Changing Your Tenancy 

There may come a time when you want to move home or want to pass your tenancy onto a member of your household.  Your present home may have become unsuitable, perhaps it is now too big or small for your family, or perhaps you need to live nearer relatives to give or receive support. 

Assignation 

You may wish to move out of your property, and pass your tenancy to a member of your household who already lives with you. From 1 November 2019, before you can do this, both you AND the person you wish to pass the tenancy to must have lived in the property as your only or principal home during the previous 12 months before you apply to assign your tenancy. The 12 month period only starts when we receive written notification from you that the other person is living in the property as their only or principal home. We can refuse permission to assign a tenancy if we have reasonable grounds to do so.

Sub Letting and Lodgers

Southside Housing Association does allow subletting in cases where a tenant cannot live in their home for a limited period of time, but does not wish to give up the tenancy. We do impose conditions where a sub-let is approved.

  • You cannot sub-let your property without the Association’s approval.
  • You should contact your Housing Officer to discuss the details and to apply for permission.
  • If you wish to take in a lodger, you should also contact your Housing Officer asking for permission.

Where the request for sub-letting or taking in lodgers would result in overcrowding, we will not be able to give permission for this.

Succession 

You may have people living with you who are not joint tenants, who you may wish to take over the tenancy after you die. This could be an unmarried partner, family member or carer.

To protect their right to ‘succeed to your tenancy’, you must tell us in writing that the person you wish to take over your tenancy has moved in with you at the time they do so. If someone has already moved in and you have not told us, it may affect their right to succeed to your tenancy.

To succeed to your tenancy if you die after 1 November 2019, any person who is not your lawful spouse or civil partner must have lived in the property as their only or principal home for at least 12 months immediately prior to the tenant’s death.

The 12 month period only starts when we receive written notification from you that the other person is living in the property as their only or principal home. This is very important if someone else has given up their own home to care for you.

Mutual Exchange

You may wish to exchange your home with another Southside Housing Association tenant or with a tenant of another landlord. This must be a council or housing association property.

Approval is needed from both landlords before the exchange can go ahead. Usually certain criteria have to be met. We carry out a check on your rent account and also an inspection of your home to ensure no damage has been caused. We check the same details for the other tenant and ensure that if the exchange was to go ahead either properties would not be overcrowded or under occupied. Generally no rechargeable repair invoices should be outstanding. 

Please be aware if you complete a mutual exchange, no internal repairs will be carried to the property for a year, with the exception of safety checks.

Transfer Application  

You can contact the Association to apply for an internal transfer. Transfer applications are assessed on housing need and are prioritised in line with the criteria in our Housing Allocations Policy.  We operate a points system for transfers, the more urgent your need the more points you receive. 

Not everyone will be able to obtain a transfer in practice, due to the lack of availability of certain types of housing.  If you restrict the range of properties which you would consider moving to, this is likely to reduce your chances of getting a transfer. 

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