Friend living in council house

[Iftheclouds]

Her oldest child has moved out how long will the council give her to find a smaller property?

As far as I'm aware it's only an issue if her rent is paid for through benefits ?
Unless it's different in areas of the country where housing is a premium
Where I live there are elderly people living in 2 or 3 bedroom houses

No unfortunately that’s not an option for her. They don’t allow Under occupation.

What type of tenancy first she have?

She needs to speak to Shelter or Citizens advice .

She has five year one but is only allowed in the property if she has all four bedrooms in use. They changed how they worked due to a lot of elderly people being in property’s they no longer needed.

When they say they don’t allow under occupation they mean they wouldn’t intentionally move a single person into a 3 bed. If she already lives there unless there’s a clause written into her tenancy agreement she can stay as long as she likes. If she claims housing benefit this will reduce by around 14% for one spare bedroom or similar but not exact for UC but as long as she can afford to pay the shortfall it shouldn’t be an issue.

She sounds like she's on a fixed term tenancy so she will be OK until the end of the fixed term.
Council tenancies are often not for life anymore now - on top of the bedroom tax.

She should be helping her to downsize.

They* should.

There's a national shortage of 1 bed council housing so I'd expect a reasonably long wait (though of course there will be some local variation)

OP's friend needs to downsize from 4 beds to 3 if I understand her correctly, so availability of 1 bed properties isn't relevant here.

She could look at homeswopper. 4 bed council houses are like gold dust I'm sure she could find someone to swop with who need the 4 bedrooms. Her housing officer should be able to advise her.

I’d imagine they’d help facilitate a council swap if they’re that strict - do they know her child has moved out? Is she obliged to tell them under the terms of the agreement? How old is the child who has moved out - if they are still young it wouldn’t be wise to announce it too soon as they might end up back at home in a few months.

Otherwise it shouldn’t be a problem til the end of the five years when they’d review it. Moving from a 4 bed to a three bed in a swap shouldn’t be too hard to arrange.

She has thought about waiting. The child is 20 but has mental health problems so may need to come back. She also thinks the child may come and stay overnight for at least the first few weeks. She doesn’t know if it’s illegal not to tell right away though.

It wouldn’t be illegal but she should probably check the terms and conditions in her tenancy agreement to check what it says.