Is this wrong (illegal)?

[Originalyellowbelly]

a member of my family owns a house, his DP lives next door in a rental property with a DC and has been told to leave the property. She has been given a 2 bed ha property and is going to live there with her DP, who owns a property, he is going to rent out his owned property to his DS to pay his mortgage. So family member owns a house but is living in a ha with his DP. Can he do this? Sorry if this is a bit confusing, I am so angry.

Assuming the DP is the one on the tenancy of the HA property, no. She’s no legal connection to your family member and no entitlement to his property. He can move in with her without being a tenant and equally has no legal entitlement to her tenancy.

But can he live in a ha while owning another property which he is renting to another family member?

Yes, he can live there. He’d be ineligible for a tenancy of his own because he owns a property, but there’s nothing to prevent him living in a property to which somebody else holds a tenancy and he has no legal rights to.

OK, just seems so unfair that he can live in a ha house when he already owns a property that someone else is paying his mortgage.

But would her tenancy agreement allow for other people to come and live there wily nily? I thought most did not. I've heard housing officers telling people their tenancy could be at risk when they have people living there who are not on the agreement.

It was many years ago, and the circumstances were quite awful so I won’t expand on them but I was given the tenancy of a HA property whilst owning a property myself. But this was an emergency situation. I could have rented my own property out, but I sold it.

*wily nily/willy nilly I don't know how to spell that!

It's not really any different to him moving in with someone in any other kind of rented property. His moving in won't deprive anyone else of a HA property.

There’s no “unfairness” though: if he isn’t on the tenancy, his DP could tell him to leave at any moment and he’d have no right to stay. He’ll have the status of an authorised occupant but no claim to the tenancy.

How did she get rehoused? Was it through the Council as she was homeless? Has she declared that her DP will be moving in with her and that he owns his own home? If this is the route by which she was housed then the homeless team would be very interested to hear the circumstances. If she could move in with him and they are intending to cohabit it sounds very much as if she is making a fraudulent claim, for which she can be fined.

Even if she didn’t go the homeless route the HA should also be made aware of the fact that they are intending to move in together. Problem is, it would be very hard to prove and all they would have to do is wait a while until he moves in.

If she is going to be claiming benefits then she would obviously need to declare him and he would need to declare any income, plus if there is any equity in the house he would need to declare that as well.

I know someone who has a council house, but has also inherited a property which they’re renting out. No mortgage. Pure profit.

I think that’s allowed too.

His moving in won’t deprive somebody of a HA property but her moving in when she could easily move in with him (if that is the case) will.

It is true that you can own a property and rent a council/ha property, but in areas where there is a shortage of social housing almost all letting policies will not allow you to go on to the list whilst you have accommodation that is reasonably available for you to occupy, so he would be very unlikely to qualify for accommodation and if the intention is for them to live together she is certainly fudging the rules

It’s not illegal, it’s her tenancy, whether she should have anyone moving in is a different question. Still don’t think it would be illegal for him or her. He’s entitled to do what he wants with his house if he lives with her.

If she wants to live with him they should live in his house. It does take someone else's place.

They’re unmarried. If they broke up, she’d have no claim on his property and he could kick her out without notice. Why would she put herself and her child in that precarious position, when she’s entitled to social housing?