Not sure if this is the appropriate forum for this so if it isn't mods please move.

Basically I have a friend who shared the rent book on the housing assoc 3 bed house she was in with her husband. They have been separated over 6 months now and he is now renting his own private place. Obv she still lives in the house with 3 kids. There is arrears on the rent from when he was there works out to about £400 each they have to pay and they've sed his name can't come off the rent book until he "signs it over" and he can't do that until arrears are paid, which he certainly has no intent of doing whatsoever. They argue a hell of alot and he keeps threatening to just waltz back into the house and take it over which is obvioulsy disgustingly illegal so what can be done here?? I remember a similar issue when I left my ex we lived in a council property and altho I willingly told them I'd left the property I don't remember it being the law that I had to tell them. She can provide the address of where he currently resides where the council tax must be in hs name so that would be proof and surely all that's required to get his name off the rent book??????

The same thing happened to my sister. Her husband moved out then she found out he had not been paying any of the bills or rent for a while. She tried to get him off the rent but was not allowed to until the arrears where paid off. It was only when they went to court for the divorce and the judge made him agree he was responsible for all the arrears that the Council removed him from the tenancy. He has still not paid anything as he has disappeared but the council cannot chase my sister for the money now.

Not really too fussed about the arrears issue, as me and my ex had arrears and wen I left they were put aside as a separate debt and we each owed 50% of it. Her rent carried on as separate. The main concern at the moment is him claiming he can just stroll in whenever he wants and takeover, which surely cannot be legal.

As long as he is on the tenancy agreement as a tenant/joint tenant and there is no court order (such as an exclusion order) preventing him from entering the property, then he can just walk in whenever he wants, regardless of whether he resides in another property.

If they are joint tenants, (sounds like they are) then he can't walk in and take over completely but he can take control over the tenancy to the same extent that she can as the joint tenant.

It should be written in the tenancy agreement that the tenants must provide the housing association with notice if they wish to surrender the tenancy

"Sharing the rent book" means nothing. Any rent book is just a rent receipting system.

As ErikaPNP has said the problem is that her ex will be on the tenancy agreement and you can't just take your name off of a document like this. They would pretty much have to end that tenancy and assign it over to your friend and no housing organisation will want to do this if their are arrears.

Since he won't pay I'd advise your friend to get some legal advice about what to do.

Just to clarify my sisters position- there was a restraining order against her hubby for violence. So I don't supose that helps your querey any.

I will go and sit back in the corner.

I thought there might be a way to remove him if it went to court but after reading Erikas post it might be because of the restaining order that my sister got her OH off the tenancy