Tenancy Anxiety-no right to my home

[FromRushHourwithlove]

Not sure if anyone on here would know about housing rights-I've been living in my HA flat for over 35 years-moved here when friend unsure he wanted to live in UK still wanted rent covered for few months-he left and didn't return-we lost touch, just heard he's died, some years ago. I am nearing retirement age now and very scared about how I will continue to manage the 5 flights of stairs as I age and would love to do a swap and live near family but daren't tell HA he's died/I'm here. I've always paid the rent and the HA accept the rent from my bank account (my name's not same as my friend the tenant's). Please be gentle with replies, am so anxious about telling this

It's not your home. Can't you go into a private rental?

Hope you manage to sort something out OP.

Ignore the people wanting to put the boot in. They've not lived in your shoes, you've paid rent and bills, the only person who has really done anything wrong is your friend.

Hopefully you can find a nice over 55 property. There's also almshouses for people of retirement age which you might also qualify for.

Just crack on and make applications to (other) HA's or Councils for housing that meets your needs now. Then if lucky you just move out and stop paying the rent.

How have repairs worked?
Who has booked them?
You should have had 35 visits for gas (if you jabe gas) and 6/7 for the 5 year electricity check.
Speak to Shelter, or CAB
You may be able to take over the tenancy. There is no way to know without speaking to the HA. Speak to shelter first, its going to be complicated especially as you have been paying the rent for years.

You've been living in a house you aren't entitled to live in but now want to swap to a different one. Which you aren't entitled to do either. If you want to move you'll need to find a private rental.

You can get away with all of this. As long as they’re let in and can check the gas and electricity, the person in the house isn’t really their concern. People have house guests etc all the time.

I genuinely can’t see how she can get tenancy succession. It’s not like an owned property in a relationship where your financial contribution is taken into account.

potentially the HA have the discretion to award the tenancy but i don’t see why they would- it would look corrupt to allow
OP to stay over people at the top of the housing register.
the only way I think that would be considered is if OP is in an area of very low demand and basically no one else wants it anyway.

Would she not maybe be classed as the tenants NOK?

I understand it’s complicated and my knowledge is only based off my own experience of HA tenancies, so not as extensive as yours. I know my tenancy allows for subletting but I do think as you say mine is with permission.

I am pretty confident it’ll be an assured tenancy as it’s 35 years old, so OP would be worth googling assured tenancies for the particular HA to see if she can find any documented online.

How is this for real? Surely they have needed to get in touch about annual boiler services, repairs etc. in the past 35 years! Meaning they'd need to have entered the property or made contact with the tenant?

There is no way she’d be NOK, certainly not just popping up to claim it after death. There is criteria that needs to be met before the person dies

She lets them in the property though! That’s all they want.

as long as you comply with essential checks and pay your rent on time, a HA will leave you alone. That’s part of the values social housing, they leave you alone.

You don’t have to go with telling them it’s been 35 years tbh. If your friend lived abroad whilst you were there, they’re going to be none the wiser about exact dates are they? I guess it might not help, but they’ll probably be more open to the fact that you’ve been there a few years rather than 35 if you explain the real tenant just upped and left you there.

This will make no difference. Only named tenants have the right to stay in the event of a death , not named or in the case unnamed occupants .

Thanks for clarifying. That makes sense. 👍

What if you changed your legal name to the one on the tenancy agreement?

Date of birth would be different. It’s likely to all be rechecked if she speaks up and asks to be moved. If she stays quiet she’ll probably continue to be left alone. Basically she’s got away with it by not coming to their attention for 35 years.

I would get some legal advice but they might make an exception on compassionate grounds. I’m an HA tenant and have known that to happen but, usually, they have co-habited rather than subletting illegally.

You’re not stupid OP. You’re trying to survive in a difficult circumstances and took a risk. I don’t have any advice other than wish you get your new accommodation sorted soon x

Are you suggesting OP commits identity fraud by changing her name to match the name of the dead person?

Not sure that's a brilliant suggestion, but I could be wrong.

if you are paying council tax, and they or you were not receiving the single person discount and you are a utility account holder then you can say you were cohabiting as you can prove habitual residency as a lodger. You do need to inform the landlord that their tenant is deceased as this is a legal requirement of the tenancy agreement, no matter how long it has been held. They will issue you a section 21 notice to vacate as you are neither the sole or joint tenant, just a lodger. Then present as threatened with homelessness to your local authority when the HA (legally) seek to end the tenancy. Assuming you are over 55 and do not have an income or savings over the threshold you will be entitled to join the supplementary waiting list for sheltered accommodation. You must inform them your landlord/co habitee has died, do not delay this as having this information and withholding it is fraudulent.

You need proper advice. From someone who specialises in tenancy law. They’ve accepted rent from you in your name. I can’t tell you if some principle of latches applies. If a tenant-like relationship exists. If that confers any rights.

But someone skilled and knowledgeable in tenancy law could tell you. Not MN.

However, if you could afford market housing all this time and chose to take a place from someone who couldn’t, just move into market. Because that’s shitty. And donate as much as you can to a housing charity.

You won't be able to do a swap, but there's nothing to stop you from applying for housing as a new applicant.

Just do that and in the meantime keep quiet about your current arrangement.

Yeah, that's sadly probably not going to happen if she's an illegal subtenant.

There must be more to this. I rent a HA home and we have annual visits and they will omly talk to me to arrange them.

For everyone wanting to give OP a kicking, this was absolutely commonplace in late 80s/early90s. I have three friends who lived in someone else’s social housing/sublet. One man was in his mid 20s and went to Uni, my friend subletted his council flat in Bermondsey; someone else lived in a friends new build HA flat in Hulme when the tenant moved to Japan to do TEFL and a couple I knew at Uni and were expecting in a baby rented a council house in Manchester from a bloke who moved in with his gf. These are only the ones I remember. There was more social housing around then. Subletting meant you could have the mobility of homeowners without losing everything and having to start again and no one thought it was unethical, it was pragmatic. The difference is that OP has stayed, possibly because the tenant’s intentions about return were never clear and it drifted. I think it’s worth taking legal advice in case by taking your rent for 35 years a de facto tenancy exists but I think you’ll need to grasp the nettle sooner rather than later. Good luck

They can't issue a section 21 notice because she isn't the legal tenant.

OP, this is why you need actual legal advice instead of asking the internet.