Council tenancies - your rights and responsibilities

You must give the council at least 28 days' notice in writing if you want to end your tenancy. Your tenancy will end on the first Sunday once the notice period has elapsed. 

With joint tenancies, only one of the joint tenants needs to give written notice to the council in order for the tenancy to be brought to an end. 

Once we receive written notice we will arrange to visit your home before you move out to inspect the property and confirm that everything is in satisfactory condition. We may also wish to show prospective new tenants around your home.  

 You will need to return all the keys for your property to the council by no later than 12 midday on the first Monday immediately after your tenancy has ended.     

• All your possessions should be removed from inside and outside the property 

• All fixtures and fittings should be left in a clean condition and in good working order     

• The council will recharge you for the cost of removing and disposing of any items left at the property, for any cleaning that may be required and if we need to repair or replace any damage not caused through fair, wear and tear     

Death of a tenant

If a council tenant dies the tenancy does not automatically come to an end. 

A sole tenancy will remain open and rent will remain due until the tenancy is officially  terminated by the appropriate Next of Kin. 

A joint tenancy will automatically pass to the other joint tenant when one person dies. 

When a tenant dies there are rules about who the tenancy can pass to. The legal process for this is called ‘succession’. Succession can only happen once with a tenancy.

Moving home

If you need to move to a different council or housing association home you may be able to:

• get a transfer  to Housing ito another property - subject to your priority on the council’s housing register for a move 
• swap homes  with another tenant - this is called a mutual exchange 

Eviction

If you break your tenancy agreement we will usually write to you or visit you and try to sort out the problem. Examples:

• you don’t pay the rent
• you, someone else in your household or one of your guests causes a nuisance to other tenants or harasses them
• you move out your property and rent it to someone else

If the problem still isn’t resolved, we will take legal action to take possession and evict you.