Keeping a UK Council property for life even though you no longer live in the UK

[Vintlet]

This story has just been released
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyxkeny8x6o
It seems so unfair given the lack of social housing in the uk that the First Lady of Sierra Leone expected to be allowed to keep her London social housing property as a pied a terre. Surely we cannot be expected to house the world. No one in authority would have realised given that she was still paying the rent if she hadn’t boasted about keeping it on a radio interview. I wonder how many people keep and sublet uk council properties when they no longer have a right to keep it.

Thought it was a townhouse.

the social housing in Covent Garden is pretty grim. I wouldn’t be jealous

I quite agree.

I kept a HA flat for a year back in the 90s when I went to the USA on a secondment. Obviously I knew I was coming back and it was not worth losing the flat. Rent and CT was paid by bank transfer. Fortunately I had a friend lived in the next block who popped over every week to check the mail and inform me of anything that needed dealing with. The HA wanted someone to be there one day to check the fire doors. However the workperson who calls has no idea who lives there and all they require is access to do their job, Tower blocks are pretty anonymous places and many people never know or see their neighbours. So its pretty easy to hang onto one of these places if you have an obliging friend. There was no housing crisis back in the 90s so I did it with a clear conscience.

He wasn’t on £60k when he was offered his house though.

Council properties can only legally be succeeded once. A sibling would not be entitled to succeed a tenancy unless there were very particular circumstances,

Yep, there are always articles in the news about people being made to leave council property they lived in with a parent, and the parent died.
Usually sob stories about how they lived their for years and have memories there. Nope.... pack your stuff (and your parent's) and get out. You have 2 weeks.

A place I rented in Lewisham was social housing. The only reason I knew is because they owner falsely claimed I broke something in the house so I checked it up incase and reported him

How lovely

’wifey’ I haven’t heard that for years … love it.

I swear I’ve read about this weeks ago, how has it just been released?

Either way yes, of course it shouldn’t be allowed. However check ins and inspections are far and few between, I’ve only met my neighbourhood officer when I came to view and sign and then again maybe almost 6 years later, and it was a different one by then.

Of course, this 100%.

I hadn't realised you can pass it on or keep it like some people do/are planning.

That is a very badly thought out system!

Yes - but he was legally entitled to live there though his earnings increased.
So an annual check of the sort wouldn't have changed anything; as he hadn't broken the tenancy agreement.

You used him as an example of someone who wasn’t destitute when he was offered social housing.

we don’t know what his situation was when he was offered it

Probably a lot more scammers. Remember the woman who was caught zip lining in Mexico after claiming PIP because she couldn't leave the house due to chronic anxiety.

How on earth did a president even get a council house? 🤣

This right here 🖕is the problem. Entitled or what 😮

You can only pass it on once (in most places... and I think the PP who plans to keep it in her family forever like an heirloom is going to be in for a shock), and that is to someone that is also on the original tenancy and has been there living there already.
DF died recently and the tenancy passed to DM. I could move in with her, but I would be made homeless when she dies (or has to go into care).

They have to allow it to be passed on once otherwise widows/widowers would be evicted.

That is nothing to do with council housing, but there is nothing like disabled/benefit bashing on MN on a Friday evening, eh.

It’s the First Lady, not the president, and she lived in the council house with her kids when she lived permanently in Britain.

I'm black and she was wrong to keep the house when she not only no longer lives in the country but is the first lady of another country. Why don't you name a white person who is a senior leader in a never country or politician who still keeps a council flat in the UK?

I am of Nigerian descent and many if the politicians in Africa are so corrupt and selfish, I wouldn't be surprised if she has millions of stolen funds stashed in UK banks as well.

Anyone doing this white or black or stuck in Tenerife and caught should lose the house. The decision should not be based on race.

Well that’s good news. “Keeping it in the family” is one of the most - actually I have no words for how disgraceful it is.

I doubt very much there are pensioners in Tenerife doing what the First Lady of Sierra Leone did as they’re only allowed to stay there for 90 days.

Suspect it’s actually because she’s the FIRST LADY of her country,

@Dollymylove I was being sarcastic!

You have it completely wrong. Council housing is designed to provide decent homes for life. It is not, and never has been, intended to be a short-term stopgap.

Yes I knew of a pair of twins whose single mum died suddenly when they were 19. No contact with other parent and had been their home since they were in primary school. They were able to inherit the tenancy, it was only a 2 bed flat so still considered size appropriate for them to remain. Last I heard, 8 years on, they’d both established careers and were looking to buy which is great and I agree in their circumstances that them getting the tenancy was the correct thing.

It’s highly unlikely a random sibling will be given the tenancy as the poster above describes just because the main tenant has decided to buy a property. Even if they do decide there is need for the brother to be housed by the council, he’ll he moved to a 1 bed flat not just given the tenancy of a family home because he’s related to the family who used to live there.