Right to buy deceased tennant.

Olpk

My mother unexpectantly died days after submitting the initial right to buy application and named me as a joint applicant although I'm not a tennant of the address.
I'm trying to maintain the right to buy in her absence.
Its 10 days since she died and the house was ours for 45 years.
The landlord acknowledged receipt of the application but due to Covid refused to process it further.
Does anyone have experience of keeping the right to buy going or the supporting case law Harrow v Tonge.

hazyjo

Sorry for your loss.

I'm confused. You weren't living there, yet you were applying for joint tenancy? Were you planning on moving in? Where are you currently living, where do you pay council tax, and if you drive whose address is on your driving licence?

Norman_Castle

Sorry about your mother.

I'd suspect as you don't live at the property you might not be able to buy.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/legal/security_of_tenure/succession/succession_secure_tenancies/effect_of_death_on_right_to_buy

AdrianC

Olpk said:

My mother unexpectantly died days after submitting the initial right to buy application and named me as a joint applicant although I'm not a tennant of the address.
I'm trying to maintain the right to buy in her absence.
Its 10 days since she died and the house was ours for 45 years.
The landlord acknowledged receipt of the application but due to Covid refused to process it further.
Does anyone have experience of keeping the right to buy going or the supporting case law Harrow v Tonge.

Non-starter, and you're completely wrong about LBoH v Tonge.

"A principle common to both of these judgements is that the right remains subject to the deemed secure tenant being in occupation of the property until the conveyance or the grant. The result is that those who were included in the application for the right to buy can continue the claim to exercise the right to buy after the death of the secure tenant even where they are not ordinarily entitled to succeed to the property so long as they fulfil the occupation condition."

https://hardwicke.co.uk/housing-law-the-right-to-buy-lives-on-or-does-it-2/

You do not fulfil the occupation condition. You shouldn't have been included in the first place. You have no right to the RtB.

Why do you even want to buy the property? Are you moving into it? Yes, the property may have been her home for 45 years, but it is not your home. I'm sure you understand that many may view the situation as "10 days after your mother's death, and your highest priority is to try and get a cheap house..."

[Deleted User]

I think some folk might be jumping the gum here.  The OP has said that (s)he is not a tenant of the property but that doesn't mean the OP doesn't live there.  Tenants are able to make a joint RTB application with up to 3 family members who have been living with the for the last 12 months so it is conceivable that the OP does in fact live in the property.

wilfred30

I think your mother's application would likely have been refused anyway because she included you as a joint applicant when you didn't even live there.  

I agree that you probably have zero chance of continuing your late mother's application.

bucksbloke

You might be able to succeed the tenancy if you can live there (if it was not a succeeded tenancy from someone else). See info from Shelter

wilfred30

Your own link says that the OP would not be successful as they do not live there and they can't just move in now.

Members of the tenant's family

If a member of the tenant's family was joined to the right to buy under the co-purchaser procedure,[4] and the tenant dies leaving the other applicant in occupation, that other applicant is deemed to be a secure tenant for the purpose of completing the right to buy transaction, provided that s/he remains in occupation. S/he can therefore require that the sale be completed, even if there has been a previous succession.[5]

AdrianC

Lover_of_Lycra said:

I think some folk might be jumping the gum here.  The OP has said that (s)he is not a tenant of the property but that doesn't mean the OP doesn't live there. 

A good point, well spotted.

OP - can you clarify?

[Deleted User]

And by gum I meant gun!  Doh.

theartfullodger

Olpk said:

Right to buy deceased tennant.

Don't think it was ever right to buy humans, more so with slavery being (at last..) more in the news, certainly I'd oppose anyone purchasing  a tenant, in any circumstances.