Council renting flat to young care client - how do they do this?

go4it

Has anyone ever come across this?

I rent out a flat, and my tenant has given her notice. I have learnt that the flat below is being rented out to a young 17 year old, who has been in care. He lives on his own, but has large groups of 'friends' coming around (drink / drugs etc).

It appears that the Council have put the child there (they are under 18, so a child) on a step down programme of care.

Are there any rules or regulations for this? Other tenants in the block are on the verge of quitting. Police have been several times, a support worker visits the child, but yet nothing has been done. Eviction is a possibility, the management company are contacting the landlord to find out what is going on.

Now this has financial implications for me (I need a new tenant) but there are private owners in the block who feel intimidated and quite frankly not safe.

Any advice?

TBagpuss

The rules relate to the level of support which the local authority has to give to the young care-leaver. New rules are coming in which will allow young people to remain in care until they are 21 (this is already available for those living with foster parents) and it has been made clear that it is not acceptable to dump young people into B&Bs.

There are not, however, any specific rules about third parties, so the situation is the same as it would be with any other neighbour; they may be vulnerable to eviction if they are breaching their tenancy agreement, and of course any specific incidents of harassment can be reported to the police.

Why do people feel intimidated> Has he done anything specific or do they just not like there being a group of young people there? Has anyone spoken to him to ask politely that he keep the noise down (if that is an issue)

BigAunty

I don't know the formal council process for this but when my young nephew left care, they provided structured successive steps to help his independence. First, he lived in a mini flatlet within a residential care facility that had support staff there. Then he had a shared tenancy in a flat with others. Finally, around the age of 18 or so, the council gave him a social housing tenancy.

You'd have thought that because he had this gradual transition to independence, that he may have side-stepped the usual issues that plague adolescents leaving care but unfortunately he still encountered the usual grim journey.

As per usual with care leavers, he left school with barely any qualifications, was unemployed for long stretches, ended up in prison and became homeless when he decided to walk out of his assured tenancy (I think he later managed to secure another under the duty of care principle).

His council flat (which he'd been lusting after since his early teens) was a magnet for youths as a party flat. I suspect that it's common for teenagers given their own tenancy to be befriended by people wanting to exploit the fact that they can drink, take drugs, play endless computer games and TV, without an adult in sight.

Sorry I can't provide constructive advice. You could perhaps raise with your local MP your fears that the council aren't offering any real transition or supervision to a vulnerable young person whose independent status means that he inevitably attracts hangers-on.

go4it

Thank you - MP will be a good bet.

I appreciate a young adult needs help, however as has been said it has turned into a 'party flat' with drinks / drugs etc. The tenants just want the young adult to have the right support, and living in that flat is not working.

davidmcn

Raising it with the local councillor(s) seems a more relevant choice, at least in the first instance.

BigAunty

I suppose that aside from the councillor/MP route, you and your fellow neighbours could write to the head of Social Services to let them know how unimpressed you are with their transition of this teen into independence.

I doubt that this particular letter will do much - perhaps social services are doing everything they feel the youth is due and that his anti-social behaviour is out of the scope of their support responsibilities.

You should get all the occupants to go through the environmental services route to formally report noise issues.

My partner sublet their residential property to the council on a 3 year lease who then granted a tenancy to a lady,partner and her family. The council housing offices encouraged her and the neighbours to report all the issues encountered due to their anti social behaviour but never acted on it. When we asked them why nothing was done during her tenancy despite a dozen plus complaints, we found out that they never even opened an Anti-social case against her,dismissing all complaints about the tenant as 'hearsay' without any proof. At the time, they pretended that they cared and never once gave any indication that they never planned to act, that they didn't believe any of the reports. We know that the police were called to the property on numerous occasions but whether it was the council or the police reporting, they denied this had taken place.

We later found out she was a released s-e-x offender in an abusive relationship. All the efforts from social services and housing were about protecting her rights and supporting her as a vulnerable person - the neighbours and landlords were just considered to be nuisances. She trashed the property and the council still didn't give a toss. Only by threatening to notify the local press that she was a nightmare who was overstaying her tenancy with the council saying they couldn't evict their own tenant due to the human rights act, did they finally get her out.

So if you are fed !!!!!!!! by the council and find they don't act, you may need to contact the local press in order to embarass them to act.

Ultimately, though, the tenant is responsible for their own behaviour. From what I saw with my own nephew, even the highest degree of support and structured transition, can be worthless.

An immature teenage boy has been given his own place, feels like a king because he has what many of his peers don't have, attracts hangers on that he wants to impress and is transformed into a party animal, funded by the state.

Daisy_bee

go4it wrote: »

Has anyone ever come across this?

I rent out a flat, and my tenant has given her notice. I have learnt that the flat below is being rented out to a young 17 year old, who has been in care. He lives on his own, but has large groups of 'friends' coming around (drink / drugs etc).

It appears that the Council have put the child there (they are under 18, so a child) on a step down programme of care.

Are there any rules or regulations for this? Other tenants in the block are on the verge of quitting. Police have been several times, a support worker visits the child, but yet nothing has been done. Eviction is a possibility, the management company are contacting the landlord to find out what is going on.


Now this has financial implications for me (I need a new tenant) but there are private owners in the block who feel intimidated and quite frankly not safe.

Any advice?

Sounds identical to the block of flats in which I live, where the property management company frankly don't care and many good tenants are looking for new places to live! Luckily I am moving on anyway but had I not been , then I would be now. My advice would be to sell your flat and invest elsewhere as unless this is resolved your next tenants are highly likely to quit too!

Lummoxley

There are no rules or regulations specific to accommodating a Looked After Child (LAC) in a flat. Under 16 LAC have to be placed in a regulated placement e.g. foster care or registered children's home which are registered and inspected by OFSTED.

You could send a letter as suggested to the Director of Children's Services in your local authority but the young person may not be under that authorities care.

The flat may well be rented by a "semi-independent" provider so even if the current tenant moves out they could be replaced by another young person.