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The tenancy agreement

The tenancy agreement should outline many of the council's obligations to tenants such as carrying out repairs. It should also outline many of the tenant's obligations to the council, such as the need to pay rent, and not to cause nuisance, harassment, or damage. In addition, it should set out other conditions relating to the tenancy, such as the rules on keeping pets.

If tenants break the conditions of their Tenancy Agreement, or allow others to do so, the council may take action against them. As a last resort, the council may seek to obtain an order for possession of the property from the court. If a possession order is granted, this could lead to a tenant being evicted from the property.

• Council housing - evictions

Joint tenancy

You may want to share the responsibilities of your tenancy with someone who lives with you. However, you should think carefully before having a joint tenancy because each joint tenant is jointly responsible for all of a tenant's obligations under the Tenancy Agreement. For example, joint tenants are jointly responsible for the rent, and so if one tenant leaves, the remaining tenant will be responsible for any outstanding rent.

If you are sure that you would like to have a joint tenancy, you should apply to your local council's housing department for their permission to change your tenancy. The council will consider your application and will let you know whether it agrees to grant a joint tenancy.

Alternatively, if you and another person are already joint tenants, it may be that you both agree that only one of you should be the tenant. For example, this may happen when a relationship comes to an end and one partner agrees to move out of the family home. In this case, you should inform the council that you want to make this change. Both joint tenants will need to confirm in writing that they agree to the change.

Find out about transferring your tenancy

If you are leaving to live somewhere else, you may want to transfer your tenancy to your partner or a member of your family who has lived with you continuously for at least a year. Such a transfer is known as an assignment.

In this case, you should apply to your local council's housing department to assign your tenancy. They will consider your application and give you their decision within an agreed period.

However, it is unlikely that the council will be able to agree to you assigning your tenancy if you yourself had been assigned the tenancy by the previous tenant.

The following links will let you enter details of where you live and then take you to your local authority website where you can find out more.

• Request a change of council tenancy Opens new window
• Find out about changing a council tenancy Opens new window

Taking over a tenancy

A person has the right to take over a tenancy (known as to succeed to a tenancy) when a council tenant dies if he or she is either the tenant's spouse, civil partner or another family member and has been living with the tenant in that house continuously for at least 12 months. However, by law, there may only be one succession to a council tenancy. Therefore if the tenant who has died had already succeeded to the tenancy, the council would be unable to grant a further succession. Nevertheless, this does not prevent a council from granting a completely new tenancy if they choose to do so.

Where a tenant has a joint tenancy with his or her spouse or civil partner, he or she will become the sole tenant on the death of his or her spouse or civil partner. This is known as survivorship and is regarded as a succession. Therefore, no-one will be able to succeed to the tenancy when the surviving spouse nor civil partner dies. Again, however, this does not prevent a council from granting a new tenancy if it chooses to do so.

From December 2005, same sex partners who have registered their relationship as required by the Civil Partnerships Act 2004  will have the same rights as spouses in relation to succeeding to a tenancy or having a tenancy transferred.

• More information on Civil Partnerships Act (rights and responsibilities section)