Your Tenancy

Your rights and responsibilites: Tenants Handbook (PDF)

We have several different types of tenancy agreements. These include:

Starter tenancy:

A starter tenancy is an assured shorthold tenancy which covers the first 12 months of your tenancy. As long as you take good care of your home and do not cause a nuisance to your neighbours, this tenancy will be changed to an assured tenancy at the end of the first 12 months.

Our research shows that antisocial behaviour is most common in new tenancies. Starter tenancies allow us to deal quickly with antisocial behaviour as they carry fewer rights than an assured tenancy and a simpler legal process if we need to end the tenancy.

Assured tenancy:

Assured tenancies have all the same rights as starter tenancies plus the right to:

purchase your home under the Right to Acquire scheme
exchange your home with another social housing tenant
transfer your home to another CHP property
pass your home on to a member of your family (if you die).

You do not have these rights with starter tenancies.

Protected assured:

A protected tenancy is the same as an assured tenancy, except that a protected tenancy is only available to tenants who were already living in a council house when ownership was transferred from the council to CHP in March 2002. The Right to Buy and rent increase levels are protected with a protected tenancy. If you were living in a council house at the time of stock transfer, rent will be guaranteed at inflation +1.5% for the first five years. The Right to Buy scheme means you will receive a percentage off the market value of your home based on the length of time you have been living there. (This is different from the Right to Acquire scheme, where you get a lump sum based on the market value.)

Assured shorthold tenancy:

Assured shorthold tenancies are the same as starter tenancies except that they last for only six months.

Whatever tenancy you are on, you will be given a copy of the tenancy agreement.

Joint tenancies:

We normally offer a joint tenancy when letting a home to two adults (over 18). Joint tenants are jointly and individually responsible under the tenancy agreement and you have equal rights and obligations. Either tenant can be held responsible if the tenancy agreement is breached.

What if your relationship is breaking down?

We are aware that a breakdown of a marriage or other close personal relationships can lead to a number of housing problems. That's why we try to do everything we can for anyone going through a relationship breakdown.

We may be able to help with:

finding a new home
accommodating children (usually with the parent they normally live with)
legal advice.

We will take individual circumstances into account. However, every household has an ongoing responsibility to pay their rent.