Tenancy agreement

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice please. A friend of mine has split from her partner, leaving her with two young children to look after.. she would like to swap her flat with someone else and has found someone that is willing to swap. they have agreed and it would mean a new start for her. Except her ex will not sign the tenancy agreement, taking his name of it to enable her to complete the swap. The council seem to be saying her only option is to take him to court He isn''t paying regular maintenance and as she is waiting for her tax credits to be changed is struggling financially to even buy food never mind pay for a solicitor. Does,anyone have any advice please??

I see you have not had a reply. so I will try.

So first of all, may I take it that there is an existing tenancy agreement in your joint names.

Secondly, may I ask who the landlord is - a private individual, the Council, or a housing association ?

Thirdly, is the tenancy for a fixed term which has not expired, or is it a fixed term which has expired but the tenants are holding over ( not at all uncommon if the tenancy is assured shorthold ).

I think I''d like to answer to these before offering further advice.

LMM

Hi thank you for replying I will have to get back to you as I don''t know apart from it is an existing tenancy with joint names, will find out the other answers and get back to you asap

Hi it is a flat from the county council and there doesn''t seem to be any term for the tenancy. Any advice on how to solve this problem would be greatly appreciated

I suspect the Council are playing it safe. It looks likely that your tenancy will be secure, as the lessor is a local authority.

If this is so it is open to you to apply under the Family Law Act 1996 for a Court order transferring the tenancy into your sole name, which would ( I assume ) mean that the two people involved would be free to agree to an exchange with the Council''s consent.

It seems to me likely that such an application would succeed, as he no longer lives there and so a transfer would bring the situation in line with the de facto position. You might point out to your ex that while he is a joint tenant he remains liable for the rent, which he could avoid by transferring the flat into your sole name.

There is no doubt that this is the bomb proof advice.

I think I will have to say that this is a pretty abstruse point, and well beyond the capability of almost any wikivorce adviser. Your best guess is to try and persuade him to agree to a transfer for the reasons I have described, and point out that if he doesn''t agree you could probably force the transfer anyway, and you might threaten him with an application for costs if he will not agree and you have to go to Court.

LMM

Great advice thank you, one further question, how could she go about getting this court order, would this only be through a solicitor? As I mentioned before she is really struggling for money.

I wish I could say, but I''ve been retired too long. It will be easier to self rep if you can bring proceedings in a Magistrates Court.

I just don''t know and have no means of finding out. Perhaps if you pop along to the Magistrates Court, someone could tell you if the Court has jurisdivtion.

LMM