Tenancy Agreement Address of Property: Postcode: Tenancy Commencement Date: Tenancy Type: Tenant 1 (Name): Tenant 2 (Name): Persons Normally Resident in the premises Name Sex D of B Relationship to tenant Recommended No of occupants: Property Rent: Additional charges: 1: (Heating Charge) 2: (IHM) 3: (Service Charge) Total: Please read this agreement carefully before accepting the tenancy. When the agreement has been signed, the conditions become binding on you as tenant(s) and us (the Council) as landlord. You may lose your home if you do not keep to the conditions. You are entering into a legal contract with us. If you do not understand anything in the agreement, you should contact a member of staff at any local Council office or get advice from a solicitor or the Citizens Advice Shropshire. The words in italics have been put into the agreement to explain things and give you more information. Signed (Tenant 1)...Signed (Tenant 2)... Date. Signed on Behalf of Shropshire Town & Rural Housing (Name)... Date... Job Title
Shropshire Council Tenancy Agreement Terms and conditions Contents of the Tenancy Agreement Title Section Introduction 1 Paying your rent 2 If you wish to end your tenancy 3 Your obligations 4 Your rights 5 Our obligations 6 Definitions 7 Written notices 8 1. Introduction 1.1 If you are a new council tenant, you are an introductory tenant for the first year of your tenancy. After that you become a secure tenant unless we have gained possession of your home or we are trying to do so. However we will only start proceedings to end your introductory tenancy if you break the tenancy conditions set out in sections 2 to 6 below. 1.2 You will find more details about introductory and secure tenancies in the leaflet Your Tenancy Agreement Explained 1.3 You have an introductory tenancy with us which we have given you under the Housing Act 1996. It will last for one year. After this date it will automatically become a secure tenancy, unless we have started possession proceedings against you. In certain circumstances the length of the introductory tenancy can be extended by 6 months. 1.4 We have set out below the rights and obligations of you and us under the agreement. If there are joint tenants, each tenant is responsible for meeting all the conditions of the agreement. 1.5 The property has been inspected before it was let to you and unless we have told you otherwise we have done all necessary repairs to our fixtures and fittings. The property is let free of furniture and possessions unless we tell you there are items included as part of the tenancy. If you move out of the property, you must leave it free of your furniture and possessions. You must ensure that the condition of the property and our fixtures and fittings are the same when you move out as at the start of the tenancy, except for fair wear and tear. 1.6 The tenancy includes the use of the common areas for all proper purposes in connection with the use and enjoyment of the property. 1.7 Most of the tenancy conditions set out in sections 2 to 6 below are the same for introductory and secure tenancies. However, some conditions only apply to introductory or to secure tenancies. We have told you in the agreement where conditions only apply to introductory or secure tenants.
2 Paying your rent 2.1 You must pay your rent and all other charges for the property on time. We will tell you about any other charges that apply. The rent is payable on a Monday each week in advance. If you wish to pay your rent for longer periods than a week you must agree this with us first. 2.2 The rent year may be 52 or 53 weeks. This will be depend on how many Mondays there are in any one year. Rent is payable every week but we will tell you at the beginning of each year about weeks where rent is not charged. 2.3 We may vary the rent, but before doing so we will give you at least four weeks written notice of any increase or decrease in the amount payable. A variation in rent will normally occur every year at the start of each financial year, which normally starts in April. We will tell you in writing about the details of the variation and give you an opportunity to end the tenancy before the variation takes place. 3. If you wish to end your tenancy 3.1 If you wish to give up your tenancy you must give us at least four weeks written notice, ending on a Monday. All keys to the property must be handed in before 12 noon on the day the tenancy ends (called the termination date). The property must be left in a clean condition, free of your furniture and possessions. You must leave all our fixtures and fittings intact and in the condition they were in at the start of the tenancy, except for fair wear and tear. 3.2 We reserve the right to recover any reasonable costs we incur in replacing, repairing or reinstating any missing or damaged items and alterations which either do not comply with relevant regulations or codes of practice or for which we did not give our written consent under clause 5, Your rights, at clause 5.6 3.3 You must remove your furniture, furnishings, clothing and rubbish on or before the day your tenancy ends. If you do not we may assume you have abandoned these items and may dispose of them without further reference to you. We may charge you all reasonable costs for removal, storage or disposal. 4. Your obligations We expect our tenants to act in a reasonable manner at all times and to have due regard for the property, the surroundings and neighbours. Your responsibilities apply to you, members of your household and any other person living in or visiting your home including children. 4.1 Occupying and using the property - You must occupy the property as your only or main home. We will take steps to recover possession of any property where it is clear that the tenant is not living in the property. You must only use the property as a private dwelling house with the exception of any consent given under clause 5, Your rights. You must tell your local housing office if you know that you will be away from the property for more than four consecutive weeks. This includes time in hospital. We will then know that you have not abandoned the property. If your job means that you are often away from the property for long periods of time you should discuss this with your local housing office. 4.2 Conduct of tenancy and antisocial behaviour - You and any joint tenants are responsible for the behaviour of your children and people living in or visiting your home. We may take legal action that could lead to you losing your home if you behave antisocially. This includes damaging property or behaviour that is likely to injure, intimidate, or cause alarm or distress to other people. You or any person living in or visiting your home must not:
(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) do anything that causes or is likely to cause a nuisance or annoyance to a neighbour or a person living, working in or visiting the local area this includes people living in the locality of your home, street or estate regardless of whether they are Council or private tenants or owner occupiers; do anything that interferes with the peace, comfort, or quiet enjoyment of other people living in the locality; harass or threaten to harass or use or threaten to use violence or intimidate a person in the local area because of their race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, age, sexuality, religion, gender, illness or disability; use the property for any criminal, immoral or illegal purpose, which includes selling or dealing in any illegal or controlled drugs or storing or handling stolen goods; harass or threaten to harass or intimidate or use or threaten violence verbally or physically towards our employees, councillors, anyone contracted to do work for the Council or tenant representatives; use or threaten to use violence towards any person living in the property. 4.3 Running a business - You must not run a business from your home without our written consent. We will not refuse consent unreasonably or unless we feel the business is likely to cause a nuisance or annoyance to your neighbours or damage the property. If we give consent and the business causes a nuisance, we will withdraw our consent giving you 28 days notice. Some examples of the businesses we will not allow include car repair and maintenance, printing, shops, businesses that involve the use of hydraulic equipment, industrial machines or controlled substances or chemicals. You may also need planning permission for some businesses. 4.4 Condition of the property - At all times you must keep the inside and outside of your home including internal decoration, gardens, trees, hedges, garage, sheds and any outbuildings in reasonable condition. This does not include items that we are responsible for. If you do not maintain the inside and outside of your home in a reasonable condition, the Council may require you to make good the condition of the property or the Council may carry out the work required and recharge the costs of the work. You must take reasonable steps to avoid moisture (condensation) building up within the property and causing damage. If alterations are made to the property without permission or are not carried out to a reasonable standard, the Council may require you to make good the condition of the property or the Council will carry out the work required and recharge the costs of the work. If neither you nor any other member of your household is able to maintain and cultivate your garden in accordance with paragraph 4.4 above and you are in the Assisted Garden Scheme we will carry out the necessary work on your behalf. If we do so, your rent is increased to cover our charges. Rent is defined in paragraph 2 4.5 Common parts - If you occupy premises that have common areas associated with them (this often occurs in flats or maisonettes), you must act at all times in a reasonable manner with regard to their use. You must not litter, dirty, obstruct or allow any pets you have to foul common areas and you must not place hazardous items in common areas. You must not store any appliances, equipment or other items in common areas. You must not store vehicles in common areas, except in specially marked parking areas. 4.6 Breakdown of a relationship - You must not use violence, threats or intimidation towards any partner in order to try to remove them from the tenancy or cause them to leave it. 4.7 Access to property - You must allow Council employees and persons acting on the Council s instructions reasonable access to your home to inspect the condition of your home (this includes permitting inspections of the gas and electrical supply, gas
appliances, solid fuel and other forms of heating systems) or to deal with pest or vermin infestation or carry out repairs or improvements to the property or an adjoining property. We will give you at least 24 hours written notice if we need such access, except in emergencies when we may not be able to give you advance warning. You should always check a person s identity before allowing access to your home. 4.8 Insurance - We are responsible for insuring the items listed in Our obligations, section 6.3. You are responsible for insuring your home and contents against deliberate, malicious, criminal or accidental damage. We will not accept any responsibility for costs incurred as a result of damage caused by you, people living in your home or people visiting your home. You are strongly advised to take out comprehensive contents and tenants liability insurance for your home. We operate a tenants insurance scheme, please ask for details. 4.9 Repairs - You must promptly inform the Council of any defects to the property that are the Council s responsibility as soon as you become aware of them. You must keep the property in a tenant-like manner. This means carrying out minor acts and repairs necessary to keep the property in a reasonable condition. You are responsible for the cost of repairs that are the result of neglect or misuse, or deliberate, malicious, criminal or accidental damage by you, people living in your home or people visiting your home. You are expected to do minor repairs yourself. These include, but are not limited to, minor plastering cracks, getting extra keys made, loose screws on door, gate or window furniture, providing bolts or locks to outbuildings or garden gates, providing hat or coat hooks or rails, providing plugs for electrical appliances, and checking and changing the batteries in smoke alarms we have provided. We reserve the right to do any repair that is your responsibility if it is not done within a reasonable time and recover our reasonable costs from you. We will tell you about this and give you an opportunity to get the repair done yourself first. If you are unable to carry out these repairs due to health issues we will signpost you to charitable organisations who may be able to help. 4.10 Harmful or other dangerous materials - You must not keep in or around the property any dangerous, offensive, harmful or inflammable materials except those that can reasonably be put to domestic use. You must not erect any barbed wire, broken glass or other material that may cause injury on the property. 4.11 Refuse disposal - You must ensure that all refuse is contained in a bin and placed outside your home on the collection day. If you are unable to move the bin due to health issues you should notify the refuse collection department to make alternative arrangements. You must also ensure that you arrange promptly for bulky household items to be disposed of if they are unwanted. 4.12 Lodgers, sub-letting and transfers/assignments - You can take in lodgers or have members of your family living with you, as long as this does not cause overcrowding. If you take in a lodger, you are responsible for their and their visitor s behaviour, including any noise nuisance or damage they may cause. You can sub-let part of your home, as long as you get our written agreement first. You are not allowed to sublet the whole of your home. If you do sublet part of your home, you are responsible for the behaviour of your subtenant and their visitors, including any noise nuisance or damage they may cause. 4.12(a)Introductory tenants only - You can only transfer your tenancy to someone else in the following circumstances: By a court order under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, the Matrimonial & Family Proceedings Act 1984, the Children Act 1989, the Family Law Act 1996 or the Civil Partnership Act 2004. To a potential successor, in other words someone who would be qualified to take over your tenancy, with our written permission, if you died immediately before the transfer took place.
4.12(b)Secure tenants only - You are only allowed to transfer your tenancy to someone else in the following circumstances: By exchanging tenancies, with our written permission, in accordance with certain conditions which we can inform you of upon request. By a court order under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, the Matrimonial & Family Proceedings Act 1984, the Children Act 1989, the Family Law Act 1996 or the Civil Partnership Act 2004. To a potential successor, in other words someone who would be qualified to take over your tenancy, with our written permission, if you died immediately before the transfer took place. 4.13 Buying your home - If you become our secure tenant your time as an introductory tenant will count toward the qualifying period and eligibility for discount for the Right to Buy. 4.14 Parking motor vehicles - You must not park a bus, heavy goods vehicle or other such vehicles on the property under any circumstances. You may only park a motor car within the boundaries of the property if a garage, car hardstanding and properly constructed pavement-and-kerb crossing for a car has been provided. To park other vehicles such as boats, trailers or caravans on the property, you must first get our written consent. 5 Your rights 5.1 Right to remain in your home - We cannot evict you without first obtaining a possession order from the court. See further clause 6 below. 5.2 Right to succession - When you die your tenancy will pass to your husband, wife or civil partner (or someone who was living with you as your husband, wife or civil partner) if they lived in the property at the time of your death. This is called succession. If there is more than one person who is qualified to succeed to the property at the time of your death, and they can not agree who should be the successor, we will decide which one of them is to be treated as the successor. There can only be 1 succession to each tenancy. A second or further succession is not permitted. 5.3 Right to information - You have the right: to see our policies on managing our Council housing; to see certain personal information held for the purposes of your tenancy or housing application (we can inform you of which information upon request). We may charge you for copies of these details. 5.4 Right to be consulted - We will consult you over any substantial changes in housing management and consider your views before putting the change into effect. We will consult tenants individually or through constituted and recognised Tenants and Residents Associations. 5.5 Changes to the agreement - Before changing this agreement we will tell you about any proposed changes and consider your views before putting the changes into effect. We will give you at least four weeks notice and any information necessary to inform you of the nature and effect of the changes. We will tell you in writing about the details of the proposed changes and give you an opportunity to end the tenancy before the changes take place. 5.6 Right to make improvements to your home - You may carry out alterations or improvements to your home but you must first get our written consent. This includes erecting aerials, satellite dishes, CCTV cameras, outbuildings, sheds, pigeon lofts, greenhouses, fencing etc, as well as any other internal or external alterations you may wish to carry out. You must not apply a textured paint coating to the walls and ceilings or fix polystyrene tiles to ceilings.
5.7 Right to compensation for improvements - You have the right to claim compensation from us for improvements you have made to your home, with our consent, at the end of your tenancy, which is usually when you move out. You can only apply for compensation for certain improvements. Please contact your local Council office for more information. 5.8 Right to repair - In certain circumstances you have the right to ask us to get a second contractor to carry out some repairs that are our responsibility if they have not been completed within a prescribed time. Your local Council office can give you more details. 5.9 Keeping pets or livestock - You may keep domestic pets, such as dogs, cats, caged birds or small fish in your home if they are able to be well cared for and kept under proper control. If any animal you keep in the property causes nuisance or annoyance to anyone in the local area, including our employees, we may ask you to remove it or find an alternative home. You must get our permission before keeping any livestock (including chickens) at the property. 6 Our obligations 6.1 Possession of the property - Generally, unless there is another statutory reason, we will not interfere with your rights to the possession of the property unless you break a condition of the agreement. Unless it is a serious breach we will give you an opportunity to explain your actions and state any mitigating circumstances, and also to put right any breach of tenancy conditions where possible before we start possession proceedings. If the breach of conditions is serious or is not put right, we may take action to obtain possession of your home. 6.1(a) Introductory tenants only - If you break your tenancy conditions, we may serve a Notice of Proceedings for Possession on you. The notice will say that the court will be asked to make an order for possession and give the reasons why the action is being taken. It will also tell you the date after which possession proceedings will start. This will be at least four weeks after the notice is served. You have the right to ask us to review our decision to seek possession of your home but you must do so within 14 days of the date the notice is served on you. You should explain fully why you want to remain in your home and any circumstances you wish us to take into account. Any review will be decided by either an officer more senior to the person who made the original decision or by a panel of members. Please contact us if you need any further information. 6.1(b) Secure tenants only - We can only ask the court to grant a possession order for one or more of the reasons set out in the Housing Act 1985, Schedule 2. If one or more of these reasons does exist, we may serve a Notice of Seeking Possession on you. This notice will say that the court will be asked to make an order for possession and give the reasons why this action is being taken. It will also tell you the date that possession proceedings will start. Please contact us if you need any further information. 6.2 Giving our consent - Where the agreement says that you need to get our consent to do something, we will not unreasonably withhold it. (However, in the case of clause 4.3, we may withhold consent if we believe nuisance, annoyance or damage will occur.) We may give our consent subject to conditions; if you do not keep to these conditions, we will withdraw our consent as if it had never been given. We will give you a written explanation if we do not give consent. To ask for our written consent please write to your local Council office. Even if we give you our written consent you may still need to meet building regulations and get planning permission. We may withdraw our consent if you cause a nuisance. 6.3 Carrying out repairs - We undertake to keep in good repair and proper working order: (a) our installations for supplying water, gas, electricity and sanitation including basins, sinks, baths and sanitary conveniences;
(b) the installations for space and water heating; We also undertake to keep in good repair the structure and exterior of the property including drains, gutters and external pipes. The exceptions to this are repairs that arise as a result of deliberate, malicious, criminal or accidental damage caused by you, people living in your home or people visiting your home. We will do those repairs that are our responsibility within a reasonable period of time and will inform you of the timescale for completion of your repair. Repairs are grouped according to their urgency and any special circumstances of the individual tenant. We will operate an emergency repairs service outside office hours. Details of this will be given to you separately. Transfers - We will operate a transfer scheme to help you move to a different property if you need to move. Action you can take if we fail to keep to our obligations - If we do not meet our obligations under the agreement, you can: (a) (d) (e) (f) (g) contact your Council office to discuss any problem with Landlord Services staff; use our complaints procedure; contact your local councillor; write to the Local Government Ombudsman; take us to court, but first you should get advice from a solicitor or the Citizens Advice Bureau. You can get details of any of the above from your local Council office. 7. Definitions In this agreement: 7.1 Anti social behaviour means behaviour that is likely to intimidate or cause distress, alarm, nuisance and annoyance to other people, or causing damage to the property. It includes using or threatening to use violence, dealing drugs, harassment including any hate related incidents, criminal activity, playing loud music, banging and slamming doors, dumping rubbish, not keeping your pets under control, damaging property, graffiti, drug and alcohol abuse. 7.2 Council, we, us, our means Shropshire Council as landlord. 7.3 You, your, tenant means you as the tenant of the landlord and in the case of joint tenants, any one or all of the joint tenants. 7.4 Common parts means any part of the building which all tenants share or can use, for example, paths, gates, halls, stairways, entrances, landings, shared gardens, lawns and landscaped areas. 7.5 Exchange means to swap tenancies with another person. 7.6 Home means the property let to you. 7.7 Improvement means any addition or alteration to the property. 7.8 Landlord s fixtures and fittings mean all appliances in the property including installations for supplying or using gas, electric and water. 7.9 Lodger means a person who pays you money to let them live in the property. 7.10 Neighbours include everyone living in the local area, including people who own their own homes and other tenants.
7.11 Partner means a husband, wife, civil partner or someone who lives with you as husband, wife or civil partner. 7.12 Property means the dwelling, together with any yard, garden, outhouses etc. 7.13 Relatives are parents, children, grandchildren, grandparents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, step relatives and adopted children. 7.14 Sublet means giving another person the right to live in part of the property. 7.15 Termination date means the day on which your tenancy ends. 7.16 Written consent means a letter from the Council giving you permission to do certain things. 8. Written notices We will deliver all letters and notices to you either by hand or by post at the property. It will be deemed that you have received all letters and notices the second working day after posting if sent first class or the third such day if second class or the same day if we delivered them by hand.