Council house tenancy inheritance

[LemonadeFromLemons]

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

Personally I think everyone's situation should be reassesed every 10years so that existing housing stock is out to its best use allowing the most occupancy

Maybe the reason the vaccine uptake is low in some areas is because ppl are fed up with the hypocrisy. "Other" them for years.......decades. THEN when Covid comes along tell them they are part of a community and that its their civic duty and how masks restrictions lockdowns and vaccines is a collective effort because we are all in this together. Sickening.

This is simply not the case. My brother and his wife moved in with my mother as her carers two years before she died. The rent was recalculated to take into account them living there and they paid council tax. When she died they were turfed out three months later with a young baby. That house was the last council property in the village and they were told that there was a huge waiting list for it. With its nice kitchen that my Mum put in, it's lovely decor that my Mum paid for and its gorgeous garden that was my Mum's pride and joy. It was our family home for nearly 40 years.

Personally I think everyone's situation should be reassesed every 10years so that existing housing stock is out to its best use allowing the most occupancy

Wish so much would happen.

Am domestic violence victim and nowhere safe to go. Need long term stability of safe place to recover and rebuild. 10 years almost cant imagine being allowed to be safe for that long and so have real chance to recover and rebuild.

Was in refuge but nowhere safe after was lied and tricked by housing places so trapped back home. Living in risk and in fear everyday. Rather be dead than homeless.

Would jump at chance 10 years security. Would mean everything to me. Life lived permanently on edge cos not safe. Days and nights frightened and flashbacks and neverending fear cos trapped being unsafe, with so much trauma and nowhere safe to live in so trapped.

Can feel it physically, the deep mental pain of not having safe place to live so risk being murderered instead. Been so many years.

Councils try very hard to not help. they break the law but even if they accept duty to house cos domestic violence, they try to put you in dangerous mixed use often mixed sex hostel places with people with substsnce abuse and people just out of prison sometimes violent offences. Them people need help too but not safe for domestic violence victim. Alternative they put you in a short term one year at longest private rent place. Only dodgy landlords with bad dangerous housing take disability benefit tenants. They can get rid of you after just one year then you in serious trouble cos again being homeless. Round in circles. No time no chance to recover or rebuild. 10 year renewed council if situation still in need of council be too good to be true literal lifesaver dream.

Would mean everything to have long term chance of 10 year guarantee security and safety. Real chance to rebuild and recover. I may die without ever knowing what it's like to have my own safe home safe sanctuary where no violence, no control, no constant risk of being homeless. Am threatened it if called police. Turns out he was right.

Had serious violence nearly been killed. Can't leave. Tried to leave was in refuge then had to go home. Was nowhere safe to go after refuge. Councils break the law on domestic violence priority for housing and unless you have good advovate someone who wants to fight for you, you have no chance. They break law and get away with it. They have no housing social housing short supply many places. Good domestic abuse advocate fights for you but postcode lottery if you get good one.

Some tenancies do have this right. I believe it’s from years ago and they no longer have that option on new houses.

A few yeara ago tenancies from ha started 5 year agreements and then renew.last year tgey now brought back lifetime tenancys so when you sign its now for life, this gives more stability for families. If a parent adds an 18plus child to ensure joint tenancy then they both have right to stay there, why should the child have to leave if something happens to parent whether named on tenancy or not?

I think its awful that they sold off council housing. If you rent, you rent. It sucks not to own a home but we should never have sold those houses. Council homes are there for those who are unable to work or are paid a shitty wage and can't afford private rent, end of.

@eeyore228

I think its awful that they sold off council housing. If you rent, you rent. It sucks not to own a home but we should never have sold those houses. Council homes are there for those who are unable to work or are paid a shitty wage and can't afford private rent, end of.

They didn't just sell them off, when this policy was introduced, they prevented local councils from reinvesting the money in new stock.

It was a deliberate strategy to get rid of social housing.

@nosafeguardingadults

Personally I think everyone's situation should be reassesed every 10years so that existing housing stock is out to its best use allowing the most occupancy

Wish so much would happen.

Am domestic violence victim and nowhere safe to go. Need long term stability of safe place to recover and rebuild. 10 years almost cant imagine being allowed to be safe for that long and so have real chance to recover and rebuild.

Was in refuge but nowhere safe after was lied and tricked by housing places so trapped back home. Living in risk and in fear everyday. Rather be dead than homeless.

Would jump at chance 10 years security. Would mean everything to me. Life lived permanently on edge cos not safe. Days and nights frightened and flashbacks and neverending fear cos trapped being unsafe, with so much trauma and nowhere safe to live in so trapped.

Can feel it physically, the deep mental pain of not having safe place to live so risk being murderered instead. Been so many years.

Councils try very hard to not help. they break the law but even if they accept duty to house cos domestic violence, they try to put you in dangerous mixed use often mixed sex hostel places with people with substsnce abuse and people just out of prison sometimes violent offences. Them people need help too but not safe for domestic violence victim. Alternative they put you in a short term one year at longest private rent place. Only dodgy landlords with bad dangerous housing take disability benefit tenants. They can get rid of you after just one year then you in serious trouble cos again being homeless. Round in circles. No time no chance to recover or rebuild. 10 year renewed council if situation still in need of council be too good to be true literal lifesaver dream.

Would mean everything to have long term chance of 10 year guarantee security and safety. Real chance to rebuild and recover. I may die without ever knowing what it's like to have my own safe home safe sanctuary where no violence, no control, no constant risk of being homeless. Am threatened it if called police. Turns out he was right.

Had serious violence nearly been killed. Can't leave. Tried to leave was in refuge then had to go home. Was nowhere safe to go after refuge. Councils break the law on domestic violence priority for housing and unless you have good advovate someone who wants to fight for you, you have no chance. They break law and get away with it. They have no housing social housing short supply many places. Good domestic abuse advocate fights for you but postcode lottery if you get good one.

I'm sorry to hear you're in such an awful situation. Are you in contact with any services such as women's aid?

I wish I knew how to help you.

It might be worth starting a thread on the relationships board, lots of knowledgeable women there.

Very wrong grass them up seriously there is a housing crisis people with young kids been in temp disgusting accommodation for years this should not be aloud to happen.

@Maves

There’s nothing to grass them up on, they are not doing anything wrong.

It’s the policy I have a problem with although from other posters sounds like it’s because the tenancy is so old for the original occupant and hopefully newer tenancies don’t allow this.

And in terms of the argument for reassessment every five/ten years. It’s a difficult one. I can see the argument that it would discourage people from trying to increase their earnings potential but can also see that not doing so means people like
@nosafeguardingadults are left in insecure accommodation, what about their chance to rebuild their life? Surely, say, 4 families x five years is better than 1 x twenty?

And yes I know they should build more council houses/it wasn’t the point of council houses/the government destroyed the social housing sector but with the resources we have (as a country) could we not organise them better?

with the resources we have (as a country) could we not organise them better?

We could continue to fight over ever dwindling scraps that are afforded us. Or demand we're given a better deal for the tax we put into the system.

Every year the councils are forced to make more and more cuts because of central government spending cuts. Meanwhile our tax money is being syphoned off into the pockets of landlords, corporates and Tory party associates.

Bending over backwards or fighting over scraps isn't going to make it better or fairer. This is ideological and the government we have in power believes in "small government" and "opportunity" which means continuing to get rid of as much as they can get away with while finding ways to turn a profit for their mates.

There is no point as which we could organise it well enough or cut it lean enough and they'd say "OK, that's enough now, we'll stop making cuts" as it's driven by ideology, proffittering and ignorance and/or lack of care about what's going on out here in the real world.

Oh for fuck sake not this again.

I spent nearly 15 years in a series of private rents, huge expense (working but minimum wage), never being able to decorate, landlords doing the bare minimum repairs but never replacing anything so it was always shabby and embarrassing for my DC to bring their friends home. The huge stress when our homes were sold twice nearly broke me trying to find somewhere else and was horrible for the DC and put me in a lot of debt for moving costs.

At last we got our little bit of security and an affordable rent which means we can actually do things on my full time wage rather than just try to keep afloat.

There's no way people in social housing should have to give that up. It shouldn't just be for the 'most needy'. I realise this isn't exactly what this thread is about, but sick of the attitude on here that it should be means tested, 5 year renewals, people on 20k or whatever arbitrary limit should magic up the money for extortionate rents when they've spent time and money making their home a home. Just because technically they now 'could'.

My DD (early uni) has said if I ever buy a house, she will take over my tenancy if she's still a student. Why not??

@jazzyclouds they wouldn’t allow assignment in those circumstances.

My exs mother tried this. She moved in with her DD into a council house, put her name in the tenancy and then DD moved out. The mother then thought she could buy it. She could not. She had to mice out because it was a family home. I was furious at her trying it on. All her family had benefitted from council accommodation all their lives and she thought to make a quick buck.

@CornishTiger Why not?? DD lives with me always has done, and is a joint tenant, and will have been a joint tenant for longer than 12 months if I buy a house.

@user1471538283 I agree with you completely re the buying of council houses. That should never have been allowed. But secure and affordable housing isn't a 'benefit' - it should be a human right. Especially in a developed country.