Housing issues affecting serving personnel when a relationship ends

The end of any relationship can be a highly stressful and emotional time. For members of the armed forces community, and the wider defence community, this can have added difficulties, especially in relation to housing issues of serving personal living in Service Family Accommodation.

The most important thing to remember is to seek advice and assistance as soon as possible. There are many organisations who are there to help you alongside specialist legal advice.

If you are a member of the armed forces community, either serving or the spouse or civil partner, and you have made the decision to separate, divorce or dissolve your civil partnership, there are a number of steps that need to be taken in relation to your housing if you are living in service family accommodation.

As a first step, the serving person can consider moving into alternative service accommodation, if available,  or to private accommodation, if affordable. You should start by having conversations with your welfare support team to understand what options are available to you given your circumstances. There is usually a period of time given to you and your partner to try and resolve your issues before any firm decision needs to be made in relation to your service accommodation.

If it becomes clear that your relationship has come to an end the serving person will need to change their Personal Status Category (PStat Cat) to reflect the current situation. There are several processes that need to be followed once the relationship status has changed, but once the relevant department has been informed, a 93-day Notice to Vacate the service family accommodation is issued. If you have a reason to believe you cannot vacate the accommodation, for example, medical or educational needs, you should urgently contact the Loss of Entitlements Team (LOET.) If you remain in the accommodation after the expiry of the notice, without the necessary agreement, there can be serious legal consequences. You should not ignore this issue and you should seek specialist advice as soon as possible.

We offer military personnel a 15% discount on legal matters.