Succession and tenancies created before 1 April 2012
Secure or flexible tenancies granted before 1 April 2012 can pass on automatically to a tenant’s husband, wife or civil partner if they were living with the tenant at the time of their death.
If there's no spouse or civil partner, the tenancy can pass on to a family member, including partner, if they have been living at the property with the tenant continuously for the 12 months before their death.
Where more than one family member can succeed a tenancy, they will need to reach an agreement between themselves as to who inherits the tenancy. If a decision can't be reached, then we will select a successor to the tenancy as only one person may claim the right to succession.
Who qualifies as a family member
Family members are defined as:
- parents
- grandparents
- children (including adoptive children)
- grandchildren
- brothers and sisters
- uncles and aunts
- nieces and nephews
- step relations
- half relations.
What happens if someone doesn't have the right to succeed a tenancy
Where the death of a sole tenant leaves someone in the property without an automatic right to succeed the tenancy, we will consider granting a discretionary tenancy for the property or somewhere else if the current property would be under-occupied or has been adapted and doesn't meet their need.
This could include cases where the person is:
- a non-qualifying family member and has been living with the tenant for at least 12 months before their death
- a close family member of the deceased tenant who had previously been a successor at the property
- someone who has cared for the deceased tenant while living in the property
- someone who has accepted responsibility for the deceased tenant's dependent children.
Under-occupation and adapted properties
Only wives, husbands or civil partners have the legal right to remain in the property even if it is too big for them.
If the person who succeeds the tenancy is anyone else, we will normally ask the person to move to a smaller property if the current property is larger than they need.
This is because of the housing shortage in the borough and our need to alleviate overcrowding.