Preserved Right to Buy

OTS6698

I'm waiting for Mums Housing Officer to contact me about this. My understanding is that if a Council tenant is decanted through demolition, then their secured tenancy which she had with Liverpool City Council is preserved, unless they waived this right as part of the tenancy agreement, which is lost. 

user1977

Is the decant relevant? Even if she had started a new council tenancy in 1983 then she would have had the same rights by now, wouldn't she?

OTS6698

My understanding is that when you have a secured Council tenancy as Mum did with Liverpool Council, if your home is demolished and you are moved out (decanted), then your secure Council tenancy is transferred to the new Landlord (Riverside Housing in Mums case). I think, the only way that Mum could have waived her secured tenancy would have been in writing, more than likely in the new tenancy agreement with Riverside Housing., which is lost. 

simon_or

user1977 said:

Is the decant relevant? Even if she had started a new council tenancy in 1983 then she would have had the same rights by now, wouldn't she?

From what the OP said, it sounds like it was an HA landlord from the time of the decant in 1983.

Copstaasty1234

But if your mum doesn’t have the copy either then that also doesn’t prove she didn’t agree to waiving the right when she accepted the new tenancy.

You can’t assume anything solely because they’ve lost their copy, because your mum has lost hers too. She is potentially going to struggle to prove she didn’t waive it. Are you definitely definitely sure she doesn’t have it anymore? At this stage I would probably turn the house upside down as if she’s got it to show she didn’t waive it then they can’t stop her buying it. 

HampshireH

Put a data access request in to the HA asking for everything they hold on file.

Then work through it. Just because the person who looked couldn't find it doesn't mean it's not there 

Chances are they have had new systems and back scanning projects where this could be in one large document rather than a seperate one but someone hasn't taken the time to look 

wilfred30

If the HA can't prove that she doesn't have Preserved Right to Buy and you can't prove that she does, you've hit a stalemate which, presumably, means that she won't be able to buy it.

lincroft1710

In 1983 it may well have been a condition of the HA granting a tenancy to ex-council tenants was that their PRTB was relinquished. So that by signing the tenancy agreement the PRTB was automatically extinguished. No need to sign any other document.


Unfortunately this impasse could drag on and at 85, your mother doesn't really want waste too much time if she wants to buy the property. If the HA dig their heels in, going to law could be time consuming and costly. What is the RTA percentage discount compared to the RTB? 

tinytiddles

Did the property transfer to the Housing Association before it was demolished or did it remain in the Council’s hands and she then transferred to a Housing Association property when it was up for demolition? 

As far as I’m aware, if you move from a Council to a Housing Association you lose your Right to Buy and only qualify for Right to Acquire unless the property itself transferred to the Housing Association when in most cases the tenant retains their Right to Buy (which is the preserved RTB). If your Mum moved back to a Council property (not sure there are any in Liverpool now?) her previous years as a Council tenant would count and she would have the Right to Buy again. It’s bloody complicated!

If the Housing Association won’t help guide you through it I’d recommend speaking to someone at Shelter who will be able to clarify. I work in Housing and sadly Riverside are one of the infamous ones in our sector that give all the good HAs who give a monkeys about their tenants a bad name. Hope you and your Mum can get some clarity on this. 

GDB2222

sammyjammy said:

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

Why do people ask these questions? Is someone really not allowed to ask a question without having to justify their motives?