Housing Tenancy Transfer?

[EDDIE51]

We have a Housing association house, have been in it for 39 years. Assured tenants.
Can we transfer the tenancy to my son?
He moved out to a house share , but is having problems with the other people who live with him.
If he moves back can we transfer our tenancy to him he was born here and lived here for 21 years.
What are the implications ? Would he 'inherit' our right to buy the house at a discount?
I realise some may say this is unfair ,but I think a prospect of giving him a house where he can purchase it at a large discount may be the only chance he ever has of getting on the 'housing ladder'. We live just outside Cambridge by the way where house prices are 'through the roof'

[Old_Geezer]

Not that I know, but wouldn't all housing associations have their own set of rules ?

[Mamyalynne]

Shelter are very good at explaining this sort of enquiry and are easy to speak to.


http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/social_housing/transfers_and_exchanges/assigning_a_tenancy

[MallyJ]

No real knowledge of this but a friend of mine lived with his parents in similar set up. His dad died first so the tenancy went to his mother and could not be passed on to a 3rd member of the family. You perhaps need to look at your agreement ....

[ubasses]

The Government are only just implementing Right to Buy for Tenants in Housing Association properties at the moment Cambridge is not on the list of pilot areas. There is also a Bill before Parliament at the moment to change the law this will abolish the right to inherit a tenancy.

[EDDIE51]

We are in Hertfordshire but on the Cambridgeshire border.

[bednobs]

if you transfer the tenancy to him, wont you fall foul of the bedroom tax? As he will be the tenant you will no lpnger be protected surely?

[Islay]

Bednobs I get the impression that Eddie's son is working so therefore won't claim housing benefit but pay rent directly to the HA.

Eddie, will you still live with your son? What happens when your son gets a partner - what will you do then?

[EDDIE51]

Yes my son works full time and would not qualify for housing benefit.
No sign of a 'partner' yet but even if there was it would not be a problem.
It is a 3 bedroom house and at one time there were 7 of us here , me my Mrs and our 5 children!

[EDDIE51]

^^ Even the full rent here is less than 1/2 what he is paying for 1 room in a house share!

[DocHH]

Eddie51
As MallyJ, has mentioned mentioned I also knew of a similar family who lived in a 3 bedroom Council House. The father was the original tenant, on his demise the tenancy passed to his wife, as agreed with the tenancy agreement. Their daughter who lived with them was refused tenancy of that house on the demise of her mother, as tenancy could only be passed on once. However the Council were obliged to re-house the daughter in an appropriate accommodation after the demise of her mother. In this instance as she was single and did not have children, that accommodation was a 1 bedroom flat. 5 years later, plus a few years she now has the possibility to buy the flat on the "Right to Buy" scheme. The discount is clearly defined on the "RTB" and will give her the foot onto the housing ladder. I think after 5 years the discount is 50% then 2% for each subsequent year.
I realise that it is not where your son would like to start on the property ladder, but at least it is a start.

[ladyalex]

As Mamya said, the place to start for impartial informed advice is Shelter.

My thought was, is there any possibility of changing the tenancy agreement so that your son is a joint tenant ?
As Mamya said, check with Shelter.

[EDDIE51]

We have a joint tenancy myself and my wife both on it. So this would be a first transfer.

[bednobs]

what are you actually trying to acheive eddie? If it's just to allow him to buy (if/when the right to buy comes in) i am not sure you can acheive this in the way you want. would he qalify for a tenncy from the HA in his own right? From what you have said, you are early 60s - you could live another 30 years

[DocHH]

Forgot to mention that there is a penalty to repay some of the discount if the property is sold in a period of less than 5 years of purchase at the discounted price.

[ladyalex]

Could you afford to buy it now and leave it to him in your will?
Or could he chip in? ... I did this for an ancient relative , all above board and organised by a solicitor who put some sort of hold on the amount of money I invested so that it would be totally safe when the house came to be sold even if she didn't mention me in her will, or if she had to have care home fees taken out of it. The solicitor gave me the clear impression that he had done this many times.

[EDDIE51]

Even if he comes back to live here and has to start his tenancy from zero,he will still earn a 'right to buy'discount after the qualifying period. He will still be a lot better off than paying rent for 1 room in a house share.
In the first instance the idea is he comes back to live here and we tell the housing association he is back living at home. We will lose some but not all our housing benefit ,so he just makes up the difference.
I looked up the housing benefit aspect a while back and we will lose around £35 a week in benefit. He is paying £150 a week for 1 room in his house share with bills on top !

[EDDIE51]

Ladyalex no chance of us getting a mortgage we only have pension credit income.
Getting him to 'chip in' and pay a 'right to buy ' mortgage is something I have thought about as well.
We have been here so long we qualify for the maximum rebate under right to buy, it seems silly to 'waste' such an opportunity.

[ladyalex]

I still think your best bet is to go and see Shelter.
I'm sure they will have advised people in your situation before.

[EDDIE51]

Been doing a bit more googling.
1 We do have the right to buy with the maximum discount of £77,900.
2.House is worth around £162,000 so £84.100 left to pay.
3 At current rates that is just under £400 a month ( full rent is £126 a week)
So if my son does move in and help us by being grantor for the mortgage it will cost him less per week than he is paying to live in 1 room of a house share.
Plus in 25 years he will be the outright owner of a 3 bedroom house.
I have also found that from 2013 all cash from right to buy sales HAS BY LAW to be used to build more social housing. So it looks like a win / win situation even from a moral viewpoint.

[EDDIE51]

Forgot to add.The sale and mortgage can be arranged so that even though my son is the mortgage holder we have the right to live here for life.