Council tenants

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Your tenancy agreement

This is a legal agreement between you and us, the landlord. It explains your rights and responsibilities, and our responsibilities.

Read it carefully as you could lose your home if you break the conditions.

If you are a new council tenant, you are an 'introductory tenant' for the first year of your tenancy. If you were an introductory tenant in another of our, or housing association, properties before your current tenancy started, the time you spent there should count towards the 12 months.

The most common reasons that tenants are evicted during the first year are:

  • annoying neighbours
  • not paying the rent or paying it late on a regular basis
  • subletting the property to someone else or having lodgers

If you lived there for more than a year, you should be given a secure tenancy straight away.

Securing your tenancy

You will normally become a secure tenant automatically after the first year if you meet your responsibilities and we don't:

  • start action to evict you during the 12-month period
  • decide to extend your introductory tenancy

Secure tenants have more rights, such as being able to:

  • stay for as long as they need
  • make improvements
  • buy the property