To want my daughter to inherit my council tenancy?

[cultjarteriaky]

I know this is polemic but hear me out

I’m in London

I was lucky enough to become a council tenant some years ago after homelesnees through not fault of my own - the private landlord I rented from wanted to move back in his flat but as a newly single parent (divorced because of DV) I could not afford to rent anything on my income (I worked PT at the time and landlords would not accept benefits as part of income) - so after eviction and going through B&B and temporary accomodation, I got a 2 bedroom flat.

I have no family and DD’s father is an alcoholic whom we have very little contact and interaction with.

DD has MH issues, is agoraphobic and autistic. She is 17 but left school without GCSEs and is doing online tutoring to sit functional skills exams. She struggles with depression and anxiety and worst without meds.

Can I put her name in the tenancy when she turns 18 next year and would she be able to be here when I die? I’m constantly stressed that if I die suddenly, she will have nobody and will be completely lost. She is high functioning yet highly dependent when it comes to life admn especially since her agoraphobia. I just want to slowly get her prepared and thinking about it.

Also she’d probably be entitled to only 1 bedroom so can she inherit the tenancy but then swap our 2 bedroom to a 1 bedroom? I guess she will have a caseworker from adult social care to help her navigate all that.

Anyone know the answer? Google gives me mixed info and I’d rather have an idea before contacting my Council.

Thank you.

Where I am though changes to tenancies can only happen once. For example if you put a boyfriend or husband on the tenancy to make it joint that's your one tenancy change done and if you passed away your DD would have no right to the tenancy as it would stay with the joint tenant

Yes, if you add a partner to the tenancy at some point it would pass to him/her on your death. Also, your daughter could no longer succeed to the tenancy when the partner dies.

Info on the rules here:

https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/renting/succession/council_tenancy_succession

Assign you tenancy to her once she is 18. It’s a little known legal way to pass over the tenancy whilst your alive.
It’s in the housing act .
Councils don’t like it , try to ignore it and don’t promote it .
BUT if you do this It won’t be your tenancy any longer - It’ll be your daughters .

Succession and transfers are what can/may happen once you’ve died - but assigning can be done now (once she’s 18)

Hopefully your council is the same as ours. My mum put me on the tenancy of our family home and it was transferred to me very easily in 2021. I'd been here with mum since 2002

It's just a quick email to the housing department to clarify.

The rules will be the same no matter how she approaches them.

The 'Right to Succession' should be in your tenancy agreement. If you don't have a copy of your tenancy agreement, contact your council and ask for a copy and for clarification on the right to succession.

Around 10 years ago a friend inherited her mum's council tenancy after her mum died. It was a 3 bedroom property and although she could have stayed and took in lodgers to help with bills or paid the bedroom tax, she wanted to downsize so she went on the transfer list. The council were not putting pressure on her to bid for just anything. They told her that if after 6 months she hadn't bid on a single property they might start asking questions but there was no immediate need for her to leave straight away.

It used to be that the tenancy could be passed on once, e.g. husband passes away so tenancy passes to wife. Wife passes away but adult child still living at home couldn't "inherit" the tenancy. It might be different now and different rules for different LAs.

My adult cousin who lived with his parents bought the house off the council when you could when his Dad passed away and his Mother was also starting to become unwell. He did it because so he wouldn't end up homeless or living somewhere he didn't want to live.

I don't think you're unreasonable to want to ensure your daughter has housing. But that doesn't mean she should inherit a 2+bedroom property as a single person. Stocks of social/council housing is so low and this could go to a family.

I do hope it is sorted and your daughter is housed though. Hope the council are responsive.

Our council lets you transfer once so in theory yes she can be added to the tenancy now tbh (most will allow you to join the list at 16 I believe).
Best bet is to contact your council and ask

But clarity about the daughter's needs, and reference to any entitlements that Shelter might know about, will put OP in a stronger position.
Sadly, LAs are so short of money now, that some will take advantage of ignorance. It might be that their rule is that a tenancy can't normally be passed down. And they might keep very quiet about the few exceptions that might apply to OP's DD.

I'm getting ready to deal with the council re my mum's care debt. But I'm not contacting them until I've spoken to Age UK, and asked for information on a couple of legal fora. Because I want to have as much information to call on as possible, and to sound competent, confident and informed, so that they don't fob me off.

Knowledge is power, frankly.

I get what you're saying but if the council comes back with 'Yes' then she's wasted the charity's time.

Better to start with the council and then contact the charity if they say no.

Yes you can but going forward I strongly advise you to consider if living alone in a flat is right for your dd. Also at some point around mid 20's, it may be right for her to transition to independence which may mean supported living, you can then be assured she has help if you aren't able to. Adult social services tend to start these discussions after the young person with support needs turns about 21 and can take a while to assess and find the right setting

There's dome useful info on Shelter's website about this.

england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/council_housing_association/can_you_inherit_a_council_tenancy

If OP's daughter's additional needs really are such that she can't live independently she might well need a 2 bedroom property so that a carer can live there. Or if she doesn't need round-the-clock care there are existing schemes for supported living where a student or other person with low income lives as a lodger with someone who has additional needs and who does a set number of hours per week of supporting that person in exchange for a reduced rent.

Round here you can't pass tenancy on, the council will try to help the people in the homes but they don't get to stay in them. Their was recently 2 sisters who were in the paper as their mum died and they wanted to stay in the council house. One worked but the other couldn't due to mental health reasons I believe. Anyway they were offered several places together but because they had a lot of pets none were suitable, and they wanted a house. In the end they were evicted. The older sister now lives in a studio flat and younger sister in a residential place. They left behind so many cats and guinea pigs that people have taken on and some went to charities. They literally just left um.

Is it worth trying for the Right to Buy? That would solve most of your problems, and if you're eligible through length of tenancy then you might be surprised at how easy it is to get a mortgage - most lenders will accept the discount as the equivalent of a deposit, so you tend to get very favourable rates.

When we bought ours, the mortgage ended up being almost exactly the same amount as the rent (although recent events mean it'll probably be a bit higher for a while).

The OP mentioned her daughter being permitted to move to a single bedroom flat, so I don’t think it’s their current home in particular, so much as a home. Of course, the daughter is currently dependant on the OP for more than just a roof over her head and anyone can get hit by a bus, so I think the pressures and risks associated with changing the tenancy far outweigh any possible benefit.

Suggest asking
Shelter
Citizens advice
Your local council housing dept

see attached from shelter re council housing

I disagree. I do a lot of casework for a charity in a different area. That often involves dealing with local authorities, so I've seen how it works. I often make the calls for people who have English as a second language, so I'm aware of the 'road blocks', and when me quoting someone's entitlements leads to a change in tone.

And I don't see my time as wasted at all when a service user asks me for advice, whether or not they could have found it for themselves. Sometimes it just helps to talk with someone to clarify what they need to say. It's what we're there for.

I heard that older contracts allowed you to do this once. I have family who have done this but it was an early 90s contract. However, it was said to them
at that time that councils were changing new contracts to not allow this anymore. Not sure how accurate this is.

I inherited my dad's council tenancy when he died. Check your local councils rules on succession. My local council rules are, have to be family. Have to have lived in the same property for 12 months or more. And it can only be passed down once.

A friend of mines ex was living in his parents 3 bed CH after they split when his mum died. He lived there alone for a few weeks until a 1 bed became available.

Susan Boyle still lives in the council house she grew up in and bought it. Might be different rules in Scotland though.

Assign your tenancy to her once she is 18. It’s a little known legal way to pass over the tenancy whilst your alive

FGS, please don't do this. As others have said, the tenancy can only be passed on once. So if the worst were to happen and she somehow died before you, you'd be out on the streets.

Contact Shelter as advised but yes, the tenancy can be inherited once. I'm in the same situation with DS who has ASD. What you do have to be aware of, is that if you want your daughter to inherit it, you won't be able to move a man into your home. The tenancy always passes to a spouse/partner first. So if you died before him, even if he didn't kick your daughter out (which he could), when he died your daughter would be homeless. This suits me fine as I have no desire to live with a man again! But it's something to be aware of.

Proceed with caution here! Check your tenancy and LA rules but if you make your daughter a joint tenant with you when she is 18, you make yourself vulnerable. If she ever wants to move out or get her own tenancy the LA will not be obliged to give you the sole tenancy back, especially as it will now be too big for you. Your sole to joint will count as the assignment. Many people can't imagine their young person wanting to move out but when it happens, it will potentially leave you with problems.

It varies council to council. My friend inherited his dads tenancy but as it was a two bed, he was moved to a one bed.

Its such a worry when you have a child with additional needs - hopefully you can get some peace of mind.