Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Council house tenancy inheritance

66 replies

LemonadeFromLemons · 15/08/2021 13:03

Inspired by another thread about inherited tenancies

I know a couple who are going to inherit a council house tenancy, I really don’t think they should be able to though. So the facts are:

  • elderly woman lives alone in council house and has been given an end of life diagnosis.
  • Her adult son hadn’t lived there since he was a child (about thirty years ago)
  • Son and his wife moved in with his mother and sell the house they’d been living in (broke even due to negative equity)
  • Son and wife earn £70k between them (which is above the median household income of the area, although no savings) and have one young teenage child
  • Son has been given the go ahead by the council to say he will inherit the tenancy when his mother passes.

It’s so wrong. So many other people who didn’t make themselves intentionally homeless who needed that house.

Just to be clear I don’t begrudge them doing it, I just don’t think it should be allowed.

YABU it should be allowed
YANBU it shouldn’t be allowed

OP posts:
Gingernaut · 15/08/2021 13:06

So, in keeping with the letter, but not the spirit of the law.

Scottishskifun · 15/08/2021 13:06

You don't know their financial circumstances. It's different if they weren't living there but they are and making them purposely homeless doesn't help situations either.

StrawberryJaM6 · 15/08/2021 13:08

Some secure tenancies do have these rights to inherit a tenancy you may not agree with it but sounds like they’ve made sure they fit the eligibility criteria

ssd · 15/08/2021 13:09

Similar here. SIL put her name MILs tenancy before MIL died, despite SIL being married and living elsewhere.

Dh got told at the funeral.
SIL then bought the house and sold it for a big profit, when council houses could still be bought here.

Original poster
LemonadeFromLemons · 15/08/2021 13:09

@Scottishskifun

I do know their financial circumstances actually.

OP posts:
Madeatimemachineoutofadelorean · 15/08/2021 13:10

YANBU. So many people need homes. This is incredibly unfair to those people in desperate need.

shesellsseacats · 15/08/2021 13:13

The problem is the lack of social housing, not these individuals.

It's only a scarce resource because of the deliberate policy to sell it off and not replace it, inistigated by Thatcher but not remedied by anyone since.

A modern program of social housing, properly managed would save money for the tax payer or possibly even make money long term.

Instead you have a situation where the council housing has been sold off, much of it end up owned by landlords who then rent it back to people on low incomes, with tax payers housing benefit being at a much higher price than council rents and that money being syphoned off into the pockets of private landlords not staying in the system.

x2boys · 15/08/2021 13:14

Seems an unlikely scenario tbh, when we got our council house it was made very clear there could only be one succession of tenancy, so myself and My dh have a joint tenancy, if one of us were to die the other would suceed as a single tenant, and thats it.

shesellsseacats · 15/08/2021 13:14

That should say "with tax payers footing the bill for housing benefit which is at a much higher price than council rents..."

Imnothereforthedrama · 15/08/2021 13:18

I do agree it’s morally wrong , a relative of mine lives alone in a big 3 bed house with huge garden and drive . Is elderly and lived there for many years brought up a family . I’d think it wrong if a relative took over the tenancy . I think it should go to a family in need as it was originally for .

TheQueef · 15/08/2021 13:20

The only thing that I think is unfair is the woeful shortage of social housing.
If we demanded our next Gov built and replenished SH or at the very least built/purchased for every one sold no one would care about obscure grandfather rights of old ten ancies.

Babyroobs · 15/08/2021 13:21

Very very unfair to all those that have been waiting years on the council lists. I'm very surprised it is allowed.

Babyroobs · 15/08/2021 13:23

@ssd

Similar here. SIL put her name MILs tenancy before MIL died, despite SIL being married and living elsewhere. Dh got told at the funeral. SIL then bought the house and sold it for a big profit, when council houses could still be bought here.
There must surely have been some fraudulent activity here though. The council would not let her have tenancy of the house when she owned her own house elsewhere. Or was she in rented accomodation?
itsgettingwierd · 15/08/2021 13:24

@shesellsseacats

The problem is the lack of social housing, not these individuals.

It's only a scarce resource because of the deliberate policy to sell it off and not replace it, inistigated by Thatcher but not remedied by anyone since.

A modern program of social housing, properly managed would save money for the tax payer or possibly even make money long term.

Instead you have a situation where the council housing has been sold off, much of it end up owned by landlords who then rent it back to people on low incomes, with tax payers housing benefit being at a much higher price than council rents and that money being syphoned off into the pockets of private landlords not staying in the system.

Absolutely.

I'm in a Ha flat and don't and haven't received HB.

I would if renting privately at an extra £350 a month approx for equal property.

I'd get up to £240 every 4 weeks (difference between what I pay and max LHA).

So I'd have to find another £110 per month and I'd be costing taxpayer £2.5k a year.

and the person benefitting is the private landlord.

itsgettingwierd · 15/08/2021 13:26

Oh and I also get inherited tenancy.

My ds is disabled and likely to remain at home (fine by me) but also can have limited independence but I wouldn't expect him to inherit the property tenancy unless he's still at home.

shesellsseacats · 15/08/2021 13:28

@Imnothereforthedrama

I do agree it’s morally wrong , a relative of mine lives alone in a big 3 bed house with huge garden and drive . Is elderly and lived there for many years brought up a family . I’d think it wrong if a relative took over the tenancy . I think it should go to a family in need as it was originally for .
Council housing wasn't only for those "in need" originally though.

It's become that way as the supply has been made scarce for political reasons and now councils have have to prioritise, sometimes brutally so.

But that wasn't the point of social housing origianly at all. And we'd be much better off if we could get back to that in my opinion.

A website on the history of social housing if anyone is interested.

www.socialhousinghistory.uk

This kind of arguing over the scraps instead of undrstaning why things are as they are (because of conscious political decisions) is what makes it easy for politicans to create societies that benefit the mega rich at the expense of the rest of us.

TheYearOfSmallThings · 15/08/2021 13:28

Honestly, I don't blame people for trying (within the rules).

Many of the families desperately in need of that house are playing the game too.

CornishTiger · 15/08/2021 13:29

I’d love to see the tenancy agreement in this specific case because it must be a very very old agreement.

This isn’t what usually happens at all.

UnashamedLabelHo · 15/08/2021 13:29

I don’t begrudge anyone getting in any way ahead in life as long as the method is within the law. They may end up being able to leave their kids something so that generation are able to get on the housing ladder or redirect a little money towards their education.

It would be better to focus on everyone who needs housing getting it. Spitefully complaining about individuals on social media is unproductive. Write to your MP about funding or volunteer for Refuge or Women’s Aid.

lillylemons · 15/08/2021 13:30

I recently helped a young man take over the tenancy on a council house when his dad passed away he had to prove he had been living there for the previous 12 months. He had a provide bank statements etc to prove he lived there 12 months before his dad passed away.

My neighbour recently passed away and the council would not let her daughter 18 take over the tenancy because she could not prove she had lived there for 12 months even though she had lived there for 12 months before her mum passed away.

They may not be able to take over her tenancy once she passes if they can't prove they lived there for 12 months before her passing.

shesellsseacats · 15/08/2021 13:30

Not that I'm saying all politicans are like that, I don't think they are at all. But the ones we have in power now most certainly are.

Scottishskifun · 15/08/2021 13:31

[quote LemonadeFromLemons]@Scottishskifun

I do know their financial circumstances actually.[/quote]
So you know the details of any debts, credit card spending etc?
Most people don't share that sort of information.

If they have no savings and no outcome from their house sale what would you want them to do? Private rental generally needs a reasonable deposit to secure.
It sounds more like your a bit bitter of it all.

JudgeJ · 15/08/2021 13:33

@TheQueef

The only thing that I think is unfair is the woeful shortage of social housing. If we demanded our next Gov built and replenished SH or at the very least built/purchased for every one sold no one would care about obscure grandfather rights of old ten ancies.
Nothing to do with the shortage etc or whatever political dead horse you want to flog, fiddling council house tenancies has gone on since I was a child and I'm in my 70s!
CornishTiger · 15/08/2021 13:34

Sorry I missed the part where they had moved in.

If the mother has always been the sole tenant and not previously had succession through survivorship by death of a previous joint tenant then yes a family member living with them for the last 12 mths could have succession.

TractorAndHeadphones · 15/08/2021 13:36

YANBU. It’s a social good