Our Homes

Your Tenancy

What kind of tenancy do i have?

As a tenant of Charlton Triangle Homes (CTH), you have an “assured tenancy” as defined by the law. If you were formerly a London Borough of Greenwich tenant and transferred your tenancy to us, your agreement will be slightly different to the one given to tenants who joined us later. If you have any questions about your tenancy, please get in touch with the CTH office.

From time to time there may be changes to the law which affect the way in which your tenancy agreement works. Where this happens, we will let you know how you are affected. As well as observing the legal requirements of the tenancy agreement, CTH aims to manage its homes in line with best practice.

What do i have to do as a tenant?

It is important that you understand your duties as a tenant as well as your rights: if you do not keep to the conditions of your tenancy, we can take action which may result in you losing your home. If you have a joint tenancy, then this applies to both you and your partner. For example, each joint tenant is responsible for paying the rent and for any missed payments (arrears) and if one joint tenant serves a notice to quit, then the tenancy will end for both tenants. If you are having problems with any aspect of your tenancy, then please contact our office as soon as possible. We can offer advice and support and (with your agreement) may be able to put you in touch with other agencies which can help.

As an assured tenant, you have security of tenure. In other words, if you meet all your responsibilities as one of our tenants, we cannot end your tenancy. However, your tenancy must be your only or principal home and you must move into it as soon as your tenancy starts. If you no longer live in it as your main home, you will lose your security of tenure and we will take action to re-possess it.

Can i pass on my tenancy to another person?

In certain circumstances you have the right to pass on your tenancy to someone else (this is called succession).

• If you have a joint tenancy with your partner and one of you dies, then the surviving tenant will automatically succeed to the tenancy (they will become the sole tenant).
• f the tenancy is in your name only when you die and you had been living in a relationship, then the tenancy will transfer to your partner as long as he/she is living in the property as their main home at the time of your death. This applies both to married and unmarried couples and to same sex relationships.
• If you were not in a relationship but a member of your family has been living in the property with you for at least twelve months beforehand (and this was their only or main home), then they will be able to take over the tenancy. As a condition of agreeing to this, we may ask your successor to move into a more suitable property, for example if he/she is living alone and the property is larger than needed. In this way, we can make the best use of our homes.
• If you yourself took over the tenancy in one of these ways, then you will not have the right to pass it on to someone else.

Succession can normally happen only once. However, in certain circumstances we may still be able to let a member of the family have a new tenancy of the property or we may offer alternative accommodation. It is important that we are contacted as soon as possible after a tenant dies, so that we can clarify the situation for any remaining occupiers and issue a new tenancy agreement where this is possible.

You may also be able to assign your tenancy to another person, usually as part of a mutual exchange (see “Moving On” below), but also to a person who would be qualified to succeed to the tenancy if you had died. If you have a son or daughter living with you, for instance, and they have lived in the property for at least a year as their principal home, you may decide to assign the tenancy to them. Please take legal advice and talk to us before making a final decision on this.

What if i want to change the name on my tenancy agreement?

If you want to put your tenancy into joint names or change the name on your tenancy (for example following marriage), you will also need to contact us. There should be no problem about creating a new tenancy for a married couple, but we may need to see proof that any other new joint tenant has lived at the property for at least a year first. If you are in arrears with your rent, we will not agree to any changes until your payments are up-to-date.

If your relationship breaks down and you no longer wish to live with your partner, your tenancy can be put into a single name with the agreement of both of you or by the order of a court. We regret that we are unable to re-house the partner who leaves the tenancy.

Am i allowed to have a lodger?

If you wish to take in a lodger or sub-let part of your home, you are entitled to do this, but, again, you must get our written agreement to the arrangement. We shall want details of your lodger or sub-tenant and will need to be happy that the property will not become overcrowded as a result.

Please bear in mind that you cannot run a business from your home unless we give you permission in writing, although we will not usually refuse your request unless there are good reasons, eg. that it would cause a nuisance or annoy other people. You must also not use your home for any illegal or immoral purpose.

If we require access to your home - this is sometimes necessary if we need to carry out a repair either to your property or one close by - we will normally give you at least 24 hours notice and do our best to get your permission first. In emergencies, we do have the legal right to enter your property without notice.