being made homeless by housing association

ringo_1

hi im in need of advice pretty desperatley ,basically myself and partner split up ,we live in a wales and west housing association house with our daughter ,my now ex has decided to leave as she is thinking about setting up home with someone else so we aggreed that as it was her name only on the tenancey aggreement we should put it into joint and when she found somewhere we would ask for her name to be removed ,but as i enquired about would i be entitled to housing benefit as our daughter will be living with me and being self employed money isnt allways regular ,the local council phoned the housing association to confirm that i was a tenant ,now they allready knew i was living here as my name is on the council tax and has been for over a 12 month, (the housing association that is ),but they now have refused to put my name on the house and told my ex partner that we have 28 days to move out ,as i am an illegal tenant if she goes ,i have spoken to various organisations and they have told me that myself and daughter should be offered alternative accomidation ,but we havent does anyone know how i can go about this ,i have looked into private rening but at £500.00 - £600.00 a month i just cant do it ,all the rent on this property im in at the moment is all paid up to date and on time ,plus we only recently finished decorating through out so its not like ,we have been bad tennants ,any advise would be great thanks

Jowo_2

Shelter has a section on homelessness - how the local council is obliged to act for people applying to them as homeless (namely that they have insecurity of tenure in the next 28 days). You should contact the local council now and submit a homelessness application. The housing association probably has the discretion to offer you the tenancy but probably no legal obligation. Consider asking your local MP for support. As far as I know, the housing association does not have any obligation to offer you alternative accommodation - that's the role of the council.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/families_and_relationships/assigning_a_tenancy

Housing association tenancies

Most assured and assured shorthold housing association tenants can only assign their tenancy if the housing association agrees to it. If your tenancy agreement doesn't say anything about assignment, you probably need written permission from the association.
However, if your home was transferred from the council to a housing association while you have been living there, you may have been given extra rights, equivalent to those of a secure tenant (see below). Check your tenancy agreement to see what it says, and get advice.
Secure housing association tenants can assign their tenancy to any person who would be eligible to take on the tenancy by succession if they were to die. Your spouse or civil partner would normally be eligible, as long as s/he is living with you. If you are not married or in a registered civil partnership, a cohabiting partner or another member of your family may be able to take over the tenancy instead, as long as s/he has been living with you for at least one year.

evoke

OP: it sounds like your ex was probably committing benefits fraud as you were living with her and she was probably on the books as the only adult in the property and claiming benefits. Obviously the council didn't know about you living there too.

dancingfairy

The fact you are on the council tax will not neccesarily be known to the housing association - they may not have known you were living there. Obviously you are living there at the moment. You really need to get on to Shelter and find out where you stand on this one,also try your local CAB. It appears that you may be entitled to housing but not I'm not sure whether that would be where you are or not.
I'm sure you will find somewhere to live but it depends on whether you need to apply to the housing association as a new applicant or whether there is some possibility you can take over the tenancy which is why you need to speak to Shelter.
Best of Luck
df

Jowo_2

AFAIK, housing benefit is about the liability to pay rent. The OP isn't a named tenant, therefore has no liability to pay rent - his ex does, although if she has actually now left the property (its not clear to me if she has), then she has probably breached her tenancy agreement (as it is no longer her primary residence) and if she isn't living there, cannot claim HB for the property. Meanwhile her obligation to pay rent continues, regardless or not of her actual occupation.

Here is the housing association's handbook which details their policy for moving from sole to joint tenants, relationship breakdown and their complaints procedure.

If you have a tenancy in your name only and want to make
someone else a joint tenant, the following conditions apply:

• If you are asking for a joint tenancy with a partner you must be

married, in a civil partnership or have been living together as a
couple for more than one year. We will need evidence of this.

• We will not agree to a joint tenancy if you are in rent arrears or you

cannot show that the person is eligible to become a joint tenant.

Relationship breakdown

If you have a joint-tenancy agreement, or live with a partner and your
relationship ends, you should contact us for advice about your rights.

We will do everything we can to help the person moving out to find

another suitable home. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that we

will find them somewhere.

http://www.wwha.net/NR/rdonlyres/016A49DC-B2E1-4220-AB5B-91BCC2D0FD7D/0/ResidentsHandbook2009Final.pdf

squinty

ringo_1 wrote: »

h so we aggreed that as it was her name only on the tenancey aggreement we should put it into joint and when she found somewhere we would ask for her name to be removed ,b

This is a big assumption - a tenancy is a legal agreeement, you cannot just decide to add someone onto the agreement, and take names off when you like.

It is not up to your ex to give the poperty to you - she ends her tenancy and the property is reallocated using the policy of the HA.

However, if your daughter is staying with you, you could be treated as homeless. You need to contact the homelessness section at your local council to talke about options.

poppysarah

Ring shelter for advice.

ringo_1

hi neither myself or ex claimed any benefits it was only when she decided she was leaving i asked about hb as i wasnt sure wheather i could manage on my own ,i have contacted shelter ,local mp ,the council ,solicitors and a few others but so far the housing officer is (too busy )to speak to them funny enough so will have to wait and see ,thanks all