Common use of Secure Tenancy Clause in Contracts

Secure Tenancy. If you are an introductory tenant you will automatically become a secure tenant after 12 months, provided you don't breach the conditions of your tenancy. As a secure tenant you have the right, subject to meeting any applicable criteria or gaining any necessary approval, to: • Live in your home for the rest of your life as long as you continue to comply with the requirements of your tenancy agreement • Buy your home at a discount, after a qualifying period • Pass on your home to someone in your family living with you when you die, provided that you yourself had not succeeded the tenancy (subject to certain conditions) • Take in lodgers and sub-let part of your home (although you should note that this may affect any housing benefits that you are receiving) • Have your home repaired (some repairs are the responsibility of the tenant while others are the responsibility of the Council) • Carry out improvements to your home (subject to written consent from your council) • Be compensated for certain improvements you have made if you move home • Take on the management of your estate • Exchange your home with another tenant • Be consulted on housing management matters • Be given information about how the Council runs the homes that it owns You have the right to live in your home indefinitely, as long as the Council does not start legal proceedings to evict you. The Council can only evict you by following the correct procedure and getting a court order. The Council has to give you written notice, and prove a legal reason why you should be evicted before they can get a court order. If tenancy enforcement action is taken against you due to anti-social behaviour, this may lead to your secure tenancy being demoted by the court. This would reduce your rights as a tenant. A secure tenancy can be downgraded to a demoted tenancy. A demoted tenancy is very similar to an introductory tenancy. You have more limited rights and less protection from eviction than a secure tenancy. The Council has to get a court order if they want to downgrade your tenancy in this way. The court can demote your tenancy if you (or someone who lives with you, or visits you regularly) have behaved anti-socially or caused nuisance in the area, threatened to do so, or used your home for illegal activities such as drug dealing. A demotion order will normally last for one year, unless: • The Council starts possession proceedings against you • You leave your home (in which case you will lose the tenancy) • The court overturns the order (for example if the judge believes that it should not have been made in the first place) • You die and no one is entitled to take on the tenancy If you do not cause nuisance or break your tenancy agreement in other ways, you should automatically become a secure tenant again after 12 months. If the Council starts court action during the 12 months, you can be evicted more easily than a secure tenant. Demoted tenancies can be ended much more easily than secure tenancies. The Council does not have to prove a legal reason in court but they have to follow the correct procedure to evict you. The Council must give you at least four weeks' written notice that they are going to ask the court to evict you and explain the reasons why. Get advice immediately if this happens. You have the right to ask the Council to review their decision, but only if you do so within 14 days of receiving the notice. If you miss this deadline, the Council can apply to the court for an eviction order. The court will have no choice but to grant the eviction order if the Council has followed the correct procedure. The right to buy will be suspended until your tenancy becomes secure again. The time you spent as a demoted tenant will not count towards your discount. You do not normally have the right to take in a lodger or sublet part of your home while your tenancy is demoted. If you do so without written permission from the Council, you can be evicted more easily than a secure tenant. You will not normally be able to exchange your home or get a transfer while your tenancy is demoted. Once your tenancy becomes secure, you will be able to apply. You can not pass on a demoted tenancy by assignment (i.e. transfer it to someone else during your lifetime) unless it is done as part of a divorce or other family proceedings. You will be able to do so once your tenancy becomes secure again.