Occupancy rights support guide

Your tenancy agreement will explain which repairs your landlord is responsible for carrying out and what you should do. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 sets out repairs landlords are responsible for, regardless of what the tenancy agreement says.

You can use the landlord’s complaint process if:

• you disagree with your landlord about who is responsible for a repair
• the landlord does not carry out a repair in your home or is badly done

We consider complaints about the landlord’s handling of repairs. You can find more details in the information sheet on reporting a repair to your landlord.

Reporting a repair support guide

If you are an assured or secure tenant, your tenancy will not expire. You can continue to live in the property if you pay your rent and do not break the rules of the tenancy agreement.

Your landlord can only end your tenancy with a court order. It can only ask a court to end your tenancy if it follows a legal process for tenancy breaches, such as rent arrears or antisocial behaviour. Your landlord will give you a notice in writing explaining why it wants to evict you before taking you to court. You will also have a chance to defend yourself in court.

If you have been given notice to leave your property or your landlord is trying to make you leave without a court order, you should seek independent advice from Citizens Advice or speak to your local council for housing advice.

We cannot investigate a complaint about your landlord’s decision to issue an order asking you to leave the property. This is for a court to decide.

Other organisations that may be able to help

Leaving your property does not automatically end your tenancy. If you want to end the tenancy, you must tell your landlord. Your tenancy agreement will tell you how to do this, and how much notice you need to give.

If you are having a problem in your home, you should speak to the landlord before you decide to leave. In some cases, they may be able to put things right or move you to another property.

Passing a tenancy to another person at the death of a tenant is called ‘succession’. Joint tenants automatically become sole tenants when the other joint tenant dies.

In some circumstances, the tenancy is passed on to a spouse, civil partner, or cohabitee partner who was not a tenant themselves, if the property was also their home at the time of the tenant’s death. This can also be subject to other conditions.

There are rules about which relatives can inherit the tenancy. This depends on the type of tenancy. You should speak to your landlord or an advisory service for more information.

We can consider complaints about how a landlord has managed a succession request.

In most cases, secure tenants can rent a room in their home to a lodger. However, it is a criminal offence to rent out the whole of your home to someone else. You can lose your status as a secure tenant if you move out of the property or lose your tenancy all together. The council can also evict anyone living there if no one in occupation is a tenant.

Assured tenants can usually rent a room in their home to a lodger. However, your tenancy agreement will tell you if there are any conditions around this, including whether you can sublet your home.

You will need the landlord’s permission before you can do so.

When a tenancy is transferred to another person through an ‘assignment’, all the rights and obligations of the old tenant pass on to the new tenant. Your right to assign a tenancy, and who you can assign it to, depends on the type of tenancy you have. Your tenancy agreement may also require the landlord’s permission before you can assign your tenancy.