No room for the disabled

lisyloo

Did you check your home insurance?
do you have access to free legal advice?

I’d also try Citizens advice and shelter.
you might find some agencies don’t consider April to be an urgent situation though,

ellenGB

Contacted both but they are very busy.  Have had legal advice.  Consistent with what many have noted.  Coowner can enforce sale. 

theoretica

You and your brother are tenants in common, yet you say his children were in the will?  If under 18 year olds inherit part of the property that is a whole added layer of complication and protection for their rights.

The suggestion to contact the charity Shelter is a good one - they really know housing!  If there is a charity which deals with whatever your disability is they may also be able to help and get social services to act.

elsien

I would suggest keeping contacting the local authority to press for an allocated social worker for your assessment . Tell them your issues and that you are struggling to manage your day to day needs and that you risk losing your home. They need a reason to prioritise you.  - there are delays in assessment but things should be moving again now. If they’re not responding to you at all then use their complaints procedure. 

cymruchris

I don't really want to pry into the size of the house or the value - I understand it's adapted for your use, which means it's not the same as most other houses - but if your brother did get his way - you'd receive half the proceeds from the sale - is the house big enough/worth enough that half the value would cover maybe something smaller and easier to manage, maybe in a lower cost area? For example is where you are now a 3 bed house that you could downgrade to a specially adapted 1 bed ground floor flat or something similar? I'm just throwing the question out to see what you 'could' get for the money you'll receive.

ellenGB

Please accept that I am too ill to move. Suggestions to move are not helpful. If I could, I would. And social services do not help. They assessed mum only two days before her death when she was already unconscious and after questions from a male politician.  I complained, they apologised and the ombudsman was happy with that. I’d love to live in a different area with a better SS department but can’t. I know you are all trying to gelp but you do what a lot of able bodied people do. You don’t acknowledge our limitations. This ‘bet you can’ is hard to cope with. It’s what you ay to a child. I am 65. And truthful. 

GrumpyDil

Don't take this the wrong way but no one is making light of your situation.

The hard cold facts are that, where a property is jointly owned either owner, by going to court, can force a sale. It's not cheap or particularly quick but... 

If your mother had written her will to give you a life interest to live in the property then that would have protected you but a letter expressing her wishes does not.

Unfortunately,  you probably will be forced to move so have no real choice other than to get as much help as possible to manage that process.

As others have said, if social services are not helping raise a formal complaint or contact your local councillor/the Councillor responsible for social services. Also do look for any charity advice/help lines who may be able to help you. 

Sea_Shell

lisyloo said:

Sea_Shell said:

If it got as far as court, would the court actually grant a sale order in the circumstances?

Regardless of either parties entitlement.

What’s circs are you referring to? Disability?

without underestimating how hard it is I don’t think disability prevents someone moving or being evicted

Lets think of this another way...     

How successful would the OP be if they had been left out of a will, and they were bringing a case under the Inheritance Act because they had not been sufficiently provided for?

We basically have a similar problem here, in that the will (assuming there was a will and it's not an intestacy split) does not fully take into account the OP's situation (yes, including her disabilities) and does not provide for them sufficiently.

In the circumstances (of an IA claim) would a court actually agree that the OP should "win" and get more of the inheritance, or be allowed to stay in the house?

Could the same outcome be applied in this situation where the OP is entitled to 50% but that is not enough to provide them with a home and a carer etc. going forwards.

Robin9

@ellenGB  Where is your doctor in this ? He/she should be initiating your contact with Social Services.  

If it wasn't Social Services who arranged to benefits who did ?

elsien

ellenGB, social services may not be all that they could be, and it sounds as if your mum may have been failed badly.
But your mum passed in the middle of Covid when councils were limiting what they were able to offer, and assessments were being delayed.
There are still backlogs but the situation is easing now. You’ve not been able to find a carer yourself, getting them in may take some of the stress away and give you more headspace to look at the other issues.
You’ve spoken to a solicitor who has advised going to court, if I’ve read your earlier post correctly. Is the sticking point financial, or more that it’s too stressful to action at the moment? Or some other reason? Is there a law centre in your area?