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

[softplay999]

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?

My gran lived her council house for 40 years, she died and we were told to clear the house within 28 days for the next tenant!

There is absolutely no way that he is entitled to the flat whatever he thinks. I can assure you of this and if I owned one myself i would be more than willing to put it up against this silly idea. For his own sake please try and convince him of this fact.
Good luck.

@Eralos

OP says the flat is worth £500,000. The cap on discounts is £100,000 in London so I took that into account. It's a rough estimate though.
Mad mad crazy house prices here.

@ThorsLeftNut

My gran lived her council house for 40 years, she died and we were told to clear the house within 28 days for the next tenant!

As sad as it is they need to give the home to someone on the waiting list.

What I'm curious about is how old are his siblings? I'm asking because I'm wondering how long his poor grandparents have left to live. Unless they are both very ill (which you have not mentioned) I wonder why he thinks he will "have the property" in time for his siblings to live there while getting their education. Unless his siblings are around 4 and 5. Poor grandparents, their grandson making all these plans for after they die. What if they live another 20 years?

@urbanbuddha yep I own in London. Have lived here forever my whole life. I don’t know much about council houses though

@Firstbornunicorn

This is the kind of notion my (usually very intelligent) DH gets into his head from time to time. A few months later, he’ll deny he ever thought that because it’s so obviously not true 🙄🙄

Can’t argue with him in the moment, though. Might as well bang my head against a wall.

Mine’s like this too, completely fries my brain at times 😳

@YanTanTethera123 @Firstbornunicorn at least I'm not alone 🤣

[quote urbanbuddha]**@Eralos

OP says the flat is worth £500,000. The cap on discounts is £100,000 in London so I took that into account. It's a rough estimate though.
Mad mad crazy house prices here.[/quote]
Some banks accept RTB discount as deposit , so they would “only” need big enough earning for mortgage . £80-100k income to buy such flat.

I don't think he would buy the flat

Wow. How could anyone think they’d inherit a property (to own) that the grandparents have never owned. The social housing situation is bad but thankfully not that bad that they hand out half a million pound properties for free!

You’ll probably have 2 weeks to clear the flat when they die, it will then go to someone who needs it.

It’s crazy thinking the council would just hand a council property to someone who already has their own (mortgaged) house who doesn’t need it!

If it is part of a housing cooperative or association then this could be possible. Lots of housing cooperatives have a management committee and vote on their own rules.

Would a housing cooperative give a flat to a home owning grandson rather than someone in need of housing?.

@softplay999

The location is London. He hasn't lived there for over 5 years. He was on the tenancy.

Will he be given the option to buy it?

No 😂😂😂 why would he?? It belongs to the local council, it's nothing to do with your husband.. he lived there for a year a long time ago. They will be taking the keys back to allow a family who NEED IT to move in.

Why should your husband own two properties, one at the cost of your LA?? 😂😂

My cousin lives with her grandfather with her 4 young sons. She is technically homeless but the Council aren't helping too much as she's lived with her grandad for 6 years now.

She is absolutely not allowed to be put on the tenancy and has been assured that when he passes (not long now unfortunately), she will need to move out.

The council here had the keys back a week after my Nan died. They don't hang about, they have people on the books waiting for houses. Does he just think that the council buy people houses then give them away as long as they pay a bit of rent or something?!!

No only if he can buy the house.

@Jack80

No only if he can buy the house.

Why would the council let this man-already a homeowner-buy this council house?

There is succession rights to certain relatives ie spouse, partner, son, daughter, but the person has to have been living in the property for at least the preceding 12 months and be able to prove it, eg electoral roll, listed on a housing benefit claim.

No he won’t get it, unless he is on the tenancy agreement. If it’s possible try to buy it under the Right to Buy scheme.

You have to be on the tenancy to remain in the house if the renter dies. If not you would have to move out.

Policy may vary between councils but in general the tenancy can only pass once eg when a spouse dies to the surviving spouse, or to the next generation if they were living there at the time of the tenants death. But even then I think they have to prove that they were dependent on the previous tenant or have a disability. There are very few automatic rights to inherit a tenancy either council or housing association

Do they own it or is it owned by the council?