In housing association property but inherited a property - what to do?

RociCap

Hello - my dad lives in a housing association property (but not been in a year yet, so not yet a secure tenancy) and has, out of the blue, been told he's inherited a property from an uncle.

My dad doesn't work and recieves both PIP and UC - he understands he will presumably no longer be eligible for UC once the property is in his name as it's an asset, that's no issue. His wish would be to sell the inherited property immediately or potentially rent it out as a form of income to replace the UC, staying where he is - but he's convinced that owning a property will automatically make him ineligible for his housing association tenancy.

I can't see anything in his tenancy agreement to this effect and I've made an appointment with a solicitor to talk to them about it on his behalf, but that's not for a couple of weeks and I wanted to try and gauge the likely outcomes so I can prepare him - his health has suffered badly with this move as it is, I can't imagine telling him he's got to move again to a property that will be poorly suited (and in dreadful condition, although that's not likely to make a difference to anyone's decision as it is liveable). Obviously if that's the case then what has to happen, but I'm just trying to get an idea of the potential scenarios.

Any experience in this area would be really helpful!

Brie

personally I think a solicitor is a bit premature.  all they will do is what you can do yourself - talk to the HA and ask what their policy is if one of the tenants inherits something.  Surely it's happened lots of times before.  Get them to confirm in writing if they say it makes no impact.  

Keep_pedalling

Inheriting the other property will notify pact his tenancy, but he should be very wary about becoming a landlord as it is comes with a lot of responsibilities, at it is highly likely that he would have to spend a considerable amount of money getting up to standard before he could earn any income. 

Unless the house is suitable for his own use probably best to instruct the executor to sell and receive his inheritance in cash. 

Uriziel

Why do you say that he cannot get UC because he owns a home? I don't think this is correct. Can he not just move into the home and continue claiming UC for living expenses? Obviously they won't pay him UC for rent.

sheramber

Why woukd he have to move to a house that was not suitable.
 He will have the cash for the sale of the inherited house to buy a house that suits him, if bathe inherited house is not suitable. 

RociCap

Brie said:

personally I think a solicitor is a bit premature.  all they will do is what you can do yourself - talk to the HA and ask what their policy is if one of the tenants inherits something.  Surely it's happened lots of times before.  Get them to confirm in writing if they say it makes no impact.  

Thank you, good point. I'm a bit out of my depth with helping with all this, wasn't sure where to begin!

RociCap

Keep_pedalling said:

Inheriting the other property will notify pact his tenancy, but he should be very wary about becoming a landlord as it is comes with a lot of responsibilities, at it is highly likely that he would have to spend a considerable amount of money getting up to standard before he could earn any income. 

Unless the house is suitable for his own use probably best to instruct the executor to sell and receive his inheritance in cash. 

Yeah that's a really good point about the house - he hasn't got the money to do it up and it's not in a lettable state at the moment. Plus I worry he wouldn't have the funds to maintain it to a decent standard for tenants, which isn't fair on them and could land him in trouble. Interesting point at the end - I don't think that's possible as it's specifically the house he's been left, rather than a portion of/a whole estate which includes the house.

RociCap

Uriziel said:

Why do you say that he cannot get UC because he owns a home? I don't think this is correct. Can he not just move into the home and continue claiming UC for living expenses? Obviously they won't pay him UC for rent.

Ah you're probably right - I don't really know how UC works! I assumed it would put him over the threshold for assets and therefore make him not eligible, but if not that does give other options. The house as is isn't really in a great state and he has no money to do anything to it, plus where it is isn't great for his circumstances - hence me wondering if there's a way he can stay where he is as it's done him a lot of good - but I appreciate that the likelihood of this is slim.

RociCap

sheramber said:

Why woukd he have to move to a house that was not suitable.
 He will have the cash for the sale of the inherited house to buy a house that suits him, if bathe inherited house is not suitable. 

I think this will be the most likely outcome - it's more the upheaval of having to leave his HA house and live in the home to be sold while that's happening, if he will automatically have to leave his HA house as soon as he becomes the legal owner of the inherited house. Having to move house twice (once into a property that, while legally livable, is in a bit of state) and then again into a new house in a reasonably short period wouldn't be ideal health-wise for him, but might be unavoidable!

housebuyer143

If he doesn't want to move, just have the executor sell the house and give him the money, that way he isn't risking his tenancy in anyway and will have the money to live on 

RociCap

housebuyer143 said:

If he doesn't want to move, just have the executor sell the house and give him the money, that way he isn't risking his tenancy in anyway and will have the money to live on 

I did think this, but as the will is worded that the property itself is left to him, I wasn't sure that was possible. Worth asking though, thank you!