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

[gutful]

I think people are getting frustrated with the OP because she is dithering about the potential legal repercussions of changing the locks.

The reality is taking someone to court over this is much more costly & takes more effort than you know, just looking for a new rental.

As it’s a HA house I imagine it is not like a private rental where you can just be added to or take over a tenancy.

The reality is if you change the locks, pay for the cat to be put in boarding for a month then he will likely get the hint & move on, because fighting to get back in will prove too difficult.

Op file for divorce then change the locks is my advice.

The worst legal repercussion is being told he would have rights to return to the property - it’s not like you’re going to get some criminal conviction over this, so your fear of legal repercussions seems misplaced, when your priority is to just get him out of the house.