who to contact in westminster council

[ibzo]

Hello

I live in a council flat with my family and wish to bring my wife over. I live in a 4 bedroom house and currently there are 6.5 people living in the house so adding an extra person would make it 7.5 which seems sufficient from the docs i read.
But how do i get docs to support this when i make my application. do i contact my council, westminster (flat is under my fathers name) and if yes who exactly do i contact.
Also does anyone know how long it takes to get this letter

your help will be much appreciated

thank you

[harv]

Hi ibzo

The standard requirement is the following:

1) Tenancy Agreement - You should have this when you (your family) started living at the property, The Council usually gets you to sign an agreement as well.
2) Letter from the Landlord (no obligation in you partner joining you) - The Council will need to provide this.
3) Letter from parents (no obligation in you partner joining you) - Your parents can write this.
4) House inspection report - You can request this from the Council as well, they should usually have a set fees they charge for this.


Its not very easy to get a No Obligation letter from the Council, but maybe you can request that. I would recommend going to the Housing department of your Council personally and explain your situation. Also make sure that you take a photocopy of your partner's passport as well as yours to allow them to reference both of you in the letter.

If you are lucky the officer might just write a letter when you see them during the appointment, its all up to the Council.

[SoHopeful]

Contact the Housing Office/Officer for your area and explain your plans and that you require written permission from them for your spouse to join you. Request that the letter confirms the size, that it is a secure tenancy and of course that your spouse is ok to move in.

Highlight the bit in your tenancy agreement that permits additional members of the household.

This letter should not take long... I received mine within 2 weeks.

You wont need an inspection report with the Council being the landlord but you can add this if you wish.

[ibzo]

Thanks for the help

When you say housing office/officer do you mean for westminster or my local area in westminster?

And how do i contact them, letter or email or in person? as i do not have their contact details and ive checked the westminster website but couldnt find any info on what to do/who to contact

thanks

[SoHopeful]

Because you live in a council property, within the borough there should be neighbourhood offices for the different areas of Westminster. You would need to call the housing department to find out where your local office is. It would probably be best to go into the office in person to get the details of who to contact and go from there. I contacted my housing officer for my area (housing association) by telephone and told her what the letter needed to include.

[ibzo]

Sohopeful and harv thanks for your help.
My local neighbourhood office is a min walk from my house so ill have a look at my tenancy agreement and try pay them a visit this week

[batleykhan]

The housing report does not necessarily have to be from the Council.You can get an estate agent to do a report showing the size, condition and the number of people living in property. All the ECO wants to see is that there will be sufficient space in that house for all the people to live in without it being considered overcrowded under the Housing Act.

An estate agent will charge you about £75, but some Councils do it free of charge.

You may though need permission from Council to say an extra person is coming to live in the property, just to make sure you are not in breach of your tenancy agreement.

[SoHopeful]

Batley, would the housing report be necessary with social housing? With social landlords allocating properties and allowing additional members to move into the household in accordance with the overcrowding rule, would a letter with their consent be enough?

I hadn't planned to get one based on that reasoning.

[batleykhan]

Batley, would the housing report be necessary with social housing? With social landlords allocating properties and allowing additional members to move into the household in accordance with the overcrowding rule, would a letter with their consent be enough?

I hadn't planned to get one based on that reasoning.

In view of the fact that the OP stated there were going to be 7.5 people living in the property, it would be advisable to get a report conforming that it will not be overcrowded even though it is social housing. The last thing he wants is to be refused by an ECO who may think that 7.5 people is more than your standard family nowadays. So yes I would recommend that he does get this report to be on the safe side