Can the council evict my dad/what happens to me?

BitterAndTwisted

I have never heard of a council tenant being forced out of a house because it's "under occupied". They do try to encourage people to move to smaller properties but that's only fair, they don't have enough family houses for all the people on the waiting-list who are either homeless and living in B&Bs or horribly overcrowded and desperate.

You are a young person just starting out on your adult life. You have no need of a 3 bedroomed house even if those rooms are small. Start thinking about making your own way in life as it sounds like you won't have a cat's chance in hell of acquiring the tenancy. And you have no need of it. Unlike those waiting.

no1wf

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I have never heard of a council tenant being forced out of a house because it's "under occupied". They do try to encourage people to move to smaller properties but that's only fair, they don't have enough family houses for all the people on the waiting-list who are either homeless and living in B&Bs or horribly overcrowded and desperate.

You are a young person just starting out on your adult life. You have no need of a 3 bedroomed house even if those rooms are small. Start thinking about making your own way in life as it sounds like you won't have a cat's chance in hell of acquiring the tenancy. And you have no need of it. Unlike those waiting.

I understand that I'm not going to keep this house forever, even if I lived somewhere else and my dad wasn't here it's not like I can stop people living here.

My point is that though it'd be easier for me to stay here forever and I would, I'd be more than happy to get my own place and live there for the rest of my life. It's just that when I move out I don't want people sending letters, calling or coming round telling my dad he needs to move out because he's only 1 man. He would have to deal, within the space of about 2 years maybe, his wife dying and his only child leaving home. The house going from chatty and active to the only noise being his own footsteps and the dog.

BitterAndTwisted

No-one will tell your Dad that he has to move. They might encourage him to consider it, and may offer an inducement for him to do so, but that's all

Darlyd

I don't understand this myself.

My nan has lived in her council house for 60 years, lived in the street all of her life, My uncle who is 54 has always lived with my nan and still does. She was offered to downsize but refused and so the council have not bothered, same with her sister and her husband who lives cross the road from her. My family have been trying to find out where my uncle stands if something happened to my nan, he can not go onto the tenancy as my granddad was before he died and you can only have 2 people on the tenancy ever (council told my family this). So my uncle can stay with my nan for as long as she is still alive but when she passes away they will have to re home him.

My great aunty lived in a 3 bed council house for 40+ years with her son, she had to go into a care home but son had to be re homed to a 2 bed bungalow (bare in mind he has no kids).

Friend of mine divorced with 2 kids moved into 3 bed council home, kids left home and she was TOLD she had to down grade, she only lived in the house for 8 years or so. She now has a 2 bed flat.

This is in Wales, weather it differs in England I do not know.

squinty

Assuming the tenancy is a secure tenancy and in England or Wales (there are different rules in Scotland).

1. Your dad cannot currently be forced to leave the property. As others have said the council may encourage him to move to a smaller property but there is no compulsion. You do not mention your dads age, or if he pays the rent but you may want to look up HB reform where in some circumstances HB can be reduced if working age claimant are in a propert that is too large for their needs.

2. If the tenancy was a joint tenancy and has transferred to a single tenancy following the death of mum there can be no further sucession to the tenancy. ie you would not get the tenancy if your dad died. To be clear the length of time you have lived at the proprerty is irrelevant

3. You cannot have your name added to the tenancy. There are only certain limited circumstances where a tenancy can be assigned - one of these is to someone who is qualified to succeed - however as covered above you are not entitled to succeed so you do not qualify.

4. In you original post you say the council would find you somewhere else to live. This is not guaranteed. They may help but even if you are in a priority need group and are accepted as homeless (unlikley as a childless couple) this may be help with privately renting.

I know I've given you 4 answers to the 2 questions you ask, but I wanted to be as clear as possible.

Finally - there is no immediate threat. Spend some time with your dad and when is is able have a chat about what he wants to do in the long term. ie does he want to stay, or would he prefer something smaller. Look after him.

McKneff

squinty wrote: »

Assuming the tenancy is a secure tenancy and in England or Wales (there are different rules in Scotland).

1. Your dad cannot currently be forced to leave the property. As others have said the council may encourage him to move to a smaller property but there is no compulsion. You do not mention your dads age, or if he pays the rent but you may want to look up HB reform where in some circumstances HB can be reduced if working age claimant are in a propert that is too large for their needs.

2. If the tenancy was a joint tenancy and has transferred to a single tenancy following the death of mum there can be no further sucession to the tenancy. ie you would not get the tenancy if your dad died. To be clear the length of time you have lived at the proprerty is irrelevant

3. You cannot have your name added to the tenancy. There are only certain limited circumstances where a tenancy can be assigned - one of these is to someone who is qualified to succeed - however as covered above you are not entitled to succeed so you do not qualify.

4. In you original post you say the council would find you somewhere else to live. This is not guaranteed. They may help but even if you are in a priority need group and are accepted as homeless (unlikley as a childless couple) this may be help with privately renting.

I know I've given you 4 answers to the 2 questions you ask, but I wanted to be as clear as possible.

Finally - there is no immediate threat. Spend some time with your dad and when is is able have a chat about what he wants to do in the long term. ie does he want to stay, or would he prefer something smaller. Look after him.

You have presumably read all the posts on this thread, yes.
Lots of them have been contradictory, right.

Now, forget ever one of them and take the advice above. It is the best and most informative advice you can get.

Good luck

kj*daisy

no1wf wrote: »

Councils website is rubbish I can't find anything for what I need on there.

So there's a chance they might let me carry on the tenancy, if it's in their rules? I want to write to them somehow but don't want to point out the situation and make them aware so that they can do everything I don't want them to do.

That's really good to know thank you, it will be a good while yet before we've got the money together to buy things for a house let alone rent one ourselves.

It's by no means a big house, there's 3 bedrooms but they're only small rooms. I'm just worried that they'll go "there's 1 man and a dog living in a 3 bed house, lets move him on and we can stick a family in there and cross them off the list"

They might let you stay but it would depend on their rules - squintys post is correct too. To be honest if it's just you and your partner living there then it's unlikely they will as you won't need a house that size and there will be families on the waiting list with more priority than you who need a house that size. It's more likely when it's a family living with an elderly relative to care for them, and the family also need a house that size, and would just be re- housed somewhere else the same size if evicted.

And I made a mistake in my previous post, as your mum and dad were married he can't be asked to leave even if under occupying now.

HB58

A friend of mine has been in a very similar situation. She and her sister are now in their 30' and 40s and have lived in the council house with their parents all their lives. Their mother died several years ago and their father died last year.

'Shelter' have worked with the council and housing associations to relocate my friend and her sis into a 2 bedroom flat. It has taken more than 6 months to work through the process and they finally got the keys to the new flat last week.