Tenancy policy

13.1 Succession

The Localism Act 2011 has changed the criteria for successions of tenancy. From 1 July 2013 all new council tenants may only have one succession and this can only be to a spouse or partner. There will be no rights of succession to other family members. Secure tenancies which began before 1 July 2013 will keep their existing rights to succession.

13.2 Demoted tenancies

What is a demoted tenancy?

Where a secure tenant does not keep to the terms of their Tenancy Agreement because they are engaging in anti-social behaviour, we may apply to the court for the tenancy to be 5 demoted. If the court makes a Demotion Order the tenant is allowed to remain in their home, but they lose security of tenure, for a period specified by the courts. The Demotion Order will set out how the tenant will be expected to behave during the term of the demoted tenancy. Applying for a Demotion Order is only one of many types of court action we can take when a tenant does not keep to the terms of their Tenancy Agreement.

What happens at the end of a demoted tenancy?

If the tenant keeps to the terms of the Demotion Order, at the end of the demotion period the tenancy will either be:

• Restored to a secure tenancy - where the tenant was a secure tenant before the tenancy was demoted or
• Restored to a flexible tenancy - where the tenant had a flexible tenancy before the tenancy was demoted

How the demotion period counts towards the five-year term of a flexible tenancy:

When a flexible tenancy is re-instated following the successful completion of the demotion period we will include the demotion period in the overall length of the flexible tenancy. An example of how this works is shown below:

Length of flexible tenancy = 5 years

Age of flexible tenancy when tenancy is demoted = 2 years

Length of demoted tenancy (successfully completed) = 1 year

Time remaining of flexible tenancy after demotion = 2 years

We will explain this process before, during and at the end of the demotion period and provide written confirmation of this at the beginning and the end of the demotion period.

What happens if the tenant does not keep to the terms of the Demotion Order?

Where the tenant does not keep to the terms of the Demotion Order we will apply to the courts to end the tenancy and evict the tenant.