Housing association tenancy

[Jersey11]

I am 26 years old and I have been living in my housing association flat for just over 3 years now. I was given this flat due to becoming homeless after being assaulted by my landlord in the flat that I was previously privately renting and then I found out that I was pregnant. I unfortunately had a miscarriage but I was offered the one bedroom housing association flat and I’ve been here for just over 3 years now. My mum privately rents a house but now that my sister has moved out of the house, she is really struggling in the house on her own financially so I’m thinking of contacting my housing association, letting them know the situation and seeing if she can be added to my tenancy and she can move in with me. My boyfriend and I have been together for awhile and he lives with his parents at the moment but he is in the process of buying his first house which I would hopefully move into around summer time next year. If and when oI moved in with him, would the flat be taken away from me or because my mum would now be on the tenancy would she be allowed to continue with the flat?

99.9% unlikely. You have a one bedroom property that your partner could move into and after a set period of time, you could request they joined the tenancy. As it'd be presumed you were sharing the same sleeping space, as a couple. This doesn't apply for parental or sibling relationships.

Plus succession of tenancy isn't just granted because you've decided to move out, it's usually given to the joint tenant as a result if death. However, having the tenancy reverted back to single occupancy is usually down to the courts to decide.
It's probably best your Mum applies for housing with the HA herself, gets herself on the waiting list.
I worked for a housing association for over 15 years, still have friends who do. And you simply can't just gift it to a family member I'm afraid.

Okay so let’s ignore her taking the tenancy over.. what about her just living with me for a while? He wants to buy a house and get on the property ladder, he has been saving for years so we don’t want to move into my flat together, what about if my mum just moved in with me for a year or so just to save some money and get back on her feet and then she moved out into her own place? If we explained the situation and said that we would be putting a bed in the living room would the HA allow her to be on the tenancy?

you can ask but its very unlikely they’ll add your sister to your tenancy. Most councils or HAs will only consider adding spouses. There also isn’t a legal right to add a relative to a social housing tenancy. And social housing landlords won’t do it due to what you’ve described. The relative goes on the tenancy the other tenant moves out leaves the relative as sole tenancy holder and the relative has bypassed long housing wait lists. Assuming you are in England.

as your mum privately rents, could she rent a smaller property?
or you could give up your HA flat (risky) and move into her house?

She could but she wouldn’t have the money upfront for a first months rent and deposit at the moment that’s why we’re just trying to think of ways to help her get back on her feet so that’s why I’m wondering if they would let her move in here for about a year to help her get some money together

No they would not add her to the tenancy, as she is your Mother, not your partner. Neither do they add people into to tenancies as a temporary measure whilst she looked elsewhere?
If you had a two bedroom property, your Mother could stay with you. You'd have to declare it to the Housing Association, it wouldn't change your rent but you'd have to declare it to the Council and it would change your Council Tax as you'd no longer be single occupancy.
However as you have a one bedroom property, your housing association would not look favourably of you moving an adult into your living room, unless it was an emergency due to her homelessness and would be for a number of weeks, not months.

I'd really suggest that your Mother starts looking for somewhere to live privately or by joining the waiting list, rather than moving into your living room. As much as I appreciate you're trying to help.

I doubt the HA would even allow her to move in as you’d be over occupying the property

No idea of the legal/housing/tenancy implications but just thinking about your potential living arrangements on a day to day basis: Is your living room big enough to fit a bed for your Mum and all her personal belongings? Where would you both sit and socialise instead? What guarantee do you have that your Mum will move out once she's saved the deposit she needs? Surely this wouldn't take 12 months? Have you factored in the storage costs for your Mum's furniture?

Why doesn't your Mum just get a tenant to replace your sister? Surely that's the easiest thing all round.

But if she moves out of her current place she will get a deposit back no? She would only need to stay with you while she finds a place then

There are charities that may help your mum if she having difficulty finding the deposit an 1st month’s rent on a cheaper rental property.

Get in touch with Shelter as they have good legal advice on social tenancies and check their website and your tenancy agreement. Some social housing tenancies can be passed on theough a deed of assignment where you pass on the tenancy to someone else. That can be a family member who has lived with you for 12 months. They don't need to have been added to the tenancy, but they will need evidence that they've lived at the social housing address, usually in the form of 12 months of bank statements, council tax and being added to bills.

I did this with my adult son, who took over my secure council tenancy. The rules might be different with a HA tenancy so it's best to get advice based on your specific tenancy agreement.

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