Housing Solicitors

It is sometimes possible, if you are a secure council tenant, to transfer your tenancy to another member of your family or to a partner. It will be stated in your tenancy agreement whether or not you have the right to transfer the tenancy to someone else. You can choose to transfer it whilst you are still alive (assignment) or after your death (succession), and there are various rules governing the process.

If you do not go through the correct procedure, the council may decide that the person who takes over your tenancy is unauthorised to do so and act to evict them. You may also be able to transfer the tenancy if you have a demoted or introductory tenancy agreement, or you might be able to swap tenancies with a tenant of another housing association. Whatever your particular case, it is wise to talk to Duncan Lewis or other family and childcare solicitors before proceeding.

If you are living with a partner, you may be able to transfer your tenancy into his or her name, whether husband, wife or registered civil partner. You may also be able to transfer your tenancy to a cohabiting partner or to a close family member (parent, child or sibling), if you and your cohabiting partner have been living under the same roof for a year or longer. The assignee, once he or she takes over the tenancy, will also take over all your rights and obligations relating to it, and you can only remain on the property with the agreement of the new tenancy holder.

A tenancy cannot be transferred to a friend. It is also worth noting that a transfer of tenancy can only occur once, so if you yourself were the assignee of a previous tenancy agreement, you will not be able to pass it on to another assignee. Equally, if you took over the tenancy following the death of a partner or spouse, you will not be able to transfer your tenancy. This will also be the case, if the tenancy you hold was previously demoted because of antisocial behaviour or if the proposed assignee has been involved in such at another property owned by the council. If the council is currently in the process of evicting you, clearly this is another case where a transfer of tenancy is not possible.

When you want to pass on your tenancy to someone else in the event of your own death, and you took over your tenancy through succession, the council can consider giving the assignee you would have chosen a new tenancy on the property, or offer another property to him or her.

Where there is a joint tenancy and one of the tenants dies, the tenancy automatically reverts to the surviving tenant. This is known in legal jargon as ‘survivorship’, and when the survivor dies in his or her turn, the tenancy can no longer be succeeded to. Therefore, if you had a joint tenancy and then your co-tenant died and you became sole tenancy holder, you will not be able to pass your tenancy on in your turn when you die, even to your own children.