Leaving husband - Housing Association house in my sole name

[doloresclaiborne]

I started a thread last year about my husband and unfortunately things are no further forward.

We live in my HA property (in my sole name).

Every few months or so there is a blow up and he tells me that he wants a divorce. The last one of these was in October.

He started looking for another rented property but he could not find anything that he liked, that would take his cat (he had the cat before we married and doesn't want to leave her with me) and he also has an unsatisfied CCJ for £6k, which means that he would fail any credit checks on a new rented place.

As we are married I cannot throw him out. So in October I started looking at alternative properties and found a shared ownership house in the next village. I am now at a stage with this where I could exchange and complete and move out of my HA house.

However this would leave him in the property and I am not certain of the implications of this, for example if he carried on paying the rent would he be able to stay there? Or would the HA evict him?

I feel absolutely trapped by my situation. I would prefer to stay in my house and him to leave but he won't move out. If I leave my HA property then he will probably need to find somewhere else to live anyway as they might not give the tenancy to him.

I have spoken to a solicitor who tells me I can just give him notice to leave, but I am not sure this advice is correct, as we are married.The solicitor said you cannot have home rights on a rented property but I don't think this is correct.

Sorry, I am rambling. But I have to make a decision now. Either I pull out of the shared ownership place and stay where I am, with him. Or I move out and give notice on my HA house.

Does anyone have any advice to offer. I have asked my friends but they all think I should stay where I am. However they don't have to live with someone they want to divorce from.

Thanks

[doloresclaiborne]

I'm not sure I would ever be in a position to go to full ownership to be honest.

I am almost 47. My salary is not massive and is unlikely to go up significantly as it is average for where I live (East Midlands).

I was married before to a very violent man and since then I have moved house 10 times (since 2007). When I got my HA house I felt that my DS and I could put down some roots finally. My DS is 16, almost 17 now, and basically moves between my house and his dad's house, so he spends an equal number of nights with us.

So I am not overly keen to go back into private rented again. I never thought that I would have to move out of my HA house and I have made a huge mistake getting married again. Unfortunately my husband is a pathological liar and I am almost certain he is using Tinder and other dating sites. This is making me ill. I just want some stability and some peace and quiet but I don't think that it is going to be easy to achieve that.

[titchy]

Please contact your housing officer. There may well be more options. Don't make any decisions till you've done that.

[Londono]

You will still need to speak to a solicitor in case he has a claim over your shared ownership house before you divorce

[Peace43]

I wouldn’t buy a house whilst still married. He may be able to claim on it. Divorce first!!!

[MrsWaititi]

Can't you just give him notice in writing now, then at the end of the notice period wait until he goes out and change the locks?

[warriorwomanx]

You'd need to speak to the HA, there is statutory guidance but also each HA has their own policies.
Congrats on your new home!

[Kit19]

OP I dont think that its the case that you dont believe the solicitor - I think you know they're right and that what they're telling you to do is correct

Is it more that you're afraid of giving him notice to leave, of what he might do? and how you enforce that if he says he wont go?

[MorbidPodcastFan]

Shared ownership is not a horror story for all, i speak from experience here. Although i remortgaged and bought mine out (and no, i didnt have to pay fees or HAs costs to do this) - just be very careful of the terms of the contract.

You will need to factor in ground rent and maintenance fees for any HA house or flat too, as well as conveyancing costs which are more because of the compications.

For the sake of the "50%" he might be entitled to (£1250 ish based on what youve said) that you wont have to hand over until you settle i would just crack on with your plan.

Getting a shared ownership house is at least some sort of investment and not just throwing money down the drain on rent.

[HmmSureJan]

Am sure housing association would not force you to continue living with your ex, no matter even if you are still legally married. That sounds like a toxic situation which would affect your mental health.

They definitely would. They only care about the law.

[NettleTea]

is there any abuse? emotional/financial/coercive? You may be able to get the HA to help you get him out if thats the case. Similarly file for divorce asap and then have him removed. I wouldnt give up the security of a HA place for private rental in any circumstances

[harknesswitch]

So rather than taking advice off someone who has studied law for probably 10+ years you'd rather just google?

If you don't believe that solicitor, as another one.

You be crackers to leave a HA house, especially as you don't really want to.

He's an adult and capable of sorting home self out, stop fixing things for him, let him sort his own shit out.

[gettingshitstraight]

I absolutely would not leave a secure tenancy for the chance of a small percentage of a house I'd never be able to own.

Listen to the solicitor, your husband needs to leave.
I agree that you should also speak to your housing officer about getting him out.
He could be offered helped with a deposit possibly. They will have lists or landlords who will take tenants with poor credit and no guarantor.

[HollowTalk]

I wouldn't give up a housing association place for anything. He moved in with you - he's the one who has to leave.

[Onjnmoeiejducwoapy]

You absolutely should not leave your HA house, you will never be able to get that level of security again. It would be a short term solution that does more damage in the long term.

Have you shown this piece of legislation to your solicitor to get their answer? If you don’t trust them, you would be better placed to get another one than sacrifice the house. Have you started the divorce yet?

[MrsMoastyToasty]

Don't leave a tenancy for another property that he might have a claim on all the time you remain married.

[doloresclaiborne]

It really is not the case that I didn't believe the solicitor. The question I asked him was would a decree absolute end matrimonial home rights. He said that my husband did not have matrimonial home rights and was a licensee and I could simply give him four weeks notice. He also said that you could not have home rights over a rented property. I then reiterated that we were married and not just living together and he reconfirmed his advice.

I have checked the legislation myself on this point and this, as well as Shelter and every other housing association website I have read confirms that it does not matter whose name the tenancy is in. If you are married then, even if you are not on the tenancy, you cannot be kicked out of your house.

[thenewduchessofhastings]

If you buy a house whilst your still married to him would that count as a marital asset that he could lay claim to?

[doloresclaiborne]

APPORTIONING THE FAMILY HOME
ON RELATIONSHIP BREAKDOWN

TENANTS AND THE FAMILY LAW ACT 1996


(Matrimonial) Home Rights

1.1 A spouse or civil partner has a statutory right of occupation of the family home pursuant to s.30 Family Law Act 1996, usually called “matrimonial home rights” (MHR). This goes beyond a mere licence granted by the other spouse / civil partner.

1.2 MHR apply to a dwelling-house which:
(i) the other spouse or civil partner has a legal or equitable entitlement to occupy - s.30(1)(a); and
(ii) the spouse with MHR is not so entitled or has only an equitable interest therein – s.30(1)(b), (9); and
(iii) the couple have at any time intended it as their matrimonial / civil partnership home – s.30(7).
MHR may therefore apply to more than one property.

1.3 Like a licence, MHR principally operate in personam. They are defined by s.30(2) as:
(a) if in occupation, a right not to be evicted or excluded from the dwelling-house or any part thereof by the other spouse / civil partner except with leave of the court given by an order under s.33;
(b) if not in occupation, a right with the leave of the court so given to enter into and occupy the dwelling-house.

1.4 But they can also affect third parties:
(i) s.30(3): A person with MHR may pay the rent, mortgage or other outgoings affecting the home on behalf of their spouse or civil partner.
(ii) s.30(4): Occupation by a spouse or civil partner with MHR counts as occupation by the other for the purposes of the Housing Acts 1985, 1986 (Part I) and 1996 (Part V, Ch.1), the Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976 and the Rent Act 1977. This means that under the Rent Acts a non-tenant spouse in occupation can hold over under a statutory tenancy even after the other spouse has given notice to quit.
(iii) s.31(3): MHR operate as a charge on the other spouse or civil partner’s interest, having priority as if they were an equitable interest. MHR may be registered by a notice at HMLR or a Class F land charge – but only against one property at any one time.

(i) and (ii) also apply to an ex-spouse, ex-civil partner, cohabitant or ex-cohabitant in whose favour an occupation order is made, provided their cohabitant or ex has a right of occupation – s.35(13), s.36(13).

1.5 MHR come to an end as follows:
(i) Upon the termination of the marriage or civil partnership (including by death), unless the court extends them pursuant to s.33(5).
(ii) The court may terminate them by an order under s.33(3)(e), upon an application by an “associated person”; or on bankruptcy under the Insolvency Act s.336(2)(b).
(iii) Prior legal or equitable interests may also operate to extinguish them.
(iv) The beneficiary may also release or postpone MHR in writing - Sch.4, paras.5-6.

[Maunderingdrunkenly]

Can you send this to the solicitor you asked and get them to confirm?

[doloresclaiborne]

The above is the law and I cannot just throw him out.

Yes, in theory he could go after the equity in the shared ownership house but the equity at the moment would be half of £2,400, so £1,200.

We do not have children together.

He also has two large pensions so in theory I could go after these in a divorce. I actually don't want anything from him though, I just don't want to be married to him any longer or live in the same house.

[Appledrop]

How long have you actually been married to him?

[Bex19999]

@doloresclaiborne I’m a housing officer and we get cases like this quite a lot.

As this is a relationship breakdown we don’t get involved and we ask that our residents seek their own legal advice.

He has no legal rights to your property but as you invited him in your home the housing association can’t evict him as he isn’t even a tenant he’s just a household member. Anyone you invited in to your home has to be told to leave by you or removed by the police.

You can ask him to leave but if he refuses you would have to have him removed by the police and then change the locks.

If you were to leave and he remains depending on the policy of your HA he could possibly fight to have the tenancy assigned to him However he’s not a tenant and the HA will have no legal obligation to house him . If he refused to leave after you’d left then notices would be served and he’d be forced to leave.

[doloresclaiborne]

We married in 2015. At that time we were living in a private rented property.

In 2018 we separated and I moved into a rented flat for just over a year. I was then offered my HA house and me and my DS moved in there in July 2019. In early 2020 my husband convinced me to try again and he moved in with me. By June/July 2020 I knew that this was a mistake.

At that stage I thought (as the tenancy was in my sole name) I could just ask him to leave. By the time I realised this was not the case it was too late. We had another huge argument in October and he said he would look for somewhere else to live but then couldn't find anyone who would rent to him with his County Court Judgment. So this meant he just stayed put and made no further efforts to move out.

[doloresclaiborne]

Bex19999, thank you for this and I didn't think that the HA could do anything to help which is why I haven't contacted them.

This is part of the reason I feel so stupid and trapped by the situation. I can't see any way out of this, other than for me to move out. As I cannot buy anything outright this means I either have the choice of shared ownership (which obviously has its risks) or private rented (which is not secure housing).

[katmarie]

Op as bex said tell him to leave, if he refuses, contact the police and ask them to remove him. Dobt give up your home until you've exhausted all the options.