Hello, I'm disabled and live with my mum, mum has dementia and is currently in a nursing home for a while. Now I have asked the council (Havering) about staying when mum goes, my dad died in 1969 and I'm not sure whether he was the tenant and mum succeeded him or it was a joint tenancy or even if mum was the tenant, when dad died we where under a different council (Tower Hamlets). Now I don't know where I stand and it's very worrying. It is a 2 bedroom maisonette but as I am on dialysis I was hoping that I could have dialysis at home in the 2nd bedroom, along with the dialysis I have also had a triple heart bypass with causes low BP which makes me dizzy and unstable, on crutches. There are other problems which I can expand on if necessary. Thanks

Hi, am hoping I can get some pointers about my situation. My mother died on 11 July this year, she lived in a 1 bed-roomed flat via Bradford Council (incommunities now) on a secured tenancy. She had been a council tenant since 1993 (although not the same house, but, the same tenancy as she did inter-tenant swaps) she was in her last property for 7 years. My nephew, her grandson, now 17 (well 18 tomorrow 13 October) has lived with her for several years, my mum pretty much brought him up, although not legally by adoption or anything. Now on the death of my mother we applied top the housing officer for a succession of the tenancy to my nephew, we were told to provide proof that he was residing for last 12 months. This has been hard to come buy, as he was under 18 and all the bills were in my mums name. Anyway, we only notified the council 2 weeks ago as we were grieving, we had an appointment where we were told to go gather evidence and report back. This appointment was 8 days ago. We have now received a letter yesterday stating the succession application was unsuccessful as we had not provided prove of residency. The only way we can prove it is by Subject Access Requesting his last school where his school records will show the address of my mothers flat. We were given 5 working days to get this proof which is not long enough. In their letter, they have given my nephew 72 hours to vacate the premises. Question. 1) Can they just come straight in an change the locks and throw my nephew out? 2) Should they have given more time for us to prove residency? 3) Can we appeal? a) Is there any basis in law where we can appeal, or is it just at the discretion of the housing office? 4) Where do we go now? Please any suggestions at all would be great, we don't want to be emptying the house with little under 48hrs to go. My nephew will have no where to live, he does not see or associate with his mother or father, and I just do not have room, although I will not see him sleeping rough so will offer him a couch, as I have a family of 5 in a 2 bedroom house myself. Thanks in advance David

Hi, I'd be very grateful if anyone can give me some urgent advice... To outline my situation - I live in a H.A. flat. My mother was the sole tenant, with an Assured tenancy. I moved in with her in 2005 as her carer. Mom died in June last year. Upon her death I applied for 'discretionary' succession. The H.A. refused, I believe unreasonably. I have documentary evidence to support my claim, including a letter of reference acknowledging my residence at the address, from the Housing Officer. The H.A. has threatened to change the locks several times & has issued me with a NTQ twice. They have now issued a claim for Trespass. At the initial hearing, Judge looked at my defence bundle & ordered a 2 hour hearing at the beginning of October. Unfortunately, he seemed a little confused re: Secure/Assured tenancies & mentioned that there is relevant case law that includes interpretations of 'family members' & 'normally residing at', etc. I am aware that the succession rights in an Assured tenancy do not apply to family members other than a 'spouse or cohabitee', but they do in a Secure tenancy. So I'm worried that Judge has this issue confused & was considering my rights under a Secure tenancy. Either way, the fact is that I do not have any statutory or contractual right to succession. My only claim is for 'discretionary succession' to be granted by the H.A. My defence centres on the fact that the H.A. have not considered my application fairly & that they have disregarded strong evidence that I live & have lived at the property for years. I believe that the H.A. has been constructive in dismissing my claim for succession & has not excercised its dicretion responsibly. So my main question is simple - Is this a viable defence? i.e. Even if I am able to show evidence & convince Judge that the H.A. has treated me unfairly, does the court have the power to influence the H.A. to change its decision or reconsider my claim? Or is it bound by the fact that, at law, I am a trespasser as I have no tenancy & no statutory/contractual right to succession? I'd be really grateful if anyone can advise me on this urgently as my deadline to file my defence is this Wednesday. I also have another point on which I am considering defending the claim, if anyone has time I'd be grateful if you could also consider this - The tenancy states that it shall terminate upon the death of the tenant. But the H.A. did not terminate the tenancy on my mother's death, they wrote to me on several occassions to say that they would be closing the tenancy off 'soon' & have sent me up to date rent statements. Does this mean that the tenancy is/was still in existence after my mother's death, and if so did I inherit the tenancy? Would this make it a 'devolved tenancy' and would that mean that the H.A. should have issued a claim under Ground 7, Shedule 2 of the Housing Act? As this is a Trespass claim I have no access to legal aid & am unable to get advice from Shelter etc. so any advice will be received with heartfelt thanks. if you do think I have a defence, any pointers to the relevant case law would be really helpful to me. Thank you for taking the time to read this even if you cannot help.

Hi, I'd be very grateful if anyone can give me some urgent advice... To outline my situation - I live in a H.A. flat. My mother was the sole tenant, with an Assured tenancy. I moved in with her in 2005 as her carer. Mom died in June last year. Upon her death I applied for 'discretionary' succession. The H.A. refused, I believe unreasonably. I have documentary evidence to support my claim, including a letter of reference acknowledging my residence at the address, from the Housing Officer. The H.A. has threatened to change the locks several times & has issued me with a NTQ twice. They have now issued a claim for Trespass. At the initial hearing, Judge looked at my defence bundle & ordered a 2 hour hearing at the beginning of October. Unfortunately, he seemed a little confused re: Secure/Assured tenancies & mentioned that there is relevant case law that includes interpretations of 'family members' & 'normally residing at', etc. I am aware that the succession rights in an Assured tenancy do not apply to family members other than a 'spouse or cohabitee', but they do in a Secure tenancy. So I'm worried that Judge has this issue confused & was considering my rights under a Secure tenancy. Either way, the fact is that I do not have any statutory or contractual right to succession. My only claim is for 'discretionary succession' to be granted by the H.A. My defence centres on the fact that the H.A. have not considered my application fairly & that they have disregarded strong evidence that I live & have lived at the property for years. I believe that the H.A. has been constructive in dismissing my claim for succession & has not excercised its dicretion responsibly. So my main question is simple - Is this a viable defence? i.e. Even if I am able to show evidence & convince Judge that the H.A. has treated me unfairly, does the court have the power to influence the H.A. to change its decision or reconsider my claim? Or is it bound by the fact that, at law, I am a trespasser as I have no tenancy & no statutory/contractual right to succession? I'd be really grateful if anyone can advise me on this urgently as my deadline to file my defence is this Wednesday. I also have another point on which I am considering defending the claim, if anyone has time I'd be grateful if you could also consider this - The tenancy states that it shall terminate upon the death of the tenant. But the H.A. did not terminate the tenancy on my mother's death, they wrote to me on several occassions to say that they would be closing the tenancy off 'soon' & have sent me up to date rent statements. Does this mean that the tenancy is/was still in existence after my mother's death, and if so did I inherit the tenancy? Would this make it a 'devolved tenancy' and would that mean that the H.A. should have issued a claim under Ground 7, Shedule 2 of the Housing Act? As this is a Trespass claim I have no access to legal aid & am unable to get advice from Shelter etc. so any advice will be received with heartfelt thanks. if you do think I have a defence, any pointers to the relevant case law would be really helpful to me. Thank you for taking the time to read this even if you cannot help.