Understanding what your responsibilities are will help you to keep to your tenancy conditions.

You must:

• Pay your rent on time - If you have any problems call us on 0345 60 20 540 immediately as we may be able to help
• Live in your property and use it as your home
• Treat your property and garden in a reasonable way and keep it in good condition. This includes maintaining the garden and any trees, shrubs or hedges within it. You're responsible for maintaining fencing unless it divides your home from a public path/right of way.
• Be a good neighbour. Don't do anything that will disturb or annoy those living near you. Please be considerate to your neighbours and remember not to fit hardwood flooring if you live in a flat.
• Make sure the people you live with and your visitors don't do anything to disturb or annoy your neighbours
• Report any repairs that we're responsible for quickly and allow access for the work to be completed
• If your property is heated by gas, you must let us do a gas safety check every year

 It’s just as important for you to know what our responsibilities are.

We must:

• Set your rent which is reasonable and offers good value for money
• Offer an effective repairs service
• Keep your home and any shared part of the building in a reasonable state of repair
• Give you the chance to have your say in the way we deliver our service
• Respect your privacy and the information held about you
• Investigate and respond to complaints

You can download our Tenancy Policy if you’d like more information about the type of tenancy you have and if/how it might change. 

You’ll also be able to find out about all of the different types of tenancies we have available.

If you’re looking to move into one of our homes you might be wondering how we allocate our homes. Our Allocations Policy explains how we let our homes in a fair and clear way.

A tenancy breach means that your behaviour, or the behaviour of your visitors, goes against the conditions of your tenancy. This can result in your tenancy being ended by us. 

Things considered a breach of tenancy could be:

• Making changes or adaptations to the internal or external area of your property without written permission
• Making structural alterations without permission
• Installing a hard-wired camera without permission
• Allowing people into the block or communal areas who are not your visitors
• Damaging or dirtying the communal areas
• Keeping item(s) in the property that are a health and safety risk 
• Having lodgers without permission
• Running a business from your property without permission
• Smoking in the internal communal areas
• Carrying out any illegal activity in or around the property
• Not maintaining the property
• Dog fouling in communal areas
  

There are many types of tenancy fraud including:

• Providing false information in order to move into one of our homes
• Not using our property as your main home or abandoning it
• Subletting your home to someone else
• Selling your keys
• Not telling us when someone has passed away, so that someone else can live there
• Vulnerable tenants being targeted by fraudsters to use the home for criminal activity
• Giving false information to get a Right to Buy or Right to Acquire discount

Tenancy fraud is illegal and unfair as it means that there are less homes for people who need them. It’s important that we tackle tenancy fraud so that people in genuine housing need are able to get a home with us.

Any suspicions of fraud are taken very seriously. We’ll work with internal teams and other agencies to investigate further.

How do we prevent tenancy fraud?

To prevent fraud we’ll

• Request proof of identity and residency for all household members when we offer a home. We may ask for proof during appointments or home visits
• Visit customers after they have moved in

What actions do we take to stop tenancy fraud?

If we believe tenancy fraud has taken place we’ll

• Take legal action to end the tenancy
• Share information with partners to support criminal prosecutions
• Recover any money gained illegally
• Cancel any fraudulent applications for housing and stop the person from making future applications for a period of time
• Offer support and advice to customers who have been victims of tenancy fraud

How can I help prevent tenancy fraud?

Contact us straight away if you have.

• Noticed an unusual change of residents at a nearby home
• Seen any unusual activity
• Overheard any mention of the property being sublet
• Noticed that a nearby home appears to be empty

To find out more view our tenancy fraud factsheet. You can also request a copy of our housing counter fraud policy.