Question about council house after marriage split

rawn

Hi all.

My parents and us kids (3 of us) have lived in a council house for 30 years. My parents actually split in 2009 and my dad remained there with my sister, so there is 2 of them in a 3 bed house. My mam is renting privately now and recently lost her job and had to apply for HAP, through this process we realized her name was still on the lease for the council house. She officially took her name off it yesterday. My dad had a meeting with the council today and they asked for payslips and they said they would "contact their legal team and get back to him".

My dad is worried sick that they're going to tell him he has to move out to a smaller place. Does this happen? Has it happened to any one of you before, or has anyone anyone experience/knowledge in this area?

Mrs OBumble

Council tenancies are tenancy for life, even if one of you dies the other person keeps the tenancy for as long as they want it. I'm not 100% about relationship breakdowns, but strongly suspect they're the same, provided both names were on the tenancy to start with.

That said If he'd been honest about the household composition all along, it would likely be less of a problem.

Is your sister working? Has her income been being declared each year? If not, then there may be back rent owing. This wouldn't be a reason to chuck him out, but it will need to be paid.


Is there a shortage of social housing in the area? Is he preventing another family from getting the 3 bed they need by insisting on staying there instead of looking to transfer to a 2-bed/

rawn

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Council tenancies are tenancy for life, even if one of you dies the other person keeps the tenancy for as long as they want it. I'm not 100% about relationship breakdowns, but strongly suspect they're the same, provided both names were on the tenancy to start with.

That said If he'd been honest about the household composition all along, it would likely be less of a problem.

Is your sister working? Has her income been being declared each year? If not, then there may be back rent owing. This wouldn't be a reason to chuck him out, but it will need to be paid.


Is there a shortage of social housing in the area? Is he preventing another family from getting the 3 bed they need by insisting on staying there instead of looking to transfer to a 2-bed/

The sister is working, all income has been declared in the means tests so he's fine there. He's in the D15 area, definitely a shortage there

It never occurred to them to take her name off the lease, they just never thought about it AFAIK, but there's plenty of proof she rented elsewhere the whole time, and the council never asked where her payslips were when he was providing proof of income over the years.

jimmycrackcorm

They're just evaluating what he should be paying in rent.