Inherited a home but a council tenant

Purpleruby50

I inherited a home in a will. I live in London. Probate has just finished. I plan to sell and move, it's not enough to buy something out right but it's something. I became aware yesterday that my council could evict me because of this and I am scared. I wish I could hand over the keys to my flat and move in however it is over 2.5 hours away by car, and expensive train connections away which we can't afford. 
I do not have a good relationship with my council ( I don't owe rent, infact I am in credit by a huge amount because we don't get on) and feel I will be treated badly over this. I need to let my housing manager know the situation, I know this but I don't want to wake up Monday morning with a charge of fraud against me or an eviction notice. 
Does anyone know of an advisory service or have advice they can give me. We have an advisory service near me however I work and there is no guarantee I will get in to see anyone after queueing. It's sounds stupid, it is stupid, my friend says she wished she had this problem but my fear of imminent eviction fraud charges caused me a sleepless night, now sickness. This has just been one day and night and I am already stressed. 

_Penny_Dreadful

Purpleruby50 said:

I inherited a home in a will. I live in London. Probate has just finished. I plan to sell and move, it's not enough to buy something out right but it's something. I became aware yesterday that my council could evict me because of this and I am scared. I wish I could hand over the keys to my flat and move in however it is over 2.5 hours away by car, and expensive train connections away which we can't afford. 
I do not have a good relationship with my council ( I don't owe rent, infact I am in credit by a huge amount because we don't get on) and feel I will be treated badly over this. I need to let my housing manager know the situation, I know this but I don't want to wake up Monday morning with a charge of fraud against me or an eviction notice. 
Does anyone know of an advisory service or have advice they can give me. We have an advisory service near me however I work and there is no guarantee I will get in to see anyone after queueing. It's sounds stupid, it is stupid, my friend says she wished she had this problem but my fear of imminent eviction fraud charges caused me a sleepless night, now sickness. This has just been one day and night and I am already stressed. 

The two I can think of are Shelter and Citizen's Advice.

Purpleruby50

Thank you Penny, I feel a fraud asking shelter and am waiting for a call back. 

monkey-fingers

What are the rules around the council? If it's owning a property, as it stands, you don't and you won't.
The estate owns the property.

As long as you don't put the deeds in your name and just sell it in probate, it always belongs to the estate. Once the money comes in, you can pull it from the estate.

elsien

You became aware that your council could evict you?
is this official information from the council or possible third-party scaremongering?
Have you checked your tenancy to see if there’s anything in there that would allow them to evict in you in these circumstances? Is there even an obligation under the terms of your tenancy to tell the housing officer? 

sammyjammy

Why would you inform the council?  Executor sells property, money is transferred to you once everything is complete, you put money in the bank and spent it as you wish on what you wish.  Could you purchase your council property if you want?

user1977

Purpleruby50 said:

I became aware yesterday that my council could evict me because of this 

Can you clarify this? Where are you getting the advice from? I'm not aware of any general rule that inheriting a property affects your existing council tenancy. It would affect whether you qualified for a new tenancy, but generally council tenants are pretty secure once they have a tenancy.

Albermarle

sammyjammy said:

Why would you inform the council?  Executor sells property, money is transferred to you once everything is complete, you put money in the bank and spent it as you wish on what you wish.  Could you purchase your council property if you want?

Maybe if the will states the house is left to the OP, then the executor will maybe just want to transfer the ownership to the OP, rather than get involved in the hassle of the estate selling the house, which could easily take many months/ a year. 

OP - What stage is this at? Do you already own the home, or is still part of the estate?
If it is the latter, then as others have suggested it would be better for the executor of the estate to sell it, and give you the money. Has that been discussed at all ?

EssexHebridean

Albermarle said:

sammyjammy said:

Why would you inform the council?  Executor sells property, money is transferred to you once everything is complete, you put money in the bank and spent it as you wish on what you wish.  Could you purchase your council property if you want?

Maybe if the will states the house is left to the OP, then the executor will maybe just want to transfer the ownership to the OP, rather than get involved in the hassle of the estate selling the house, which could easily take many months/ a year. 

OP - What stage is this at? Do you already own the home, or is still part of the estate?
If it is the latter, then as others have suggested it would be better for the executor of the estate to sell it, and give you the money. Has that been discussed at all ?

They may well do, but they cannot insist on it! 

Keep_pedalling

You are not going to be evicted because you have received an inheritance even if it is a house. What is important is that you get the executor to sell the house within the estate and distribute your inheritance as cash. This will prevent you loosing your first time buyer status and having the hassle of selling it yourself.

Smalltownhypocrite

monkey-fingers said:

What are the rules around the council? If it's owning a property, as it stands, you don't and you won't.
The estate owns the property.

As long as you don't put the deeds in your name and just sell it in probate, it always belongs to the estate. Once the money comes in, you can pull it from the estate.

THIS

We have an unsettled estate in our family due to an awkward family member. I spoke to probate lawyers about it and the house still belongs to the deceased and will until the estate settles which could be indefinitely.

Its only 'your' house if you actively transferred it into your name with the land registry which would be a very unusual thing to do if your selling it. If you did not then its just entrusted to you until the will is completed which would be once its sold.

The probate lawyer I spoke to even said they had once had a client come because they could not file probate for their fathers home because they could find no record of him owning a home. They traced it back 3 generations to the clients great grandparent. Three people before her who had 'inherited' living there had not registered the house assuming it was just automatically passed on/transferred to them at death. For over 60 years it had not been registered from the death of the original owner even though it had been willed to now 4 people (great grandparent owned it, they left to her son the grandparent, who then left it to his daughter the mother, who left it to her husband the father and then finally the daughter who was the client). None of them owned it, it still belonged to and was in the name of the great grandmother and they had to settle all the estates to release it.