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Sometimes — and in England the answer now turns on when the tenancy was granted. For a secure tenancy granted on or after 1 April 2012, section 86A of the Housing Act 1985 gives a right to succeed only to the tenant's spouse or civil partner (including someone who was living with the tenant as if they were a married couple or civil partners), and only if they occupied the home as their only or principal home when the tenant died. Anyone else can succeed only if an express term of the tenancy agreement says so. For tenancies granted before 1 April 2012 the older rules are preserved, and those did allow a wider group of family members who had lived at the property for the 12 months before the death. Either way, only one succession is permitted.
When a council tenant dies, the tenancy does not automatically end. Depending on your relationship to the tenant, when the tenancy was granted and where in the UK the property is, you may have a legal right to take over — known as succeeding to the tenancy. The sections below set out the law for England; Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own, and are covered briefly at the end.
Under the Housing Act 1985, a secure tenancy allows only one statutory succession. If the tenancy was itself inherited from a previous tenant — for example, the deceased took it over after a parent died — there is no further statutory right for anyone else to succeed. Section 86A(3) puts it directly: the right to succeed "does not apply if the tenant was a successor as defined in section 88".
This is worth stating carefully, because it is often described the wrong way round. The one-succession rule is not something the Localism Act 2011 introduced; it long predates it. What changed on 1 April 2012, when section 86A came into force, is who may succeed: for tenancies granted from that date the statutory right is confined to a spouse, civil partner or live-in partner, and anyone else can succeed only if an express term of the tenancy agreement provides for it.
Local authorities check their records before granting succession. If a previous succession has already occurred, there is no automatic right to stay, though the council retains discretion to allow it (see below).
For an English secure tenancy granted on or after 1 April 2012, section 86A sets out who qualifies:
For an English secure tenancy granted before 1 April 2012, the older rules are preserved by the Localism Act's transitional provisions. Those did allow a member of the tenant's family who had lived at the property as their only or principal home throughout the 12 months ending with the death to succeed. If the tenancy is that old, ask the council to confirm in writing which set of rules it is applying.
Important:
Where more than one person qualifies — for example where two people each say they were living with the tenant as a partner — section 86A(7) says the tenancy goes to whichever of them they agree on, and where there is no agreement, to the one selected by the landlord. There is no court process for choosing between them.
If you do not qualify under the statutory succession rules — perhaps because you did not live at the property for 12 months, or because the tenancy has already been succeeded once — you do not have an automatic right to remain.
In this situation the tenancy vests in the deceased's estate and the council will normally serve a notice to quit on the personal representatives, or a notice of seeking possession, before applying to court. The notice period depends on the type of notice, so check the date on the document itself rather than relying on a general figure.
You cannot be evicted without a court order. The council must follow the correct legal process, which includes:
Free housing advice is available from Shelter and from Citizens Advice, and a council's own housing options team has a duty to assess anyone threatened with homelessness. A discretionary offer of housing is possible, particularly where someone has lived at the property for many years or has nowhere else to go, but it is a discretion and not an entitlement.
You should notify the local authority housing department in writing as soon as possible after the tenant dies. Most councils require:
The council will investigate your claim and write to confirm whether succession has been granted. Once granted, you will be issued a new tenancy agreement in your name. This is a new tenancy — you do not simply step into the old one — so it is worth checking whether the new agreement contains the same terms, particularly regarding rent and permitted alterations.
Continue to pay rent during the succession process. Rent arrears that arose under the previous tenant's tenancy do not automatically transfer to you, but the council may seek to recover them from the estate.
Even where there is no statutory right to succeed, a local authority has discretion to grant succession or to offer an alternative tenancy. Councils are more likely to exercise this discretion where:
There is no guarantee of discretionary succession. The council will weigh the circumstances against its housing stock needs and waiting list obligations. If discretionary succession is refused, you can ask the council to review the decision through its internal complaints procedure, and ultimately refer an unresolved complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Some councils publish their succession policy on their website. It is worth reading this before making a formal application, so you can present your case in the most relevant way.
Where to get help:
Citizens Advice (citizensadvice.org.uk), Shelter (shelter.org.uk) and your council's own housing advice team all provide free guidance on succession rights. Outside England the governing law is different: in Wales, secure tenancies were converted into occupation contracts by the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 on 1 December 2022 and succession is governed by that Act's priority and reserved successor rules; in Scotland by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001; and in Northern Ireland by the Housing (NI) Order 1983. Ask the landlord which statute applies before relying on anything written for England.
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