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Original poster

If your grandparents live in a council house, do you automatically get it when they die?

333 replies

softplay999 · 15/08/2021 11:34

My partner is sure that he will inherit his grandparents council flat when they pass away.

He did live there for over a year previously and this is why he thinks he will get it.

I think this is completely not true, but I actually have no idea. Can anyone please help?

OP posts:
Maireas · 15/08/2021 17:27

Would he be allowed to, though, Xenia, if he's actually a home owner with the OP?

IveGotASongThatllGetOnYNerves · 15/08/2021 17:28

He thinks that the local authority will give him the deeds to their flat for free, making him the owner of the flat when the people who rented that flat from them die on the grounds that he lived there for a year several years ago?

Is it possible that he's winding you up? I simply can't believe anyone is that stupid (sorry 😁)

RedToothBrush · 15/08/2021 17:30

Well if he doesn't understand property and ownership nor benefit fraud, yeah that should be a worry of some concern if you plan on living with him in years to come...

... Id be kinda concerned about how he understood how you will keep a roof over your head and silly ideas of ownership of other things.

This isnt rocket science level stuff. Its basic day to day living stuff.

If he's being a brick wall on this one, then you've got some fun arguments ahead of you in the future and i wish you all the luck in the world if you decide to stay with this guy, cos you will bloody well need it!

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 15/08/2021 17:30

I think it's harsh to advise leaving him simply for this misunderstanding (albeit one that seems incredible that it arose in the first place), but I'd ask him why, if the council simply give their housing stock to somebody who was on the tenancy for a short time, years ago, they would put him first in line? What about the tenants (and/or their relatives) who lived there before his grandparents did - why wouldn't it have been given to them? Does he think that council housing stock is only ever intended for one tenant/couple for their lifetime, and then voluntarily given over to the private sector when they die?

In fact, why would the council expect his grandparents to still be paying rent, after presumably decades of having faithfully already done so throughout a long tenancy agreement, yet they would somehow just sign the house over to him on their death and not expect him to pay them any rent?

Why would he think that right-to-buy even exists in the first place? Who ever would bother using their own money to buy the house, if they could just spend it in the knowledge that their home would just be given outright to their family after they die, anyway?

knittingaddict · 15/08/2021 17:33

It's all very strange. My parents have lived in council houses their entire married life of 60 years. They didn't own any of them.

IWentAwayIStayedAway · 15/08/2021 17:33

I mean this most kindly but is he usually so stupid? This is the most bizarre story i think ive ever read on here.

Ofnorman · 15/08/2021 17:36

At least you've found out now, before he really makes a tit of himself 😬

I hope he's only mentioned this to you OP, and not any of his mates or colleagues!

urbanbuddha · 15/08/2021 17:36

He was on the Tenancy when he lived there but me and him have had our own house for 5 years now.

So he has no need of social housing.

Plus he's not on the tenancy and he's not living there.

Bluntness100 · 15/08/2021 17:36

Because he is confused about inheriting a property

It’s not quite as simple as he’s confused about inheriting a property is it, this is a whole other animal. Somehow in his head he knows his grand parents don’t own it but thinks he will.

Anyway I think what’s happened is his grandparents let him live there and they put him on the tenancy, accurately told him it meant he would have somewhere to live if they passed. And he’s now turned that into some weird inheritance in his head, that in some magical way he is gifted the house from the council on their passing.

Is there no small part of him that realises how batshit that is?

leopardprintpants · 15/08/2021 17:39

He won't succeed the tenancy, nor will he be given the option to purchase it.

A current tenant has the right to buy their property, a random grandchild who lived there previously will not.

He has no housing needs, whereas there are thousands of families who do.

Why would he be given a social tenancy when he owns his own house?

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 15/08/2021 17:46

Although this chain of assumptions is indeed bizarre, I can sort of see how people's minds might (mal)function, when trying to rationalise the fact that an actual homeowner will (subject to potential care bills) have an entire house to leave to their family whereas a tenant of decades' standing in the same property will not.

In the same way that, if offered, most young children will choose two sweets today over a promised big bag of sweets in two weeks' time, I think a lot of adults will make choices based on 'the now' and sort of muddle along hoping/expecting that 'something' will happen arbitrarily somewhere along the line to iron out the differences (or 'inequalities', as many might view them), but of course, it won't.

A mortgage (or paying into a pension for that matter) is a very long-term commitment to make, and it won't automatically be naturally mentally reconcilable to everybody that it's a lot of sacrifice now but one that will pay big dividends and make you very glad that you did it much later.

urbanbuddha · 15/08/2021 17:52

I'm sure councils are well aware that their tenants, once in their 70s or 80s, could invite their grandchild to move in with them (whether they actually live there or just claim to), then the grandchildren do the same for their grandchildren when they get old and thus block a valuable council facility for one family for centuries, in theory.

Any tenancy (started before April 2012) can be passed on once only. So an adult child could inherit a tenancy, assuming they were on the tenancy and living there, but no-one else subsequently could.

RevolvingPivot · 15/08/2021 17:53

Op did you answer the question about whether his grandparents have bought it?

anotherwinkywinkybumbum · 15/08/2021 18:07

I currently work in RTB and can confirm there is nothing in law which states how a RTB can be funded.

See section 8 www.ownyourhome.gov.uk/scheme/right-to-buy/faqs/

It would, however, be difficult to obtain a mortgage on a property in which you have no interest (in the bank's eyes). If a cash buyer, is a lot easier.

If someone is on benefits at time of accepting a RTB offer, I would be obliged to report them for potential fraud and for that to be investigated.

It is a very frustrating system and open to be abused left, right and centre.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 15/08/2021 18:07

Any tenancy (started before April 2012) can be passed on once only. So an adult child could inherit a tenancy, assuming they were on the tenancy and living there, but no-one else subsequently could.

Yes, that's what I assumed: makes sense. I'll bet a lot of people concoct 'great' schemes (that sound good and make perfect sense in their own heads) but the council has seen it all before, many times, and is already several steps ahead of them!

Bluntness100 · 15/08/2021 18:15

@RevolvingPivot

Op did you answer the question about whether his grandparents have bought it?
Yes they rent.
Original poster
softplay999 · 15/08/2021 18:17

@RevolvingPivot

Op did you answer the question about whether his grandparents have bought it?
Sorry I haven't answered that, no they have definitely not bought it!
OP posts:
Original poster
softplay999 · 15/08/2021 18:23

I think he must of just assumed that the situation has carried on from when he lived there.

I think his grandparents have made false promises as they have nothing else to offer him and his parents aren't around. They are very well meaning though.

I have absolutely no experience of council housing and how it works so although it's not rocket science, it's something I don't understand at all. Neither does he obviously 🤣

I have to repeat myself and say he is not trying to grab this property, he will be absolutely fine when he finds out that he doesn't get it.

I think it's sentimental also as it's been his grandparents home all of his life. And he is very close with them.

OP posts:
Maireas · 15/08/2021 18:27

It's a shame in a way, because I can see how the misunderstanding arose (although not how he subsequently hasn't thought it through!)
He sees it as their home, believes they can pass on the tenancy and he can sub let.

SleepingStandingUp · 15/08/2021 18:28

Tell him to think of it this way:

Does he think every time someone dies in a council house that the council give that house away for free to a) a random family member b) a previous tenant?

MazDazzle · 15/08/2021 18:33

My grandparents lived in a council house their whole lives.

When they died (grandmother then grandfather) we were given a week to empty the house and another family moved in.

Your DH is off his rocker!

urbanbuddha · 15/08/2021 18:45

Just to point out a price of £400,000 in London to buy would (roughly) need a deposit of £60,000 with an annual income of £90,000 with negligible outgoings.

So I reckon he's going to be buying.

urbanbuddha · 15/08/2021 18:45
  • NOT going to be buying.
Eralos · 15/08/2021 18:50

@urbanbuddha you do get a discount on a council property not sure how much though it would still be expensive!

IJustLikeBiscuitsOK · 15/08/2021 18:51

This happened to me, I moved in with my Gran to help care for her in her final months and you get a week to clear the house and that's that. I enquired about taking over the tenancy as I was actually living there too but it wasn't possible as they have a waiting list of families in priority order. It was so sad, as my Gran had lived there 60 years, and to have just a week to gut it, it was so tricky. She had put her heart and soul into the most beautiful garden you'd ever seen, and I walk past the house now and it's like a jungle, it makes me so sad.

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