Tenancy policy 2024

1. Tenancy Policy

This tenancy policy sets out how Norwich City Council will manage tenancies within our owned housing stock. It covers granting, use of tenancy conditions relevant to introductory and secure tenancies, and any associated support and enforcement tools.

The policy is applicable to tenants of Norwich City Council.

The Government introduced the requirement for all social landlords to publish a tenancy policy within Localism Act 2011.

If you would like this information in another language or format such as large print, CD or Braille please visit www.norwich.gov.uk/Intran or call 0344 980 3333.

2. Tenancies

Local authorities will normally only grant secure tenancies. We operate all tenancies according to statutory criteria. In general, security of tenure legislation does not allow councils to tailor a tenancy to an individual’s needs outside of the statutory criteria.

Introductory tenancy

If you’re not already a secure tenant with us, or another council, we will offer you an introductory tenancy. This tenancy normally lasts 12 months, but we can extend it. After you complete it, if everything has gone well, we will offer you a secure tenancy.

Stick to the rules of your introductory tenancy agreement. Your tenancy is not secure, so you have fewer rights, and can lose your home if you break the agreement. As an introductory tenant, you cannot buy your home under Right to Buy or exchange it with other tenants.

Secure tenancy

A secure tenancy means you have the right to stay in your home for your lifetime if you stick to the rules of your tenancy agreement. You can rent out a room, buy your home through Right to Buy, and exchange your home with other tenants. You can also improve your home, with permission, and transfer your tenancy in some circumstances.

Fixed term tenancies

A fixed term tenancy is a secure tenancy for two years or more. We do not offer fixed term tenancies. Our introductory tenancy leads to a secure tenancy after 12 months, except if we extend the time.

Licence agreement

If we carry out extensive repairs or make improvements to your home, we may need to move you into another property while we do the work. We will provide a licence agreement, which gives consent for you to temporarily live in the property.

You do not have the same protection in a property under a licence agreement as you do in your secure tenancy home. This is because we are using it to house you temporarily. It is important to stick to the rules of your licence agreement, or you could lose the property.

Demoted tenancy

A court may end a secure tenancy and replace it with a demoted tenancy if a tenant is in court for anti-social behaviour. A demoted tenancy can last 12 months or longer. Like the introductory tenancy, it is not secure, and you would have fewer rights. It is an alternative to a suspended possession order.

Joint tenancies

We can grant all tenancies to joint tenants on the basis you are:

both eligible for housing as defined by legislation,
married or civil partners,
living together, and can prove you have done so for at least 12 months, or
in a mutually supportive and established relationship.

We do not normally grant a joint tenancy to a person who can succeed the tenancy, such as a mother and daughter. Agreeing to this would reduce our ability to make the best use of our council homes in the future. When deciding whether to grant joint tenancies, we act consistently and in accordance with this policy.

1.1 When a joint tenant serves the council with a notice to quit:

1.2 Where there is a joint tenancy and a notice to quit is submitted by either tenant, the tenancy will end for all of the tenants after four clear weeks (in other words, at the end of the four-week period starting on the Monday after the council receive the notice). Whilst the council can offer advice about Home Options and rehousing, a decision made about serving a notice to quit on the council is a decision for the tenant alone and if they are uncertain whether to give notice or not then the council recommends, they seek independent legal advice.

1.3 Please note that once a notice to quit has been served it cannot be with- drawn. In the event that the tenant/joint tenants decide they want to remain after serving a notice to quit, it will be a matter for the council’s discretion, in accordance with its allocation policy, whether a new tenancy will be granted.

1.4 What happens to the remaining joint tenant

1.5 The Council has the discretion whether to offer a tenancy in the same property or a new property. The property must be deemed suitable in accordance with our Allocations policy and the Council will consider whether the terms of the tenancy agreement have been observed correctly.

1.6 When the Council permits the remaining tenant to stay in the same property

1.7 If the terms of the tenancy agreement have been kept to and the property is suitable for their housing needs, the council can decide to allocate the property back to the remaining tenant and the remaining tenant will be invited to sign a new tenancy agreement.

1.8 When the Council seeks alternative property for the remaining tenant

1.9 If the tenancy agreement has not been kept to, or the property is too big for their housing needs, then the council will not offer a new sole tenancy to the remaining occupant.

1.10 The council are entitled to a ‘use and occupation’ charge, which is equivalent to the rent, while an alternative is property can be found. The council may defer its right to possession for a limited period to allow the remaining occupant to seek alternative accommodation or to pay any use and occupation charge arrears. This may preclude a direct let from being considered (in accordance with the council’s allocation policy).

1.11 In such circumstances, the remaining occupant will make a Home Options application and place bids on suitable properties. The council will offer advice and support where required through the Home Options scheme.

1.12 If this advice is not followed and a move is not achieved within 3 months, the council will commence possession proceedings to recover possession of the property so that it may be re-let in accordance with the council’s allocation policy.

Length of tenancy

A secure tenancy usually carries on for life. In legal terms, a secure tenancy is a weekly tenancy, if the rent is paid weekly. The week begins first thing on Monday and ends midnight on Sunday. Your tenancy starts on the date on your original tenancy sign-up sheet.

Ending a tenancy

You can end your tenancy by giving us Notice to Quit. If there is no security of tenure, we can end your tenancy by giving you Notice to Quit.

Normally, we will only end your tenancy if you break the agreement or if you die.

A court can end your tenancy, and in exceptional circumstances only, we can agree to you surrendering it.

3. Tenancy breaches

If you breach (break) your tenancy agreement, we will ask you to put things right. In many circumstances we will engage support services to help households remedy breaches.

Remember that you are also responsible for the behaviours of any occupants of your household, including visitors.

If problems persist, we will use a variety of methods to remedy the breaches such as:

Verbal and written warning
Notices
Suspended possessions orders
Injunctions
Closure orders
Demoted tenancy
Court warrant

Note: this is not an exhaustive list.

If the breach continues or you do not engage, we will go to court to seek possession of the property.

4. Rents and service charges

We charge social or affordable rent across our tenancies. Rent levels are based on the value of the property and average earnings in Norfolk. Rents are set in line with the Policy Statement on Rents for Social Housing, the Rent Standard and any other guidance released by the Regulator of Social Housing.

Under government guidelines a 'target rent' is calculated, and rents are adjusted yearly until they reach the ‘target rent’.
During your tenancy, rents are raised in line with the Rents Standard, which is the government criteria for setting social and affordable housing rents. This is usually within 1% of inflation, although for 2023/24 this was capped to 7%. During a financial crisis, Government may cap rents to a certain level. We may decide to set a different rate, but not above the capped level. We give notice of the rent raise before the new financial year, which starts in April.

You may need to pay service charges for some communal items. This can include charges for window cleaning, premises management, landlords’ supply of electricity, grounds maintenance, and caretaking.
Some homes benefit from a communal district heating supply. Such costs are passed on within the weekly service charges, although a new government scheme known as Heat Metering and Billing has introduced direct billing to individual residents in certain heat networks. Individual water rates are passed on and paid weekly, and added separately so you can pay these directly.

Rents for “Passivhaus” properties are set at 5% above ‘formula rent’ in accordance with the Rents Standard. This helps to pay the extra cost of developing energy efficient homes. It also reflects the savings you get from lower energy bills.

Affordable Rent

Government policy allows Registered Providers (RPs) nationally to charge ‘Affordable Rent’ which must not exceed 80% of gross market rent (inclusive of serve charges) where certain conditions apply.

For existing affordable rent tenants, the rent may not be increased by more than CPI + 1% in a year, subject to such weekly rents not increasing by more than 7% in any year for a rent period that begins in the 12 months from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

The council is committed to ensuring that rents are as affordable as possible to its tenants. Therefore, it will set ‘Affordable Rent’ in line with Government guidance and by taking into account the type of property being rented. This means that the council may exercise its discretion when setting 'Affordable Rent’ for certain types of properties.

Conversion of Types of Rent

Once a property is set at Social Rent, the council cannot convert the property to an Affordable Rent property, unless agreement is in place with Homes England or the Secretary of State, as appropriate. However, from time to time, the council may, on review of its Housing Stock and the housing demands of the area, convert properties from Affordable Rent properties to Social Rent properties.

5. Housing exchange

If you’re a secure tenant, you can exchange your home with another council or housing association tenant. This is sometimes called a mutual exchange. To exchange your council home, register on the house exchange website at www.houseexchange.org.uk

When you find a tenant to swap homes with, you must write to us to ask for permission to exchange. We will confirm if the exchange can go ahead within 42 days.

Sometimes, there are conditions that you may need to fulfil before we allow an exchange. Your rent account must be up to date, and if there is any damage or unauthorised alterations to the property, you would need to put this right.
We will inspect your home before any exchange and arrange to test the electricity supply and fittings to make sure they are safe.
There are circumstances where an exchange may not be allowed, for example if:

you, or the other tenant, has a Notice Seeking Possession or a court order against you.
the exchange would mean that one or both homes would be overcrowded or under occupied.
the property has been adapted for special needs or the elderly, and the tenants you want to exchange with do not have those needs.
where certain repairs are the landlord’s responsibility then these may need to be completed before the assignment can take place.

6. Tenancy reviews and visits

Tenancy appraisals

If you are an introductory tenant, you must allow us to visit you at home to do appraisals. You will have up to three visits in the first year of your tenancy. We will assess how well you’re keeping to the rules of your tenancy, how you’re coping and looking after your home, and if you’re paying rent regularly.

If there are problems, we will talk to you about what you can do to put things right. We may also extend your introductory tenancy beyond 12 months.

Settling in visits

If you’re a secure tenant, we will normally come to your home to do a settling in visit four to six weeks after you move in.

General and programmed visits

There will be times when we need visit you at home to inspect your property, verify your tenancy, identify support needs, and carry out repairs or improvements. Some of these visits will be programmed and we will tell you in advance about them.

We are committed to making sure our council homes are safe and in good repair, and you have help and support to manage your tenancy and live well.

During our visit we will:

identify any support needs you may have
signpost and direct you to other services
update records with any changes to a household
arrange repairs that are our responsibility
verify who lives in the property against the tenancy agreement.

You must be present for the visit and allow us into your home. You should be aware that we can gain entry to your home by serving notices and pursuing court action.

In some cases, for convenience, we may choose to conduct digital viewings to allow any of the above to take place. This will include the requirement to see live video call footage of yourself and the property to assess its condition, verify your identity and confirm you are using the property in accordance with the terms of the tenancy agreement.

7. Succession rights

The general rule for succession, which means taking over a property, is you cannot pass your tenancy on to other people.

There are some exceptions to the general rule, and we will allow succession if:

A joint tenant dies during the tenancy, and the tenancy can continue for the remaining tenant.
A sole tenant dies during their tenancy and:
- specified members of their family occupy the home as their main residence
- they have resided (lived) with the tenant for at least 12 months prior to death?
- the tenant was not a joint tenant originally nor somebody to whom a tenancy had been passed on to already.

The tenancy can pass to one of the family members if the tenancy was granted to the deceased tenant before 1 April 2012.

If you no longer need the home, we must re-let it in line with our allocation policy.

Succession rights for tenancies before 1 April 2012

Secure tenancies, and the right of succession, did not exist before 3 October 1980. You can pass a tenancy on to a family member, but only once. Specified family members that can apply for succession, must have lived in the property as their only home for at least 12 months.

Specified family members are:

Aunt
Brother
Child
Civil partner
Cohabitee
Grandchild
Grandparent
Half brother
Half sister
Nephew
Niece
Parent
Sister
Spouse
Uncle

Succession rights for tenancies from 1 April 2012

If your tenancy started on or after 1 April 2012, only your spouse, civil partner or cohabitee have succession rights to the tenancy if you die. They must be living with you at the time of death.

Cohabitee means one of a couple who are living together as if married or a civil partner as set out in the list below:

Civil Partner
Cohabitee
Husband
Spouse
Wife

Under occupying homes by successor

Social housing is in high demand, so we cannot allow tenants to under occupy homes that are suitable for larger households. We know this will be a difficult time, and we will support and help you to apply for Home Options to find a smaller home.

If you are not a spouse or civil partner of the deceased tenant, and the property is bigger than you need, we may serve notice under the Housing Act 1985, Section 83. You would need to move out of the property within 6 months, or possession proceedings would start. We will offer support and help you to apply for Home Options so you can bid on smaller properties.

Occupants with no succession rights

If you do not have the right to take over the tenancy (succession), you will need to leave the property. We would serve a notice to quit to the deceased tenant’s representative, and this normally gives you 4 weeks’ notice to leave. But, if you meet our criteria for council housing, we will help you find another home.

In exceptional circumstances, we will allow you to stay in the property while you apply for Home Options and bid on suitable properties. You will pay a ‘use and occupation’ charge equivalent to the rent. You would need to move home within 3 months, or we start possession proceedings to recover and relet the property.

8. Tenancy support and sustainment

We are committed to helping you to successfully manage your tenancy.

Our Independent Living service provides advice, support, and guidance for more complex and vulnerable households.

Sheltered housing

We provide sheltered housing for people aged 60 and above. You have the usual rights of a secure tenancy, but your home is not eligible for Right to Buy.

The accommodation is designed for independent living for older people, and many have shared communal lounges, laundry rooms, gardens, and courtyards. You will incur additional weekly charges for:

Sheltered support.
Communal upkeep and maintenance
Care Alarm (Telecare) service
District heating and hot water.

We will signpost you to external agencies who can provide additional support, for example, Age UK, Social Services, the Citizens Advice, Financial Inclusion Consortium, and other partners.

Specialist support team

We know that some tenants have multiple and complex needs, and this can increase the likelihood of difficulties with your tenancy. We help around 250 tenants, families, and individuals in this situation every year.

Our principal role is to support you in situations that make you more vulnerable. This helps to increase your ability to manage a healthy tenancy for the long term and reduce the risk of eviction and abandonment.

We aim to build your resilience, wellbeing, and ability to solve issues to bring about lasting change to help retain and manage your tenancy.

Referrals to this team are made by Norwich City Council staff.

Safe and Habitable Homes

We have a grant funded service called Safe and Habitable Homes working with St Martins to support mental health and hoarding casework.

Interact

We have a grant funded service called Interact help people whose wellbeing is suffering as a result of something linked to their housing circumstances. People eligible for the scheme are referred by an organisation or medical professional, via our website Healthy homes referral form www.norwich.gov.uk/healthyhomes The service is a partnership between Norwich City Council, Voluntary Norfolk, One Norwich Practices, Age UK Norwich and Norfolk Citizens Advice Bureau.

Budgeting and money advice service

We have a free and confidential team to help you if you fall into rent arrears and debt. We can help you to manage your weekly income and outgoings, to make sure your priority debts are paid.

Contact our Income Officers on 0344 980 3333, or email budgetingandmoneyadvice@norwich.gov.uk

You can fill in a referral form on our website: Housing, budgeting and money advice.

Home improvements and disabled adaptations

If you are disabled, we can help you and your family to improve your home and garden to make it easier to get around. This may include aids and adaptations such as grab rails, ramps, stair lifts or a walk-in shower. We work closely with you and an occupational therapist to find the most appropriate solutions for you and your home.

You can fill in a referral form on our website: Healthy homes referral form www.norwich.gov.uk/healthyhomes

Care alarm services

We provide an alarm service with 24-hours and year-round monitoring and response for anyone who feels unsafe or at risk in the community.

This independent service can be particularly useful for people who are elderly, disabled, or experiencing domestic abuse, racial harassment, or neighbourhood nuisance. Community Alarm Service

Domestic Abuse

Norwich City Council are committed to supporting survivors of domestic abuse and work in partnership with other organisations such as the Police and Norfolk Integrated Domestic Abuse Service (NIDAS). The council will look to increase survivors’ safety, housing security and hold perpetrators to account for their harm in accordance with our domestic abuse policy

We take anti-social behaviour seriously and recognise that, if allowed to persist, it can have a significant impact on your quality of life. Resolving anti-social behaviour requires a multi-agency approach. We work with statutory and voluntary sector agencies to problem solve and provide solutions.

Prevention is an essential part of our approach to dealing with antisocial behaviour. We will seek to develop support measures which prevent and deter the underlying causes of anti-social behaviour.

We will utilise support-based interventions to help you maintain your tenancy. If this is not successful or the perpetrators do not engage, we will use enforcement measures.

We want you to feel empowered to address anti-social behaviour, and there are tools available you can use:

Further information is available on our website Antisocial behaviour (ASB)
Dear Neighbour Cards - download letter templates on our website
Mediation service – a confidential service to help resolve behaviour problems between tenants.

We take Hate Crime incidents seriously and work closely with the Police and other partners in relation to this criminal behaviour. A hate crime is one that constitutes a criminal offence and further information is available at Hate crimes and incidents

Nuisance

We are committed to developing and maintaining sustainable communities and expect a reasonable level of tolerance between neighbours. Complaints which are not a breach of tenancy like staring, pulling faces, malicious gossip, one-off parties, or social gatherings are not investigated as anti-social behaviour.

Health and safety checks

Occasionally, we will need access to your home to make sure that it is safe and habitable. We will write to you or phone you to tell you why we, or our contractors, need to visit and when. Most visits will be to carry out repairs, maintenance, or safety checks, this includes:

Annual gas safety checks and remedial works
Electrical safety checks and remedial works
Smoke and alarms detector checks
Leaks and water ingress (into parts of the building, or other flats).

If you do not respond to our requests to visit, we will issue a notice to seek entry and apply to the courts to gain access. This costs time and money, and we may have to recharge the costs to you. Alternatively, if it is an emergency then we will make reasonable endeavours to contact you to provide us with access, however we may force entry otherwise.

9. Tenancy fraud

Our tenancy fraud policy defines what we consider housing fraud, what we will do to prevent it, and what actions we will take when we find it. This is part of our corporate anti-fraud policy, which underpins our corporate anti-fraud and corruption strategy.

Commitment

Our policy on tenancy fraud states our commitment to tackling housing fraud. It details the measures we take to prevent fraud, and the actions we take to make sure our homes are only occupied by people who have the legal right to live there.
We use the following measures:

Partnership – we will work in partnership to tackle reports of tenancy fraud with other Council departments and external agencies.
Communication – where appropriate, we will publicise cases of tenancy fraud.
Prevention – we identify opportunities to prevent tenancy fraud.
Enforcement – we take enforcement action to stop tenancy fraud and to make sure social housing is used for its intended purpose.
Performance – we look at ways to continually improve our performance on tackling tenancy fraud.

Prevention

We know the importance of different departments and agencies working together to tackle housing fraud.

We use several key methods when trying to prevent housing fraud, including:

The use of data analytics and credit reference agency checks to prevent fraud.
Working closely with other partners and sharing information appropriately.
Carrying out rigorous checks at registration and allocation stage including photographic ID.
The introduction of photographing new tenants at sign up to eliminate ID abuse and misrepresentation.
Making sure new tenants are fully aware of their responsibilities under the tenancy agreement.
Carrying out appraisals visits for all new introductory tenancies.
Actively investigating all reports and complaints of tenancy fraud to establish the facts and act where appropriate. A fraud reporting form is available on our website.
Publicising national fraud hotlines as part of specific fraud drives.
Investigating refusals to allow us to enter the property, for example, to carry out gas safety checks, essential repairs, or general access visits.
Publicising cases of proven tenancy fraud.
Continually reviewing and implementing best practice.

Principles and standards

We apply a variety of principles and standards when dealing with tenancy fraud problems. But the most important thing is to recover properties to make sure social housing is used for its intended purpose.

We follow these principles and standards:

We will respond promptly to reports of tenancy fraud.
All reports of tenancy fraud will be taken seriously and clearly documented with an accurate record of contacts, investigations and actions taken.
All appropriate investigations will be conducted professionally and to the required level of thoroughness and detail to establish relevant facts and find a solution.
The complainants’ identity is confidential unless they agree to have it disclosed. If this affects the type of action that we are able to take, we will discuss it with the person concerned.
All persons who are the subject of an investigation into suspected housing tenancy fraud will be always treated fairly and courteously.
We will consider publicising cases of proven tenancy fraud.
We will treat each case as being unique and deal with it based on the circumstances of that case. Action taken will be proportionate and appropriate.

Tackling fraud

We investigate all reports or possible fraudulent abuse with our partners, where appropriate, based on our principles and standards.

We have zero tolerance policy towards fraudulent activities.

10. Policy review

The tenancy policy will be reviewed every three to five years. Where there are proposed changes to the policy, we will seek approval from portfolio holder and cabinet as necessary.

As a public body, we are required to have due regard to the public sector equality duty under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. This includes the need to:

Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010
Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not; and
Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

When developing new policies or making material changes to existing policies, we will carry out Equality Impact Assessments (EqIAs) to make sure we meet our public sector equality duty.

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