Your Rights

Right to succession (inheriting a tenancy )

On your death (providing you were not already a successor) the statutory (legal) right to succession will be granted to:-

• The person living with you as your husband/wife/partner (whether you are legally married or not), providing that your home was where they were living (as their only or main residence) at the time of your death.
• Any surviving joint tenant(s), providing they also lived in your home as their only or main home at the time of your death. CTH also gives (in the tenancy agreement) an entitlement to succession to a person who has lived with you for at least a year up to the time of your death, providing that they are a member of your family and lived with you in your home as their main or only residence. It is best to notify us if you have someone else living with you who may qualify to take over the tenancy if you die. This makes it easier for us to consider if that person is eligible to inherit the tenancy should the need arise. Succession can only happen once.

As a "successor" there is no legal right for you to pass on the tenancy to anyone else, but, in certain circumstances and at their discretion, CTH may allow a further succession.

PLEASE NOTE: CTH reserves the right to offer smaller accommodation if you are a person (other than the widow, widower or common law partner of the deceased tenant) who qualifies to "succeed" a tenancy . We will do this where the property you wish to succeed to is considered by CTH to be larger than you actually need. (see your tenancy agreement).

Right to assign (passing on your tenancy )

You have the right to "assign" your tenancy as follows:

• as a result of a Court Order (made under section 24 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973). A court can make an order that the property should be passed from one married partner to another (usually in the event of a relationship breakdown).
• by way of a mutual exchange with another tenant (as defined in the tenancy agreement). A mutual exchange is where (subject to certain terms & conditions) you exchange your home (and tenancy agreement) with another tenant.
• to an existing joint tenant of your tenancy or to a person who would qualify to succeed your tenancy in the event of your death.

Approval for assignment is subject to certain terms and conditions. The tenancy agreement states that "You must have the written consent of CTH to assign your tenancy ".

Right to exchange (mutual exchanges)

You have the right to exchange your tenancy provided that the person you are exchanging with is either, another tenant of CTH, a tenant of another Registered Social Landlord or a Council tenant. You will need the written permission of both landlords in order to proceed. We cannot refuse a mutual exchange without good reason, but, there are certain terms and conditions which must be met before approval is given. (See Your tenancy agreement)

Right to appeal about rent increases

If you are an assured tenant CTH is responsible for setting your rent. If, after the first year of your tenancy , you feel that any rent increase we are proposing is too large, you can appeal to the Rent Assessment Committee (RAC). The RAC is an independent panel whose members are appointed by Government officials, they will set what is known as a "market rent".

If the market rent is lower than the rent we are proposing, we will charge you the lower amount. But, if it is higher, we will charge you the rent suggested by the RAC, unless we agree with you otherwise and charge what we had originally proposed.

It should be noted that the Rent Assessment Committee may actually increase the rent fixed by the Rent Officer. Their decision is final, although we are not legally obliged to charge you any increase they may suggest.

Right to make Improvements and receive compensation for them at the end of your tenancy

You have the right to make alterations, improvements or additions to your home as long as you get our written permission before going ahead. We cannot refuse your request without good reason, although there are certain terms and conditions that you will have to abide by before approval is given, such as the improvement meeting with an expected standard of work or a specific way that the work should be done.

Some improvements carried out by tenants with our consent qualify for compensation. These are known as "qualifying improvements." CTH has a list of improvements that fall into this category. The compensation will only be paid when you move from your home and the amount payable reduces year by year to reflect the age and condition of the improvement at the time of your move.

When giving our consent we will agree and confirm in writing with you:

• the details of the improvement to be carried out.
• how we expect the improvement to be done (materials & standard).
• whether the improvement is eligible for compensation.
• how much the final improvement is worth.
• how much the value of the final improvement decreases each year.
• who is to carry out the work.

You must use a recognised and competent company or trades-person to do the work for you and we will ask that at least three comparative estimates are submitted to us. Any contractors used must also be properly insured, so that we can recover any costs should things go wrong to our property. If you wish to do the work yourself, we will need to be confident that you are both competent and capable of doing so, as if things go wrong you will be personally held liable. We have the right to refuse tenants' requests to carry out improvements themselves.

All our requirements and conditions for the works will be included in our letter of consent. You should keep a copy of this written agreement, along with any related receipts and invoices, as you will need to submit them to us when you move in order to claim your compensation. (See Your tenancy agreement; and CTH's policy & procedures for carrying out improvements & receiving compensation for them)

Right to repair

You have the right to expect us to keep your home in a good state of repair and to carry out the repairs that we have agreed to be responsible for as part of the tenancy agreement. We are responsible by law for maintaining the general structure of the building and doing repairs to the outside of your home, as well as for keeping the plumbing, electrics, gas and heating systems in efficient working order. (Except any appliances or fittings that you have installed, unless we have previously agreed to adopt them)

CTH prioritise orders according to the nature of the problem reported by the occupier and those priorities shall be defined as follows: -

Category	Title	Target Time	Examples
1	Emergency	24 hours	Gas leaks, dangerous electrical faults, burst pipes, total loss of heating or roof leaks that are damaging property. At first, CTH may only stop the problem to make it safe. The item would then be repaired or replaced later. Repairing space and water heating (between 1 November and 30 April)
2	Urgent	2 working days**	Clearing blocked drains or repairing the electricity supply (power or light, if the supply has not failed completely). Repairing space or water heating (between 1 May and 31 October).
3	Rapid	5 working days**	Repairing a running overflow, all repairs that cause concern or nuisance to elderly tenants or tenants with disabilities, unless they are category 1 0r 2 repairs, repairing lighting in common areas or repairing a door entry phone.
4	Routine	28 working days**	Clearing blocked grids and gully holes, clearing or repairing blocked or leaking gutters and rainwater pipes or repairing doors and windows (unless property is not safe) and remedial works orders.
			** from the day after the day the repair is reported

 

Cyclical maintenance

Cyclical maintenance may also be referred to as servicing arrangements. This category will cover contracts that provide a preventative planned maintenance approach on a regular cycle with a known and predetermined interval between each period being not longer than five years.

The servicing of gas appliances, solid fuel appliances, TV distribution systems, ventilation systems, lift servicing, electrical appliance testing etc, would be considered here, as would the external repair and painting of CTH's dwellings.

If you have twice reported a repair that affects your health, safety or security and we have failed on both occasions to deal with it within our set time scales, you may be entitled to compensation. You also have the right to go to the council's Environmental Health Officer if you feel that our failure to carry out repairs is affecting your health and safety in some way. The Environmental Health Officer can tell us to do the work that he/she feels is needed, and as a last resort if we do not comply can take us to Court.

Right to be consulted

You have the right to be consulted before we make any major changes to the way we manage and maintain your home, or the services we provide. This includes any proposals to make alterations or improvements to your home or estate in general.

Right to information

In your tenancy agreement CTH gives you the right to access information about:

• the terms of your tenancy
• your rights
• our repairing obligations & response times
• our policies and procedures
• how we set our rents
• our performance
• your personal information held by us on our computer systems. (See Your tenancy agreement; and CTH's policy on information and communication)

Right to access personal information

The Data Protection Act gives you the right to see and check any personal information about you that is held by us on our computer records or files. However, we cannot show you confidential information that is either given to us by other people ("third parties"), or involves someone else, without first gaining their consent. If you would like to see your personal file, please speak with your housing officer who will arrange a mutually convenient time for you to do so. You may challenge any information held, if you feel that it is incorrect or misleading and ask us to correct it. We will not pass on any personal details that we have about you to anyone (a "third party"), without your consent. (See Your tenancy agreement; and Data Protection Act 1984, as amended)

Right to compensation

There are certain areas where you may qualify for a compensation payment.
You have the right to apply for compensation or expenses if:

• we have failed, through negligence, to meet our statutory or contractual responsibilities, and as a result of such negligence you have suffered a loss
• we have failed to meet our obligations under your right to have repairs carried out. (See Your tenancy agreement)
• we have formally agreed (in writing) that you may make a "qualifying improvement" to your home. (See Your tenancy agreement)
• You are required to move home while major works are carried out. (This type of compensation is known as a disturbance payment).
• You are unable to use part of your home or certain facilities (for over a week) as a result of delayed or inadequate repair/building works.
• Works being carried out to your home are so extensive that they substantially change the nature of your home making it impossible for you to return and live there as before. (This type of compensation is known as a home loss payment.)

Compensation will not be paid if it is considered we have acted reasonably and in accordance with the law and our obligations under the tenancy agreement. We will not pay compensation if the loss, damage or delay has been caused by you, a member of your household or another third party (i.e. somebody doing work for you). (See CTH's policy and procedures for making compensation payments).

Right to complain

If you are unhappy or dissatisfied with our service or the way a particular issue has been dealt with, or if you feel we have failed to meet our obligations as your landlord, you have the right to complain using our formal Complaints Procedure.

Equal opportunities: your right to fair and equal treatment

You have the right to be treated fairly and equally by our staff, Board Members, contractors and any other persons working on our behalf, regardless of your race, colour, religion, sex, age, marital status, sexuality, illness or disability. We also encourage this fair and equal treatment among our tenants. Our tenancy agreement enables us to take action and evict a tenant who harasses other residents, members of their household, visitors, or staff because of any differences they may have. We will also take action against members of staff, contractors and others working on our behalf, if they are found to have acted in breach of our equal opportunities policy. (See CTH's policies on equal opportunities, Noise  and nuisance and violence and  harassment)

Right to buy and right to acquire

Tenants living in certain properties can buy their homes at a discounted price under the right to buy scheme. Qualifying tenants who transferred from the council as part of the stock transfer have a preserved right to buy. If a tenant qualifies, CTH determines this price by taking the 'market value' of the property and deducting the maximum amount of discount payable by the Housing Corporation. This scheme is only available to tenants living in certain properties built after April 1997 using Social Housing Grant. Sales are also limited to the amount of funds available from the Housing Corporation. (For further information on the "right to acquire" please speak with your housing officer or contact the Housing Corporation.) PLEASE NOTE: As well as being included in the Housing Acts of 1985, 1988, 1993 and 1996, many of the above mentioned "rights" are also contained as requirements in the Housing Corporation's "Performance Standards". Further information can be found in the Housing Corporation's "Residents' Charters" and their booklet "Rights & Responsibilities", which can both be obtained from our office or direct from the Housing Corporation.

All tenants whose tenancy was transferred from Lambeth Council to Community Trust Housing also have the right to acquire.