Evicting adult son as we are selling up and moving away.

dawn6656

Long story, here goes... We are recently retired and have decided to sell up and move abroad. We have been wanting to do this for the past 5 years but have had family commitments and health problems.  I recently lost my aunt and soon after my dad whom I cared for.  We now have no reason to wait. However, my son (24) is still living with us and does not want to move away with us.  He is unemployed, mildly autistic, has extreme social anxieties and medical issues. He can look after himself really well without help and is good with his finances. He has not been a problem and we love him very much. 

He has been in touch with the Council who informed him that we need to 'evict' him so that he can get social housing. We have done this by email but the council has come back and said that this is not enough.  He can be difficult to talk to if things dont go smoothly and will only talk to hubby.  He asked his dad if we can look into it.  We cannot find much out online and I will call CAB in the morning. But am just wondering if anyone had any advice or point us in the right direction.  Many thanks in anticipation.

HillStreetBlues

Hi, sorry I can't help with your question, this isn't the best board for your query so have requested it be moved.

tacpot12

If you have Home Insurance, check to see if you have Legal Expenses cover. If you do, you can call the legal Helplien provided by your insurer. You should ask them to write a letter to your son terminating his licence to occupy your home with 28 days notice, and to write a letter to the council to confirm that your son only has a licence to occupy your home, that the licence has been terminated as of the date that the notice ended and consequently your son has been legally evicted and cannot occupy your home any longer. 

It is likely to be essential that he does not stay overnight in your home after the date that his notice expires. Doing so could be interpretted as having restarted a licence for him to occupy your home.

Alderbank

They won't rehouse your son at present because he is not homeless. He is a licenced occupier in your family. If you sell your home under him and move away he might well be left on the streets homeless but as a young single man the council will not offer him much, perhaps bed & breakfast in a shoddy boarding house or a shared room in a house of multiple occupation, or a homeless hostel.
Because of his health issues he will find those desperately stressful. Is that what you want for him?

Since he has special needs, could you talk to local charities who support people with those conditions? A possible solution might be for him to make friends with someone similar to himself and move in with them in a protected environment.

But then anything would be better for him than being evicted.

M25

Relying on your council is a bit of a lottery especially if your son's needs are not fully known by the GP or the DWP (and maybe even your family). Your council may be more helpful (ie legally obliged) if he has diagnoses of his medical problems and is receiving assistance from someone (charity, CPN etc).

Can't you just get him a flat and pay upfront for a few months, give him cash for emergencies and then he can apply for help with that rent to the council? Is that not a possibility? The council will likely not cover the full rent so you'd maybe need to help medium term and then he might get on the housing list. There may be housing associations who help too with vulnerable people.

See what the CAB say.

I hope it goes well for your family.

stu12345_2

forget getting a council home, that's impossible, where I live there are 27000 on the waiting list, 150 homes come up a year.
you have to compete with others , you register on home choice and apply twice a week on that website.
depending on the number of points or band you have to determines your chances.

many folk are living in tents , on doorways and still not priority.

tbh forget social housing imo. and if he rents private ,he will then be classed as homed and his band or points will be much lower.

how much equity do you have when you sell. can you buy him a little one bed flat, maybe in a cheaper area, and when he starts a job he sends some of his wages to you monthly to repay for the flat you brought him.

then he is not at the whim of a private landlord or the Impossibility of getting a council home 

renting private the landlord will want someone that is employed with good credit history, (  many landlords btl mortgages prevent them taking on dwp renters)unless you promise to pay the rent indefinitely on the private rent, but effectively your paying off the landlords mortgage , which you don't want to be doing

tbh if it was my son and I was selling my house , I would buy a wee flat abroad for me and a wee flat in the UK for him.

best of both worlds, then his life is more secure and mapped out, which he can make plans for the long-term, eg jobs, career, earnings, stability.

silvercar

Surely you have some responsibility to ensure you son has an adequate home, before you run off into the sunset?

FlorayG

This is very difficult for you because you want to help him but you need to move. I can tell you that until he is actually homeless - nowhere to live - the council will not be interested. Notice to quit isn't enough, he has to be actually out of the premises and as another has said, he will even then be bottom of the rehousing list because he is a young single male.
Sorry can't offer help, just clarifying what 'homeless' means in reality

FlorayG

silvercar said:

Surely you have some responsibility to ensure you son has an adequate home, before you run off into the sunset?

Isn't that exactly what the OP is trying to do and asking for advice about?

stu12345_2

tbh forget council or private rent, look at how much money you will get when you sell up, have you also got any inheritance, total of all you are likely to have when you count up.your money.

unless you have own a wee 2 bed flat in Blackpool  and no savings at the moment, then that plan won't work.

you don't expect your son to be unemployed for the rest of his life, obviously.

so like I said if you have enough money , get him a wee cheap flat , even if it means it's not in the same county or town .

he can then repay you when he has money, and use that as part of your living expenses when you are living abroad. together with private pensions and perhaps OAP pensions if you are old enough too.

I went homeless( I was living in a house owned by my mother in law) after a divorce, 16 years ago, penniless , but employed, and numerous debts from the marriage in my name, I had to live in a hostel for druggies, that was  were my council put me, I bid and bid in the home choice website, I eventually bet 83 other applicants for a wee housing association bedsit in a rough area.

after 5 years of doing 9 mutual swaps on homeswapper website I ended up in one of the nicest counties in England, but it was very hard work getting here,  I've now been here in a wee council flat for last 10 yrs.

this is in a county with 27000 on the waiting list.

LinLui

so like I said if you have enough money , get him a wee cheap flat , even if it means it's not in the same county or town .

he can then repay you when he has money, and use that as part of your living expenses when you are living abroad.

Provided it was a commercial arrangement, the OP could buy a small flat and rent it to the son. That way they would know the son was housed adequately and it would provide an income as well. If he got a job but wasn't able to pay the full rent there would be nothing to stop them reducing the rent for a period to allow him to progress.

Surely you have some responsibility to ensure you son has an adequate home, before you run off into the sunset?

That's somewhat cruel. The son can look after himself and manage his finances. There is no indication that he has any significant needs that are or will be unmet. Are parents to look after their adult children for their entire lives and have no life of their own? 

OP I would echo others here - even if he is a high enough priority to get social housing, and that would be a significant problem, you might find that the social housing available is far from anything that you might want a family member to live in. Around here there are a few "easily available" areas. Few and far between. And there is a reason that it is easy to get those places. Nobody in their right mind would live there.