Advice re joint tenancy and broken relationship

mollygrub

Thankyou for your responses.. i have now removed the query

Cautious_Optimist

Why will the council not let him stay in his existing home?
As a joint tenant, does that not give him a secure council tenancy?
I would advise him to sit tight and seek advice from Shelter.

So the council are planning to evict him, make him homeless and then place him in B+B?

Has he been paying the rent?

What about if he moved a new GF with a young child into the house once his current wife had left?
Maybe then the council would class them as a "vulnerable" household and disrupt any eviction plans...?

Cautious_Optimist

Why will the council not let him stay in his existing home?
As a joint tenant, does that not give him a secure council tenancy?
I would advise him to sit tight and seek advice from Shelter.

So the council are planning to evict him, make him homeless and then place him in B+B?

Has he been paying the rent?

What about if he moved a new GF with a young child into the house once his current wife had left?
Maybe then the council would class them as a "vulnerable" household and disrupt any eviction plans...?
What would the council do then? Evict the whole "new family"?
Or evict just him and let the GF and child stay?
She could just let him straight back into the house...!

If he can't find a new GF with child in time, maybe he could go to his GP and claim he has depression / mental health problems..?
That may also delay the council's eviction plans a bit...?

Pixie5740

Your family member and his wife are joint tenants. They are both have joint and several liability for the current council property and the new council property. Your family member has just as much legal right to move into the new home as his wife does.

In fact according to CAB they both:

* have rights to the family home, and
* neither of you can ask the other to leave.

He can't stay in the property he's currently living in because as joint tenants the tenancy for that property has ended and a new one will start for the new property...as joint tenants. He will still legally be liable for all the rent in the new council property so I suggest he moves into the new property. Sure it might be awkward but he is entitled to live there and it's better than ending up on the streets. That will give him some time to sort things out i.e. ending the joint tenancy and finding somewhere else to live.

Kevie192

Would the wife and child still be entitled to a house without the husband being present? I thought single parents with 1 child are only eligible for a 1 or 2 bed flat?

pmlindyloo

He needs to ask his council if they have a relationship breakdown policy.

eg like this

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200027/council_tenant_information/1355/joint_tenancies/2

In my opinion the person responsible for the breakdown is a red herring. Just like any other relationship breakdown, agreements have to be made about who leaves the property as they both have rights to the property. Usually where there is a child involved it would make sense that the one who is claiming CB for the child would have the ultimate 'right' if it were taken to court because they couldn't agree.

You mention shared custody. Do you mean that? If it is indeed shared custody (50/50) then I believe only a court order would make the decision as to who moves to the new place.

I am not sure what your family member actually wants.

Does he want to move to the new property? Stay in the old property?

Depending on the council's policy then it may well be that he doesn't meet the criteria (length of relationship maybe) or that the flat is too large for his requirements. If he does not have residency of the child then he would only be 'entitled to' a one bed place. Whereas the one with residency would be entitled to a 2 bed place.

This is probably what is causing the problem.

Even if the council agree to rehouse it might be a long wait as not many one beds are available.

He certainly needs to challenge the 'making himself intentionally homeless'. He and his partner need to remove his name from the new tenancy agreement (as he will continue to be liable for the rent as a joint tenant) showing evidence that they have ended their relationship.

If the council refuse to rehouse then he could

make a homeless application
find a privately rented place
stay with family/friends until something is sorted

The end of a relationship is never easy and compromises have to be made.

Cautious_Optimist

He'd be crazy to give up his social tenancy.
He'd find it really hard to get a new one in the future.

Has the tenancy on his current home actually ended?
If so, how?
Has he agreed to end it?
Only the tenant or a court can end a tenancy.

Sit tight is my advice.

Pixie5740

Cautious_Optimist wrote: »

He'd be crazy to give up his social tenancy.
He'd find it really hard to get a new one in the future.

Has the tenancy on his current home actually ended?
If so, how?
Has he agreed to end it?
Only the tenant or a court can end a tenancy.

Sit tight is my advice.

It's a joint tenancy with his wife. She has ended the tenancy for the property in order to start a new joint tenancy in the new council property. Since it's a joint tenancy it only required one of them to end it so he can't just sit tight.

Cautious_Optimist

Pixie5740 wrote: »

It's a joint tenancy with his wife. She has ended the tenancy for the property in order to start a new joint tenancy in the new council property. Since it's a joint tenancy it only required one of them to end it so he can't just sit tight.

What if he moved a new GF with a child into his current house?
Do you think the council would go to court to evict them?
Or would they just take the easy option and grant them a new tenancy to stay there?
It seems crazy that the council would evict a family, only to be obliged to then re house them..?

Does a council tenant have a right to move in a new boyfriend / girlfriend without permission? (Even though, technically this man is no longer a tenant)

I think if he stays there alone, he's got more chance of being evicted...

Pixie5740

The tenancy is about to end. He CANNOT stay there. Where is he going to find a new single parent GF at short notice? Not that it would make any difference as the tenancy will have ended, GF with child in tow or not.

Cautious_Optimist

Pixie5740 wrote: »

The tenancy is about to end. He CANNOT stay there. Where is he going to find a new single parent GF at short notice? Not that it would make any difference as the tenancy will have ended, GF with child in tow or not.

So what would he gain by willingly leaving, rather than waiting for the bailiffs to turn up?

It may not be that short notice;
OP doesn't mention whether the council have got an eviction order or a possession order yet.
It could be six months before the bailiffs turf him out, especially if he shows up to the court each time with a sob story...

Presumably there's no S21 notice applicable, as this is not an AST..?

I would certainly not be giving up so easily...