited savings

alfmalf

Hi 3 Dogs
I work for a Housing Association and have worked for local authority housing departments in the past too. It sounds to me as though you are considering RtB just to preserve somewhere for your brother to live, rather than because you or he actually want to own the house. Is that right? If thats the case, I'd really urge your brother to make an appointment to see someone from his landlord as soon as possible - he should have an allocated Housing Officer for his estate/area who can give him clear advice on the policy.
We see cases like this all the time and different landlords have different approaches to whether they will let someone in your brother circumstances stay in the property or not. Previous posters are correct - there can only be only legal 'succession' to the tenancy and it sounds like this was used up in your mother succeeding the tenancy. However, organisations can use discretion and in all the social housing organisations I have worked we would always take a sympathetic approach where possible - social landlords are committed to making sure people are properly housed, and have a duty to contribute to minimising homelessness so its contrary to their aims to see him become homeless in the event that your mother dies.
If the landlord is willing and able to use some 'discretion' they may well say that they cannot allow your brother to remain in the property as it is bigger than he needs and could be used for a large household, but that they will house him in a smaller, more suitable property.
In the 4 social organisations I have worked in we would always try to house someone in your brothers situation into a flat rather than make him homeless. Also, as another poster commented, he may be eligible to move into sheltered housing which might be really helpful if he is feeling a but vulnerable in the sad event that your mother dies - the eligibility criteria for sheltered tend to vary depending on which county you live in, but generally being over 60 and at risk of homelessness should mean he qualifies.
People who work in social housing organisations tend to work there (mostly - there are always exceptions!) because they are really motivated to help people like your brother, so I'd be very optimistic of you getting a sympathetic and helpful response.
Hope this is helpful advice, and best of luck to you and your family

carefullycautious

I know of 2 people who have been allowed to stay in their homes even though the right of succession has been used. One was an adult child who had lived with their parents and the other lived with his sister.

However, the properties were flats. Our local LA is good in that it will look at alternative accommodation for the person if they are under occupying as they are desperate for larger properties for families.

Do go along with your brother and speak to his LA housing officer.

3Dogs

Many thanks again for all your replies

Yes, the only valid reason to purchase the house would be to ensure that our brother would have somewhere to live after mothers death. We did urge my brother to start the RTB process when he moved in after Dad's death, but he has never owned property before and he is worried about the responsibility. His concern, and ours, is that he has somewhere to live

Obviously, had the RTB been completed 5 years ago, it would not be any problem now, mother would have got a better discount as she has been in council property since the early sixties, and the five year of restrictions would be over with. Another bonus of buying the property would have been as a nest egg for mother's two greatgranddaughters (currently 5 and 10), to help them on the property ladder in future years

However, having done some further research and with the help of the great advice on here, I admit that now it is too late to go down this route. The maximum discount for the North East is only 22%, and, though I do no know what value the council would put on the property, I think that this would take it out of our price range anyway. My siter bought her council house some years ago at the price of, after discounts, only £18,000 - but those doays are well and truely gone

The last post in particular, from alfmalf, gives us hope that the council may help my brother in his circumstances, and I will try to talk him into making an appointment with the Housing Office to check what his position is

This will have to wait a few days now though as Mam was very poorly when we were down this afternoon, so we are going down there tomorrow when the doctor is there to discuss her treatment

Morglin

paddedjohn wrote: »

if mother went into a care home the house if owned by her may have to be sold to pay for care, also if she did buy the house then died within 5yrs then some of the equity/profits would have to be payed beack to the council as the house would be transfered to her son

If mother bought it, they wouldn't take any money for care costs, or be able to sell the home, for as long as the son was living there, because he is over 60.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/CaringForSomeone/CareHomes/DG_10031523

Lin