TENANCY AGREEMENT 2. TENANTS RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

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Please Note:
This Agreement does not provide an authoritative interpretation of the law, only Courts can do that. If you are in doubt about your legal rights or obligations GHA would advise you to seek clarification from GHA office, NIHE, The Housing Rights Service, The Citizens Advice Bureau or consult with a Solicitor. Help with all or part of the legal costs may qualify for Legal Aid.
In the Housing (NI) Order 1992, the Government introduced new legal rights for tenants of Housing Associations.

The Main Rights Are:

• Security of Tenure, subject to GHA being able to regain possession on certain grounds.
• The right of a widow, widower or a resident member of the family to succeed to the tenancy on the tenant’s death.
• The right to take in lodgers.
• The right to sub-let your home with the consent of GHA.
• The right to assign your home in certain limited circumstances.
• The right to improve your home with the consent of GHA.
• The right to information about your legal rights, the terms of your tenancy agreement and the arrangements for varying it.
• The right to information about allocations, transfer and exchange rules.
• The right to be consulted about matters affecting your tenancy.
  Your rights are outlined in this section, but if you want to know in more detail, you should contact the GHA office.

Who has these Legal Rights?
All ‘secure’ tenants.

Who is a Secure Tenant?
All tenants (or licensees) of GHA, except for those listed at the end of this section in list A, are secure tenants -–provided their house or flat can be broadly described as a separate dwelling and so long as they occupy it as their only or principle home. (If the house or flat ceases to be your only or principle home you will stop being a secure tenant).

What is Security of Tenure?
The GHA tenancy agreement gives you security of tenure but you may also have security of tenure under the relevant statutory provisions. Security of tenure means protection against eviction by GHA who can only gain possession if there is a court order (accept in the case of an abandoned property). To get such an order, GHA has to satisfy the Court that there is good reason for making you move i.e. by showing that one or more ‘grounds for possession’ summarised at the end of this section applies.
The reason may have something to do with your conduct as a tenant, such as failure to pay the rent when due, or GHA may have good management reasons for making alternative use of the property. If your conduct is the reason, the Court must be satisfied that it is reasonable for you to leave your home. If good management is the reason, the Court must be satisfied that suitable alternative accommodation will be available to you when you leave your home. Under some of these management grounds the Court must also be satisfied that it is reasonable to make a possession order. List B at the end of this section makes it clear which tests apply to each ground.

Who decides whether the Alternative Accommodation is Suitable?
The Court decides and it must be satisfied that the alternative accommodation will be reasonably suitable for the needs of you and your family. This is done by taking account of such factors as the type of dwellings let to other people with similar needs, the distance of the accommodation form your work or your children’ schools and an essential need to be near a close relative. You will be given an opportunity to put forward your views.

Supposing GHA ask you to move and you don’t want to?
GHA Will have to serve you with a ‘Notice Seeking Possession’ (NSP). This will state the grounds on which possession is being sought and the reasons for doing so. Court proceedings cannot begin until at least one month after the notice is served. You will have the opportunity to prepare and present your side of the case to the Court when the application for an order is heard. Legal Aid may be available to you to defend the case.

What happens to your Tenancy when you die?
Under Law, if you are a secure tenant, your tenancy will pass to your wife or husband on your death, where they have been living with you. Alternatively, certain close relatives who have been living with you for at least 6 months and the property is their principal home may also be given the tenancy. If the property is not suitable we may offer alternative accommodation. While only one succession is required under the 1992 Housing Order, GHA may allow certain circumstances a further succession by members of your family.

Can you take in Lodgers or Sublet your home?
You have the right to take in lodgers without any need to get the agreement of GHA. You also have the right to sublet part of your home provided you obtain GHA written consent. (You have no right under the Order to sublet the whole of your home. If you do, you will lose your security of tenure).
GHA cannot refuse consent to sublet without good reason and conditions cannot be attached to the consent. If GHA does refuse consent, you must be given reasons in writing. If you are refused consent to sublet and you consider this unreasonable, you have the right to challenge the decision in Court. GHA will have to prove its case, not you. The Court will look at all the circumstances in deciding whether refusal was reasonable, paying attention to the possibility that subletting could lead to overcrowding and to any plans GHA may have to make changes to your home which would affect the accommodation you want to sublet.
If you are not sure whether the arrangements you are thinking of making would amount to subletting rather than just taking in a lodger, you should consult GHA or, if necessary, take legal advice.

What about Improvements?
You have the right to carry out improvements including decorating the outside of your home, providing you obtain GHA written consent. GHA is allowed to impose reasonable conditions. It cannot refuse consent without good reason and must give you the reasons in writing. If you consider either the refusal or the conditions are unreasonable, you have the right to challenge them in Court. Again, the Court will look at all the circumstances of the case, paying attention to the effect the improvement would have on the safety of your home and of adjoining property, or on its value, and whether the improvement could create future letting problems for GHA or nuisance or annoyance to neighbours.

Do Improvements affect your Rent?
Not if you have paid for them yourself. Nor can the rent payable by a person qualified to succeed to your tenancy be increased on account of your improvements if that person stays on in your home after your death. This does not apply to any increase attributable to rates. Furthermore, you would still be subject to normal rent increases.

What does GHA have to Consult Tenants about?
GHA has to consult tenants about matters of Housing Management which substantially affect its tenants or category of tenants, or the tenants in a particular scheme. GHA will determine the best way to consult its tenants which may vary according to the issue and whom the issue relates.
GHA is a community based housing association and its entire ethos is based around the ‘Community’ principles.

What happens if your Tenancy Conditions are to be changed?
You will receive a preliminary notice of the intended variation and details of the proposed changes. You will also have the opportunity to comment before the changes are implemented.

What happens if you leave your home for a Reasonable Period?
Provided the period in question is considered reasonable by GHA and you intend to re-occupy the property and maintain your rent payments and any other charges, your absence should not effect your security of tenure. It is advisable to notify GHA if you intend to leave the property vacant for an extended period.
Where a GHA property is left unoccupied and GHA believes that the tenant does not intend to re-occupy it, it may serve a notice asking the tenant to clarify his/her intentions.
If GHA considers it appropriate, it may then issue a further notice terminating the tenancy. A tenant who is aggrieved by this action may appeal to the Court within 6 months after the date of termination.

What should you do if you no longer wish to a GHA Tenant?
You are obliged to give GHA 4 weeks written notice of your tenancy termination. The notice should be forwarded to the GHA office.

LIST A:
The following lettings are not secure tenancies and the rights described in this agreement do not therefore, apply to them:
1. Dwellings let on a long lease or created by an equity sharing lease.
2. Dwellings on land which has been bought for redevelopment and which is only being used as temporary accommodation until the redevelopment takes place.
3. Dwellings let to employees of GHA and where the contract of service requires the dwelling to be occupied for the better performance of their duties.
4. Dwellings let expressly on a temporary basis to persons moving into an area to take up employment there.
5. Dwellings which GHA had leased from someone else and which are to be given up empty when the owner wants them.
6. Dwellings which are illegally occupied, whether or not the squatters are being charged for the use and occupation of the properties.
7. Temporary lettings to people who are not secure tenants in their pervious home which is being improved or repaired.
8. Dwellings which comprise licensed premises or are let as business tenancies.

LIST B:
GHA can regain possession of a secure tenants home, provided the Court finds it reasonable, on the following grounds:
1. Failing to pay rent or breaking some other condition of tenancy.
2. Behaving in a manner which is a nuisance or annoyance to neighbours, or being convicted of using the premises for immoral or illegal purposes.
3. Damaging a dwelling, or common parts used by other tenants.
4. Getting a tenancy by false statements.
5. Where the tenancy has been assigned to a tenant or predecessor and premium paid.
6. Refusing to leave a dwelling which has been let temporarily while building work has been done on the original home, on the understanding that the tenant would return home when the work was finished.
GHA can also regain possession of a secure tenant’s home, providing the Court is satisfied that suitable alternative accommodation will be available, on the following grounds:
7. GHA want, within a reasonable time, to demolish a dwelling or do works on it or on land connected with it and cannot do so while the tenant is still in occupation.
GHA can regain possession of a secure tenant’s home, provided the Court finds it reasonable to make the order and is satisfied that suitable alternative accommodation will be available, on the following grounds:
8. The tenant is occupying a dwelling which has been specially altered to make it suitable for a person with special housing needs, but there is no longer such a person living there and GHA require the dwelling for such a person.
9. The tenant is occupying a dwelling in a group of dwellings let to people with special needs near some special facility (eg. An old people’s club) and there is no longer a person with those needs in the dwelling and GHA require the dwelling for someone with those needs.
10. The tenant has succeeded to a tenancy and the dwelling is larger than he/she reasonably needs. (This can only be used between 6 and 12 months from the previous tenant’s death. It cannot be used against the widow or widower of the previous tenant). In determining whether or not it is reasonable to make an order for possession, in a case of succession, the Court will take the age of the tenant, the period during which the tenant occupied the dwelling as his/her only or principal home and any financial or other support given by the tenant to the previous tenant, into account.

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