Taking Over Secured Council Tenancy?

Termit

Hi, my friend has lived with his sole parent in their council flat for years now (45 years the parent has been there) his mum has recently sadly died. His name is not on the tenancy. His mum paid the bills so no bills in his name even though he did contribute when he could. So if they want that kind of proof that he has lived there with her for all these years.
What will happen now regarding his home? What will the council do regarding the tenancy? Will the tenancy be able to be passed onto him? He was told it can be handed down once, and it never has been handed down to date. He would like to carry on living there.

Is housing benefit stopped when someone goes into hospital? His mum was claiming and she went into hospital. And he has since found out the rent is arrears but they overpaid for years so don't know how else this can be other than the housing benefit was stopped.

Thanks for any help.

elsien

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/council_housing_association/what_happens_to_a_tenancy_when_the_tenant_dies

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/council_housing_association/can_you_inherit_a_council_tenancy

He needs to talk to the council, but it may be worth phoning Shelter first to get some advice.

elsien

If he was working or claiming benefits then he should have letter s/payslips with his current address on as proof. Bank statements, electoral register, driving licence, council tax - mum won't have been claiming the single person discount so even if he's not on the bill there should be a record of him somewhere.

HampshireH

HB will stop yes. The minute someone dies or correspondance goes unanswers or they are notified of a change in circumcstances

He can apply to succeed the tenancy. If its a 4 bed flat (for example) he may be given a succession on the grounds he will downsize (and be served notice to ensure that happens)

If he isn't under occupying and is eligible he needs to start paying the rent.

He should also be keeping the weekly rent ready to pay the arrears when successful.

They cannot have been overpaying for years if its in arrears already. Or if they were it was minimal amounts.

How would somebody claiming full housing benefit afford to overpay the rent for years?

Most expect proof of occupancy. Bank statements /personal bills with that address on. & usually that he has been listed as an occupant on their systems.

Termit

Thank you all. He is on the electoral register actually and yes his mum would have included him on the council tax as well.

He hasn't claimed benefits no. He has been his mum's carer for many years now and he hasn't claimed carer's allowance either. They got by on his mum's pension and he did have some savings which he used over the years as well.

It is a 2 bed flat and there is only him living there now. He's worried about them not letting him take over the tenancy on top of everything else he's dealing with regarding his mum's death.

Cakeguts

Termit wrote: »

Thank you all. He is on the electoral register actually and yes his mum would have included him on the council tax as well.

He hasn't claimed benefits no. He has been his mum's carer for many years now and he hasn't claimed carer's allowance either. They got by on his mum's pension and he did have some savings which he used over the years as well.

It is a 2 bed flat and there is only him living there now. He's worried about them not letting him take over the tenancy on top of everything else he's dealing with regarding his mum's death.

Only the council will know its policy on single people living in council owned 2 bed properties.

[Deleted User]

I'm afraid it sounds like there has been a lot of 'burying head in sand' approach to finances. Unfortunately, this was short sighted as now he at his most vulnerable, things have to be straightened out.

If he is named on the Council Tax bill (his mother may have just not asked for the single person discount), this will help provide proof of residence. However he may require other ID. Does he have a bank account? A bank statement will help, as will any other official letter addressed to him at this address.

He could have claimed benefits as a carer fairly easily. Now he will have to claim some sort of benefit.But as you will probably be aware Universal Credit includes a five week delay to payment although he could apply for a loan to help him survive this period.

It is true that the council may decide that letting him stay in a two bed flat (which could be suitable for a family in temporary accommodation) is not possible. But if they decide he has a right to succession, they will have to provide him with a one bed place as minimum. While this is difficult to contemplate right now, it might actually be a good move, a one bed place will be less expensive to run and it could give him a fresh start.

I am sure your friend is very traumatised by his mother's death but he could now also see this as a chance to start a new life, possibly even gain employment (for example, with his caring experience he could find work in the caring professions - which there are never enough of). Or he could go into a completely new direction, hard as it is to start a new direction.

I agree, phoning Shelter would be a good idea so he knows what his rights are. Sometimes councils aren't as helpful as they can be with situations like this.

Normally when there are rent arrears, the council sends out rent statements, hopefully past records are kept somewhere in the flat. But it is true that as the DWP would have been notified of her death (and the council obviously know she has died), housing benefit would have been stopped on that day. Rent arrears can quickly accrue. He needs to immediately go and claim benefits himself, and go into Housing Benefits and enquire how he claims HB to cover the arrears . He may be able to claim a Housing dispensation payment to cover the arrears (I am guessing here, he may not). Shelter may advise on this also, once again, councils aren't always forthcoming with information like this and may just say 'no you can't do this' when he can. So he needs to get impartial advice also from somewhere like Shelter or Age UK (presuming his mum was over retirement age).

He also needs to ask questions by going to somewhere like the CAB or Age Uk as to how to manage her estate, large or small now his mother has died.

I am sure the OP's friend has already done some of this but this article may give some useful advice https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/what-to-do-when-someone-dies

Lucky_Gonk

It looks like the Mother has been a tenant for 45 years (ie before the secure tenancy was created) by the Housing Act 1980.



If his Mother was a sole tenant then there will be a right of succession available (as long as she hasn't succeeded herself since 3/10/80 or been assigned the tenancy).



As son, your friend appears to be a person eligible to succeed.


For tenancies that began prior to 1/4/12 (ie pre Localism Act 2011) he will need to prove:


1. His relationship to the tenant (eg his birth certificate); and

2. That he has lived with the tenant for the 12 months prior to her death, and

3. That as at the date of her death he was living at the property as his only or principal home.


If can prove this then he will succeed.



Now, the Council can look at possession action as a secure tenant if the property is too big for him and would have to serve a Notice of Seeking Possession under Ground 15A (Schedule 2 Housing Act 1985). To do so they must serve this Notice no sooner than 6 months after the date of death (or the date they bacame aware of the death, whichever is sooner) and before the expiry of 12 months. In order to be granted possession:


1. The court must deem in reasonable (ie is discretionaty possession); and
2. Suitable alternative accomodate must be available.



If it is a low demand property and he has lived there for a long time then realistically I think it would be unlikely that they would want possession, but even if they do they must try and provide him with somewhere else that is suitable.

Norman_Castle

Termit wrote: »

Is housing benefit stopped when someone goes into hospital? His mum was claiming and she went into hospital. And he has since found out the rent is arrears but they overpaid for years so don't know how else this can be other than the housing benefit was stopped.

Benefits should still be paid while in hospital but may have stopped due to a lack of communication from the claimant. Its likely there can be a back payment if the claim was valid.
He may be mentioned on the housing benefit claim which should prove his residency. If he takes over a two bed flat he will have to pay the bedroom tax.

cattie

As long as the mother wasn't in hospital for over 52 weeks then housing benefit should still have been paid. Other benefits such as DLA, PIP or AA stop once a person has been in hospital for over 28 days.

Termit

No she wasn't in hospital for that long since the middle of March she went in.

He's worried because the flat needs a good clear out with all his mum's stuff in there etc and he's worried about the council going around and kicking him out because of that.

Also regarding this benefit claim, he wants to know if the claim would be backdated to the start of his sick note, because he's confused as to why the doctor backdated the sick note to when he did by a week. He was thinking about going on Friday to put the claim in and wasn't sure if the backdating (if they would) would go from the start of the sick note or when he put the claim in.

Because right now the rent is still going out, he has no income or anything and is already having to deal with everything with his mum's death with all this on top of it all.