If you are living in Service Family Accommodation (SFA) and you separate from your partner, divorce or dissolve a civil partnership, your housing entitlement can change.
You will have to notify Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) of the change in your circumstances and relationship status. If your entitlement to SFA is affected by this change, you will usually be given 93 days' notice to leave your SFA. After the change to your SFA entitlement, you will be allocated Single Living Accommodation (SLA) instead.
Learn more about housing options for serving personnel here on the RBL website.
If you separate, divorce or dissolve a civil partnership, your right to stay in family quarters comes to an end and you will have to find alternative accommodation.
As a former dependant of a Service person, you may be allowed to stay in your home for a limited time on compassionate grounds. However, this is at the discretion of the Armed Services.
Failure to find alternative accommodation and remain in family quarters could lead to you being issued with an eviction notice (usually giving you 93 days' notice) and you may end up paying trespass damages.
If you have already received an eviction notice you should contact the Housing Allocations Service Centre on 0800 169 6322.
If you have been served your 93-day notice for eviction, you will be able to ask the Defense Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) for a Certificate of Cessation of Entitlement to Occupy SFA to in turn apply as homeless to your local council before the end of the eviction period.
Before you decide for certain whether to end your relationship, and therefore your entitlement to SFA, the MOD provides Serving Personnel the option to trial separation through a "cooling off period." This gives them the option to stay in alternative Single Living Accommodation while their family remain in their SFA for up to 93 days, before having to fully register the end of their relationship. During this trial period, the Serving Personnel will still have to pay for the SFA that their family is currently living in.
Learn more about how a separation will affect SFA entitlement on the MOD website.
Contact Houses are houses or flats that are available to Service Personnel, and their families, who need temporary accommodation for short periods of time.
Contact Houses can be used by currently serving personnel who are separated or single parents to book and stay in when they have their children with them, for example for the weekend.
Get in touch with your Welfare point of contact who will be able to advise you about what is available locally to you.
We have many other pages here on the RBL website that might help you at this time:
Telephone: 0808 802 8080
Telephone overseas: +44 (0)20 3376 8080
Calls are free
from UK landlines and main mobile networks
Email: [email protected]
