Secure tenancies
A secure tenancy grants a person the right to live in a property for the rest of their life, if they do not break the tenancy conditions.
Secure tenancies are the Council's sole means of granting lifetime social and affordable housing, if the introductory period is successfully completed.
Introductory tenancies
New council tenants will be offered an introductory tenancy. These usually last 12 months and are like a 'trial' period.
There are limits to what tenants with an introductory tenancy can do, for example they cannot:
- make major improvements to the property
- swap their property with another council tenant
- apply to buy the property through the Right to Buy scheme
An introductory tenancy will convert to a secure tenancy after 12 months, if the tenant does not breach the tenancy terms during the introductory period.
We carry out a review process during the introductory tenancy, including a settling in visit within the first six weeks and a review after nine months.
We aim to support tenants to settle into their home by completing early tenancy checks within the first six weeks of a tenancy starting. We aim to help tenants keep to the terms of their tenancy and sustain their tenancy with us so they can move onto a secure tenancy at the end of the 12-month term. If the tenant breaches the terms of the tenancy during the introductory period, we may decide to extend the introductory tenancy by six months, to provide a further period for the tenant to demonstrate compliance with the terms of their tenancy.
If required, we will refer the tenant to relevant support services and agencies to help them manage their tenancies, and make reasonable adjustments to our services, in line with the H&F supporting our residents policy.
If there are further breaches of the tenancy during the extension, then we will start possession proceedings to end the tenancy (see also section 7 on ending tenancies).
Tenants have the right to request a review of a decision to extend their introductory tenancy. We will also carry out a review if we intend to seek possession for an introductory tenancy – because we use mandatory grounds for possession in these cases, rather than conditional grounds which are used for possession of secure tenancies. To ensure we have necessary checks and scrutiny in place before seeking possession on mandatory grounds, we will ensure that:
- the decision is carried out by a Council Officer who wasn't involved in the decision to apply for an order for possession
- the reviewing officer is more senior than the officer who made the original decision
- if there isn't a hearing, the tenant may make representations in writing
Where the review is by way of a hearing, the tenant may:
- be accompanied and may be represented by another person whether that person is professionally qualified or not
- call people to give evidence
- put questions to anyone who gives evidence
- make representations in writing
Licence agreements
In some circumstances a council housing property may be occupied temporarily. This could include cases where we need to carry out major works in a council home and the tenant cannot reasonably and safely be expected to remain in their home so is decanted to another property; or cases where we use one of our properties to provide temporary accommodation to relieve homelessness. In these circumstances the tenant will be offered a license agreement for the temporary accommodation.
To end the use of the temporary accommodation - such as when major works are completed, or permanent housing is allocated - we will serve a notice to end the licence agreement. For existing tenants who moved out of their council home temporarily due to major works, they will be able to return to their Council home, and continue their secure, or introductory tenancy. The main tenancy and rent account will continue during the term of the licence, to avoid any break in their main tenancy.