Text Size: Normal Size Font |Large Size Font |Larger Size Font
Site Search

Being a Wansbeck Homes Tenant

Your Tenancy

All our tenants have Assured Tenancies. If you are a new tenant of Wansbeck Homes, we will usually give you a Starter Tenancy which means that you will not have all the rights of a fully Assured Tenant for at least one year.

As long as you don’t break the terms of your Tenancy Agreement, you will automatically become a fully assured tenant after one year.

For details of a Starter Tenancy download a leaflet here.

Once you have a fully Assured Tenancy you will have security of tenure. This means you can stay in your home for as long as you want, unless you break the terms of your Tenancy Agreement.

An Assured Tenancy can only be brought to an end by a Court Order.
In some circumstances, when you break the terms of your Tenancy Agreement, a judge may decide to change your tenancy from an Assured Tenancy to an Assured Shorthold Tenancy, this is known as a Demotion Order. You will not have to leave your home but you will lose some of your rights.

Tenancy Agreement

This is a legally binding agreement between you and us. The Tenancy Agreement sets out all the rights and responsibilities of the tenant and the landlord. If you do not keep to the conditions set out in your Tenancy Agreement, you will have broken the Agreement and may face action to make you and your family leave your home.

Wansbeck Homes has three types of Tenancy.

  1. Tenants that were previously tenants of Wansbeck District Council and transferred to Wansbeck Homes have a special Assured Tenancy Agreement, this is known as a Protected Tenancy for Transferring Tenants. Download a copy of the Protected Tenancy for Transferring Tenants here.
  2. New tenants of Wansbeck Homes that are not already an Assured or Secure Tenant of another Housing Association or Council, will be given a Starter Tenancy. Download a copy of the Tenancy Agreement for Starter Tenancies here.
  3. Tenants who move into a Wansbeck Homes’ property and are already an Assured or Secure Tenant will be given a Full Rights Assured Tenancy. Download a copy of the Full Rights Tenancy Agreement here.

Tenants' Rights

As an Assured Tenant of Wansbeck Homes you have the following rights:

Right to Occupy:

You have the right to live in your home without interruption or interference from us.

This right may be at risk if you do not stick to the terms of your Tenancy Agreement.

Your tenancy can only be brought to an end by obtaining a Court Order.

Right to take in lodgers and sublet part of your home (except Starter or Demoted Tenants):

You may take in lodgers as long as you do not grant a sub tenancy or allow your home to become overcrowded.

As long as you ask for permission and get our written agreement, you may sublet part of your home.  We may apply reasonable conditions in giving our consent.

You are not allowed to sublet all of your home.

Any arrangement to take in lodgers or sublet part of your home is a private one between you and your lodger and we will not get involved in any disputes. If you want them to leave, you must ask them to do so.

Remember as the tenant you are responsible for the behaviour of any one living in or visiting your home.

If you receive Housing Benefit, you must inform the Council's Benefit Section before taking in a lodger or subletting, as this may affect your benefit entitlement.

Right to Make Improvements (except Starter or Demoted Tenants):

You have the right to improve your home, as long as you get our written permission first.  An improvement means an alteration or addition to your home, examples include:

If you do decide that you want to improve your home, you should write to us with full details of the work you want to do.  Alternatively, we have a form you can complete Download an Application for Improvement Tenant Own Expense here.

You must not make any alterations until you have received our written permission, which will also tell you what conditions you need to keep to.Please note that even if you have our permission as landlord, you may still need to get any necessary planning permission or building regulation approval for the work.

Right to Compensation for Improvements:

If you have made improvements to your home, you may be able to claim compensation when your tenancy ends.

Compensation is payable for 'eligible improvements' that were started on or after 1 April 1994. Examples include:

To qualify for compensation, you must have our written permission to carry out the improvements and you must make a claim during the period 28 days before to 14 days after your tenancy comes to an end.

The amount of compensation you are entitled to will depend on how much the improvement cost you, its estimated life and how long ago it was done.

Right to Repair:

The right to repair makes sure that certain small, urgent repairs known as 'qualifying repairs' are done quickly within a specified time.These are normally repairs that would affect your health, safety or security.

If we do not complete a qualifying repair within the specified time, you can ask us to get another contractor to do it. If this second contractor then fails to complete the repair, you may be entitled to compensation from us.

Examples of qualifying repairs include:

  • unsafe power or lighting sockets, or electrical fittings
  • blocked flue to open fire or boiler
  • leaking roof
  • toilets that do not flush
  • blocked sink, bath or wash hand basin
  • loss of heating or electrics

Right to Consultation:

You have the right to be consulted if we plan to make substantial changes to the way we manage your home, and we will give you the chance to tell us what you think about our plans.  We will ask for your comments in various ways, including letters, personal visits and meetings.  We will consider all comments we receive before making a decision.

This does not apply to changes to the rent you have to pay, however we will give you not less than one calendar month's notice in writing of any increases.

Right to Information:

You have the right to obtain information from us about the terms of your tenancy and about our repairing obligations, our policies and procedures on tenant consultation, housing allocation and transfers, and our performance as a landlord.

Right to Exchange (except Starter or Demoted Tenants):

You have the right to exchange your home with another housing association or Council tenant. Before doing this, you each need your landlord's written consent. We will only refuse permission in certain circumstances such as the property you want to move to is too big or too small for your needs.

For a Mutual Exchange application form, please download the full PDF version here

Succession (passing on your home):

If you die your tenancy will usually pass to any joint tenant. If there is no joint tenant or partner (married or unmarried, in a civil partnership or not) another adult member of your family may be able to take over the tenancy. For this to happen they must have been living in the home at the time of death and have lived there at least one year before that. This is known as a succession.

When a succession takes place, we do have the right to rehouse the successor in a different, more suitable home, unless they were the husband, wife or partner of the tenant.

If there is more that one person who would be able to claim succession, they must decide between them who should get the tenancy (if they cannot agree, we will decide).

Preserved Right to Buy:

If you were a Secure or Introductory Tenant of Wansbeck District Council who had the right to buy at the time your home transferred to Wansbeck Homes, you will have a Preserved Right to Buy.  You must have been a Secure or Introductory Tenant of Wansbeck District Council or an Assured Tenant of Wansbeck Homes or another landlord who offered the right to buy for at least two years, or five years if your tenancy began after 18 January 2005.

Right to Acquire:

If you become a new tenant of Wansbeck Homes you may have the right to acquire.

Certain types of home cannot normally be bought such as sheltered accommodation or housing built specifically for people with a disability.

Moving In

To help you set up and settle into your new home, there are a number of things you will need to do, such as:

Before you move in, we will make sure your new home is of a certain standard. We may offer you vouchers to help with decorating, this will depend on the condition of the property.

We will explain your Tenancy Agreement to you and provide you with information to help you throughout your tenancy.

After you have moved in, we will visit you after about four weeks, at that time you can ask us for advice or discuss any problems you are having with your home or tenancy.

Gas Safety

When you move into your home, we give you a certificate that shows that your gas appliances have undergone a safety check in the last twelve months.

By law, we must carry out a gas safety check on all appliances once a year. You must allow us into your home to do this.

If you smell gas:

To make sure you are safe:

Your Home

Living in your home:

As long as you don’t break any of the terms of your Tenancy, you can live in your home for as long as you want.

All the things you are responsible for are set out in your Tenancy Agreement.

If you are unsure about anything, please don’t be afraid to ask by contacting your Area Housing Team.

Simple Insurance

It is important that you take out cover to insure your belongings in your home. If, for example a pipe bursts, we will normally only be responsible for repairing the burst pipe and not for any damage to your belongings.

The SIMPLE Scheme offers low cost home contents insurance cover. Please contact our Customer Service Team for an information booklet and application form.

Rents

Your rent is the money we charge you for providing you with your home and services such as repairs and maintenance. It is very important that you pay your rent on time. If you do not, you may become at risk of losing your home. 

Rent and Charges

The amount you pay to us is made up of rent and service charges.

Rent is the money we charge you for living in your home and our services to you.

Service Charges are paid by tenants and leaseholders who live in certain types of buildings where there are shared facilities or services.The charges cover such services as:

Your rent is payable weekly and is based on the type and size of the property you live in and the facilities you have.

Rent and service charges will be increased once every year and we will let you know what your new charges will be at least four weeks before the increase takes place.

We offer a range of ways you can pay your rent, which includes:

Rent Arrears

Rent arrears is a term we use when you have fallen behind in paying your rent.

We understand that anyone can have money difficulties from time to time and fall behind with their rent.  In these circumstances we will do our best to help by giving you advice and agreeing realistic repayment arrangements if you cannot afford to pay the amount owed in full.

A repayment arrangement will mean you will have to pay an extra amount with your weekly rent over a period of time until you have paid the amount you owe.

Moving Home

Housing needs and circumstances change over the years and people need different types of homes, this could be larger or smaller homes as family membership changes, or more specialist homes as physical and support needs change.

If you want to move to another home, you can apply for a transfer or you can look for another tenant who would be willing to exchange homes with you.

Buying your Home

Right to Buy

If you were a Secure or Introductory Tenant of Wansbeck District Council and had the Right to Buy when your home was transferred to Wansbeck Homes in February 2008, you have what is called a ‘Preserved’ right to Buy.

This means you can buy your present home or another of our homes that you move into in the future, provided you have had a tenancy with us or another landlord who offered the Right to Buy for a total period of two years (or five years if your tenancy in the property you are buying began after 18 January 2005), and the property is not excluded by legislation.

Right to Acquire

If you do not have the ‘Preserved’ Right to Buy, you still may be able to buy your home if it was bought or built by us or Wansbeck District Council after 1987 with the help of a Government grant. This is known as the Right to Acquire.

You cannot buy your home if:

For more information, ask for a copy of the Government booklets ‘Your Right to Buy your Home’ and ‘Your Right to Acquire your Home.’

Download a copy of our Tenancy Management Service Standard here.

Feedback

Wansbeck Homes is committed to ensuring that the promises made in its service standards are met.  This means that we sometimes contact customers by telephone to ask them questions about how their request was dealt with.