Preserved Right to Buy

OTS6698

My Mum is 85. She was decanted (moved out due to demolition) of our family flat in Liverpool in 1983. At that time, she was a Liverpool City Council tenant. She moved into a housing association property directly from the flat. She has expressed an interest to buy the current house under the right to buy scheme. She has been advised by the Landlord (Riverside Housing) that she isn't eligible, as she is no longer a Council Tenant. They said she is eligible for Right to Acquire only which offers a far less generous discount. I did some research into this and discovered that if you were a Council tenant and your home is demolished, you are considered to have been decanted and unless you gave up your right to Preserved Right to Buy rights which were enacted in 1980 by the Housing Act, your Preserved Right to Buy rights continue

I contacted the Housing Association and asked to see if Mum had relinquished her Preserved Right to Buy. They said they couldn’t find anything, but it would have been part of her tenancy agreement. I asked for a copy of this and was told they can’t find the agreement. My view is that unless the Housing Association can show otherwise, my Mum has never given up her Preserved Right to Buy.

Any help on this is very much appreciated.

Thanks

HampshireH

Keep pushing.

They absolutely need to be able to prove it 

Do you have the original tenancy because it does work both ways. If you pursued it you would need to evidence her entitlement to defend the claim so to speak.

OTS6698

My Mum doesn't  have the original tenancy and they say they cant find it, which is very convenient. ??

dimbo61

We are talking about 39 years ago.
So unless your Mum was very very well organized I doubt either she or the Housing association have the old tenancy agreement.

sammyjammy

Why would your mum want to buy the property at this stage of her life?

OTS6698

Mum was left inheritance from a family member. She has never owned her onw property or had the money to do so. Despite her age, she wants town her home she's lived in since 1983 and has the funds to buy it. So, I suppose the simple answer is she wants to own it. 

Norman_Castle

OTS6698 said:

 I did some research into this and discovered that if you were a Council tenant and your home is demolished, you are considered to have been decanted and unless you gave up your right to Preserved Right to Buy rights which were enacted in 1980 by the Housing Act, your Preserved Right to Buy rights continue

Why would someone give up their preserved RTB? There would be no reason or benefit to a tenant for doing this.

I'd agree that unless they can show otherwise she still has the PRTB.

user1977

Not that surprising that over the decades the records haven't been properly maintained, but presumably she can put together other forms of evidence to prove how long she's lived there? 

ikcdab

sammyjammy said:

Why would your mum want to buy the property at this stage of her life?

If it was me I would want to pass on an appreciating asset in my will rather than cash in the bank which is just inflating away....

london21

sammyjammy said:

Why would your mum want to buy the property at this stage of her life?

Would be more valuable than cash due to the RTB discount been offered.

Those against RTB would look at it from the angle of 1 less property for desperate tenants.

simon_or

Sounds like she may have preserved RTB but the eligibility gets a bit more nit-picky when there's a change of property involved, especially through demolition.

I imagine the first point of contact to get to the bottom of this would be the council housing team?