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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:
SailYourShips · 15/08/2021 14:19

He could get his grandparents to buy it at a much reduced rate and they then will be able to leave it directly to him. He could help with the money, it would even be worth him borrowing in order to do it as he would be quids in,

This would be worth doing and lots of people do it.

Dizzy1234 · 15/08/2021 14:20

No, you can't inherit a council property unless you're named on the tenancy.
I live on an estate, some owned, some council. Chap lived 2 doors away, 67 yrs old lived all his life with his parents in a council house, he was actually born in the house, when they died the council evicted him, rehoused him in a flat on the other side of town away from everyone he knows and the area he lived in his whole life, it was heartbreaking.
Your oh is kidding himself

30scrisis · 15/08/2021 14:23

@TheQueef

Are you in Scotland 30's? RTB and RTA still exist in England.
No I'm in Wales 🤦‍♀️ Answered from a Welsh perspective, should've entered my head really!
Elderflower14 · 15/08/2021 14:24

My friend had a very short time to leave her parents council house when they died within a short time of each other... Very sad...

Firstbornunicorn · 15/08/2021 14:27

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.

Ourlady · 15/08/2021 14:30

He's crackers. As if they are going to give away a flat to someone who hasn't paid for it.
What an daft lad!

ShuddaBeenMe · 15/08/2021 14:35

At least he knows now that he won't get it rather than just expecting it.

Chloemol · 15/08/2021 14:35

Nope no way. Tenancy very rarely passes onto family members now unless perhaps mother and son for instance where both on the tenancy

It will go back to the council who will give it to the next person in the list

MonkeyJam · 15/08/2021 14:38

@softplay999

I honestly have no idea what happens. That's what I think, why would he automatically be given a flat he doesn't need Confused

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

Is his name still on the tenancy? As he will be liable for all outstanding bills when, god forbids it happens.
If he thinks the keys will be handed over to him If he's not, then He is mistaken it just gets given to someone else. It would never be his house unless he bought it from the council.
Kotatsu · 15/08/2021 14:39

even my cousin had to move out of her family home, despite having lived her whole life there with her mother, as there'd already been one transfer when her mother divorced her dad, and that was apparently the max, so she lost it.

Feelingoktoday · 15/08/2021 14:41

@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?

I really hope not.
AdelindSchade · 15/08/2021 14:43

I hope the siblings aren't relying on this for their studying plans. It's wishful thinking that he hasn't thought through.

Feelingoktoday · 15/08/2021 14:44

@SailYourShips

He could get his grandparents to buy it at a much reduced rate and they then will be able to leave it directly to him. He could help with the money, it would even be worth him borrowing in order to do it as he would be quids in,

This would be worth doing and lots of people do it.

Do you understand how immoral and deceitful that is. There are many people who need to live in council owned property. To think it is ok to defraud the system is a disgrace.
GoWalkabout · 15/08/2021 14:47

Ah, he is just believing his grandad then, and doesn't realise it means 'at least a year AND still resident there' he thinks it means at least a year at any random time in the past.

Flatdisco · 15/08/2021 14:55

Jesus he sounds really thick! Sorry op but this makes absolutely no sense. I can't possibly think why he'd think this.

Flatdisco · 15/08/2021 14:58

@SailYourShips

He could get his grandparents to buy it at a much reduced rate and they then will be able to leave it directly to him. He could help with the money, it would even be worth him borrowing in order to do it as he would be quids in,

This would be worth doing and lots of people do it.

My sister worked in right to buy. They do loads of checks to check where the money has come from. You can't just give a relative the money to buy a council house and have them give it to you.

Also it's massively fucking immoral.

JohnStonesMissus · 15/08/2021 15:01

I can't quite believe that he thinks he'll OWN the flat...madness! If only it were that easy! OP, if the property
is anywhere in London like Tower Hamlets they'll be straining at the leash to get the flat back and re house someone else.

Woolver23 · 15/08/2021 15:01

A council house was my grandparents family home for over 60 years. After my grandmother died, the tenancy was passed to her daughter who lived there until she too died. Her son (who had also grown up there in a multigenerational household then had two weeks to clear the place, remove carpets and deep clean before handing back the keys.

Bythemillpond · 15/08/2021 15:01

SailYourShips

How can suggesting that the grandparents offer to buy the house and op and her Dh put the money up so they can buy it is defrauding the system.

The Right to buy type policies are something that might have not have been a great idea for the long term but successive governments have not stopped selling off council properties.

Council properties though might not be actually owned by the council.
They could be owned by a company or private individual that has leased the property to the council.

He is no more likely to inherit his gps rented from the council house than he is if they lived in a privately rented house.

Interested to know why he would think otherwise. Being on the tenancy for a year several years ago doesn’t mean a thing. He needs to read the small print.

HalzTangz · 15/08/2021 15:02

@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?

He's wrong
smittenkittten · 15/08/2021 15:07

No if that was the case there’d never be anything available for those on the waiting list.

Thehogfatherstolemycurry · 15/08/2021 15:08

He does at least realise that if by some bizarre twist he was able to take over the tenancy he would still have to pay rent doesn't he??

HalzTangz · 15/08/2021 15:09

[quote softplay999]@Hunkydory99 thank you, that's really helpful. That's how he is looking at it as he has all those documents.

[/quote]
Why does he want to inherit a council property that he would have to pay rent on (if he was successful in claiming he has aright to continue living there) when he already has a house with you. He won't be able to rent it out.

If he wants to buy it, he's better to buy it now whilst they are alive (he can be on their mortgage) then they put in the will the flat goes to him

Yourstupidityexhaustsme · 15/08/2021 15:12

Lol unless they own the house absolutely not why would he?

It will revert to the council and be re-rented.

Fiddliestofsticks · 15/08/2021 15:16

You said he plans to let his brother and sister live there rent free? Which means he plans to pay the rent on a tenancy he does not need? Or he thinks the housing association will sign the property over to him and he will become the owner?

He is totally deluded.

Why would he become the owner of a property which no one in his family had ever owned. It does not belong to his grandparents. They rent it. When they die, if no one alive is on the tenancy, then the housing association will tidy it up and rent it out again. He doesn't get to own it/give it to his bro and sister/sell it. He also doesn't get to have the tenancy, unless he is on the housing list and it was his turn.