Your tenancy

Although you won’t need to think about your tenancy every day, it’s important to understand the key parts of the agreement you’ve signed with us, so that everything runs smoothly. 

Your tenancy agreement sets out our responsibilities as your landlord, as well as your legal rights and responsibilities as a tenant.

These include paying your rent and other charges on time, allowing us access for repairs and safety checks (such as an annual gas safety inspection), and ensuring that you do not cause nuisance or annoyance to other people living in your neighbourhood.

For a full introduction to what you can expect from us as a landlord, as well as information on what we expect from you, check out our service standards.

You can also find out exactly what we do and don’t repair for your tenancy type in our repairs guide.

You can manage many aspects of your tenancy online, including reporting repairs, checking your rent account and making payments.

If something changes in your household which could affect your tenancy – such as a birth, death, marriage or relationship breakdown – it’s up to you to let us know. It’s also important that we have up-to-date contact details for the people on your tenancy.

You can update your tenancy details with us using your online account or by giving us a call on 0800 2182247.

In the event of the death of a tenant, the tenancy will be passed to the tenant's spouse. An unmarried partner or same sex partner has the same rights as a married couple. If the tenant is unmarried and there is no partner, another close family member may be entitled to succeed to the tenancy. A close family member is a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece.

To be entitled to claim succession, an applicant will need to provide proof that they have lived at the property for a minimum of 12 months before the death of the tenant. The application for succession must be made within three months of the death of the tenant.

Except where the applicant for succession is a spouse, we may require the successor to move to more suitable alternative accommodation if we find that the current property does not match their housing need.

To apply for a succession of tenancy, please print and fill out the application for succession of tenancy form here and bring it in to our offices on Clarendon Road to discuss. 

For further information, please contact the Neighbourhood Services team. Email neighbourhoodservicesteam@wcht.org.uk or call 0800 218 2247.

Assignment is when a tenant passes on their tenancy to another eligible member of their household. This will depend on the type of tenancy you hold, so you should speak with your Neighbourhood Officer to see if you are eligible. We will then need permission from both parties (you, and the household member you would like to assign the tenancy to).

To apply to assign your tenancy, both you and the household member you wish to assign the tenancy to, will need to complete one of our assignment application forms (see sections which apply to you) and return them to neighbourhoodservicesteam@wcht.org.uk or to our offices on Clarendon Road.