THE TENANCY: This is a weekly Tenancy Agreement for the premises at the address shown below BETWEEN

LANDLORD: PHOENIX COMMUNITY HOUSING ASSOCIATION (BELLINGHAM AND DOWNHAM) of [ ] an exempt charity

and

TENANT(S): .........................................................................................

.........................................................................................

ADDRESS: .........................................................................................

.........................................................................................

.........................................................................................

RENT AND OTHER CHARGES:

The Rent and all other charges for the premises must be paid weekly in advance on Mondays. The weekly rent and charges at the date of this Tenancy Agreement are as follows:

£

Rent

[Water Charges]

Service Charges

-----------------------

Total

==============

DATE TENANCY STARTS: ____ / ____ / ________ and from then week to week.

This tenancy is a weekly Assured Tenancy and not an Assured Shorthold Tenancy.

[This tenancy has been granted to the Tenant(s) in substitution for the tenancy of the home granted by the London Borough of Lewisham (the former tenancy) which has been transferred to the Landlord].

[The Tenant(s) agree that as a condition of the grant of this tenancy any money paid by the Tenant(s) to the Landlord, even if paid as rent under this tenancy, can be used by the Landlord to pay any debt owed by the Tenant(s) under the former tenancy].

INTRODUCTION

In this Tenancy Agreement, ‘you’ and ‘your’ refer to the sole tenant or all joint tenants and ‘your home’ refers to the flat, maisonette, bungalow or house let under this tenancy.

'We’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ refer to the Phoenix Community Housing Association (Bellingham and Downham).

'Property' includes your home which you occupy, all fixtures and fittings plus any garden, shed or wall let under the tenancy.

‘Housing Act 1988’ is the Housing Act 1988 as amended and includes future enactments.

SECTION A

Rent and Service Charge

1. You will pay an inclusive weekly charge comprising rent, [water charges], any charges for services, and any other charges required by law, as notified by us. All unpaid charges shall be recovered as if they were rent. We may change the rent and service charge payable by youin accordance with the provisions of Section E of this Tenancy Agreement.

2. If your rent is in arrears, any money paid by you, or on your behalf, will be accepted as payment of the oldest part of the debt.

3. You must also pay any amount for rent and charges which is owed from your former tenancy with the London Borough of Lewisham. The sum of £[ ] is outstanding from the former tenancy. You are granted this new tenancy on condition that you pay off these arrears. If you do not pay off these arrears you will have breached one of your promises you have made in this tenancy which means we could take steps to bring this tenancy to an end. You will pay this sum immediately or at the rate of £[ ] each week in addition to the weekly sum due under this tenancy, until the above amount is repaid. (Your Housing Officer will strike this out if it does not apply).

4. If we provide heating or hot water toy our home from a communal supply it will be to such a reasonable standard and temperature as we decide. Ifthe supply fails completely or almost completely for a continuous period of at least 24 hours, you can claim a full refund of the appropriate charge from us.

SECTION B

General Conditions of Your Tenancy

1. You may end the tenancy by giving us no less than four weeks’ notice in writing. We may end the tenancy by obtaining a County Court order for possession of your Property based on some, but not all, of the grounds set out in Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988 (as amended by the Housing Act 1996 and referred to here as “Schedule 2”). This does not exclude the right to apply for an injunction or order under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 (or any replacement Act of Parliament).

If we intend to get a court order against you we will give you at least four weeks' notice in writing unless we are using Grounds 12, 14 or 14A under Schedule 2 when the notice may be less than four weeks.

Where we apply for a court order under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 we will give you two weeks' notice in writing unless it is an extreme case.

We may ask the court for permission to dispense with any notice before we start any court proceedings where violence or the threat of violence has occurred and is likely to recur.

Where we are using Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988 we will only try to get a court order on the following grounds:

(i) the tenancy has been inherited under a will or on intestacy but that person who has inherited the tenancy is not entitled to succeed to it (Ground 7);

(ii) where we have offered you suitable alternative accommodation (Ground 9) and we can show that:

· we intend to demolish your home or reconstruct the building or part of the building which includes your home and we need your home empty to carry out the work; or

· your home has special features (which you do not need) for an elderly or disabled person, and we need your home for someone who needs those special features; or

· you took over the tenancy as a successor on the death of the Tenant and there are too few people living in your home considering its size. This clause will not apply where the successor is a spouse or a person living with you as your husband or wife (including same sex partners);

(iii) you have not paid the rent you owe (Ground 10);]

(iv) you have broken, or failed to keep to any of the conditions of this Tenancy Agreement (Ground 12);

(v) you or anyone living with you has damaged or not looked after your home or its surroundings, or your lodger or sub-tenant has damaged your home and you have not taken all reasonable steps to evict that person from your home (Ground 13);

(vi) you or anyone living in or visiting your home has been guilty of conduct causing or likely to cause a nuisance or annoyance to a person living, visiting or otherwise engaging in a lawful activity in the locality of your home or you or anyone living in or visiting your home has used your home for an illegal or immoral purpose or been convicted of an arrestable offence committed in or in the locality of your home (Ground 14);

(vii) you lived at your home as a married couple or as a couple living together as husband and wife (including as same sex partners) and one partner has left because of domestic violence of the other partner and we can show that the partner who has left is unlikely to return (Ground 14A);

(viii) you or anyone living in your home has damaged any furniture provided for use under the tenancy. Your lodger or sub-tenant has caused damage to furniture provided under the tenancy and you have not taken all reasonable steps to evict that person from your home (Ground 15);

(ix) we let you your home because of your job and you no longer have that job (Ground 16);

(x) you, or someone acting on your behalf, made a false statement to get this tenancy from us (Ground 17);

These are the only Grounds under Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988 that we will use to get a court order against you as an Assured Tenant. As long as you keep to the terms of this Tenancy Agreement you have the right to live peacefully in your home without interference from us.

We will not use Grounds 1 to 6, 8 and 11 in Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988. Further details of these are available on request.

We can also take possession of your Property by obtaining a court order demoting your tenancy to an Assured Shorthold Tenancy under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 and then taking the appropriate steps to end your tenancy with us if you breach the terms of your Tenancy Agreement during the period of your demoted tenancy.

2. Any notice or written request or consent, required to be served by us in respect of this tenancy, shall be served on you if delivered or sent by post to either the Property or your last known address. Any notice to us shall be duly served if addressed to the [Head of Housing] [or the Phoenix equivalent] and delivered at or sent by post to our offices, the address of which appears below at Note (1).

3. You must live in your homeas your only or principal home. You must not sublet the whole of the Property.You must not be absent (except in cases of emergency) for a continuous period of more than two months without first notifying us.

4. You must notify us in writing within 28 days of any long-term change in the persons who are living in the Property. Other members of the household should let us know if the Tenant(s) dies as soon as reasonably practical.

5. You may take in lodgersbut you must not sublet any part of the Property without our previous written consent; this consent shall not be unreasonably refused. If you part with the possession of the whole of the Property or you sublet the whole of the Property, your assured tenancy will come to an end.

6. You are not allowed to assign or pass onthe tenancy except in the following circumstances:

1. by way of mutual exchange with a tenant of another Local Authority or Housing Association; or

2. (b) if ordered to do so by the court in matrimonial proceedings or in accordance with Schedule 1 of the Children’s Act 1989; or

3. (c) to a person who would be qualified to succeed to the tenancy (such qualification being determined by the provisions of Section C of this Tenancy Agreement below) in the event of your dying.

In situation (a), you must obtain ourprevious written consent to the assignment; this consent will not be unreasonably refused. Insituation (b) and (c) we must benotified of the change and the details of the new tenant.

7. You must not cause or allow the Property to become overcrowded as defined by the Housing Act 1985 and any other relevant enactments.

SECTION C

Succession

1. For the purposes of succession on your death, a qualifying person is your husband, wife or partner (including a same sex partner), as long as (s)he was living with you in your home when you died. Failing this, a qualifying person will include a member of your family as long as that family member was living with you continuously for at least 12 months up to the date of your death.

2. We may allow the tenancy to pass to someone else who lived with you for at least the last 12 months before your death for the purpose of looking after you and our decision will always be subject to clause 4 of this section below.

3. We will not treat as a successor any person who enters into this Tenancy Agreement following the transfer of your property from the London Borough of Lewisham to us.

4. If your Property is bigger than is reasonably needed by the new tenant (but not if the new tenant is the husband, wife or partner (including a same sex partner)) or is designed for a person with physical disabilities or designated for the elderly and the new tenant is not such a person, we may offer suitable alternative housing to the new tenant.

5. If a joint tenant dies, any remaining joint tenant will remain as the tenant of the Property and be treated as a successor.

SECTION D

Leaving the Property and Return of Keys

1. You must give four weeks’ written notice of your intention to end the tenancy. All keys to the Property must be returned to uson the day that you vacate the Property. If you fail to return the keys within 24 hours then we will change the locks and charge you for the reasonable cost of the work.

2. You must leave the Property clean and tidy and ready for the next tenant to move into. If you do not leave the Property clean and tidywewill clean the Property and charge you the reasonable cost of this work.

3. You must leave the Property clear of rubbish and belongings. Any goods or belongings left in the Property after the tenancy has ended will be removed and disposed of as appropriate. We will charge you for the reasonable cost of removing and disposing of any rubbish, goods or belongings. If you request us to store items of furniture or goods from the Property, we will do so for up to 28 days before disposing of them. If furniture and goods are found in the Property after you have left, we may exercise our discretion to store such property for a period of up to 28 days, after which it will be disposed of. We will charge you for the reasonable cost of storage.

4. We reserve the right to recover from you all reasonable repair costs incurred as a result of damage to your Property.

5. In the event that you end your tenancy, or abandon your Property, leaving other persons in occupation who have no legal right to be there, we have the right to recover from you any loss of rent and legal costs spent in evicting those people.

SECTION E

Changes to Your Tenancy and Procedures for Consulting Tenants

Changing the rent

1. We will increase your rent on the first Monday in April 200[ ] (the "First Rent Increase") in line with Government and Housing Corporation guidance on social housing rents. You will receive written notice in advance of the weekly rent then payable until the next increase date.

2. After the First Rent Increase we can increase your rent once in each calendar year on or after the first Monday in April in that year if:

· we give you at least one month's notice in writing of the increase; and

· the rent is not greater than the amount which a Rent Assessment Committee would set if it had the right to set the rent.

We will not increase your rent more than once a calendar year after the First Rent Increase without your prior consent.

Changing your service charge

1. If you receive services (indicated by a charge in the particulars of your Tenancy Agreement as outlined on the front page of this Agreement) we may increase your service charge on the first Monday in April 200[ ] by an amount set out in a written notice sent in advance of it taking effect (the "First Service Charge Increase") at the same time as the First Rent Increase.

2. After the First Service Charge Increase we may change your service charge once every year to an amount set out in a written notice sent in advance of it taking effect at the same time as the rent increase. In each increase you will be asked to pay a service charge based on our estimate of the sum we are likely to spend in providing services to you over the coming year. That will be the service charge we will ask you to pay for that year and will be set out in a ‘Service Charge Schedule’.

3. If you are required to pay a service charge for the first time, we will give you at least one month's notice in writing of the service charge amount after we have consulted you about the introduction of the service. We may set a service charge from the date we provide the service until the next rent increase, and change the amount payable from then. After that the service charge will only be changed once a year.

4. We will calculate the service charge so as to cover the anticipated and actual cost of the services to us taking one year with another. We will tell you how we have done this.

Other Changes

1. Except for changes in rent or service charge this Tenancy Agreement may be altered only if both you and us agree in writing.

2. Wewill also from time to time revise information and guidance for tenants concerning their rights and obligations under theirTenancy Agreements. Such information and guidance will not be contractually binding but shall indicate the standards and conduct expected of you and us and may be used in any courtproceedings as evidence of the expected standards of conduct.

3. Wewill consult you and any tenant representatives before making any decision on a matter of housing management. This includes the right to be consulted on maintaining, improving or demolishing homes; providing services or amenities; and changes in our practice and policy likely to substantially affect a number of tenants. This consultation shall be carried out through such forums or organisations as wemay from time to time agree with tenant representatives.

4. You and other tenants on your estate will first be consulted on major works proposals affecting your particular estate and how this work will be carried out. Any recognised Tenants’ Association for your estate will also be consulted in this regard.

SECTION F

Complaints and Your Right to Information

1. If you are dissatisfied with the way we implement this Tenancy Agreement or provide our housing services you are entitled to use the Complaints Procedure which we have in place at any one time. If you exhaust this Procedure and are still dissatisfied, you are entitled to refer your complaint to the Independent Housing Ombudsman.

2. You are welcome to inspect information held on your housing file in accordance with relevant legislation. You cannot insist on obtaining details of information which, by reason of its nature, is exempt from disclosure (e.g. information provided by or relating to other tenants). No charge will be made for inspecting your file. A discretionary charge may be levied for copying documents from your file.

3. You have a right to information from us about the terms of this tenancy and about our repairing obligations, our policies and procedures on tenant consultation, housing allocation and transfers and our performance as a landlord. We agree to give you this information as if ss 104 and 106 of the Housing Act 1985 applied to this tenancy.

SECTION G

Neighbourly Conduct

Your Responsibilities

1. We will not tolerate any form of nuisance or anti-social behaviour. We will use the provisions of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 and any other relevant legislation available to us to tackle nuisance and anti-social behaviour.

2. You are responsible not only for your own behaviour but also for the behaviour of every person, including children, living in or visiting your home.

3. This Section G applies to any nuisance and harassment in the locality of your home, for example, on the surrounding and neighbouring estates or properties, footpaths, roads, communal areas, stairs, lifts, landings, entrance halls and gardens.

4. If a person living with you or visiting you breaks the terms of this Tenancy Agreement, you areas the Tenant(s) responsible for that breach. This may result in us taking legal action including possession proceedings against you.

5. You must not run a business or trade from your Property without first obtaining written permission fromus. We will not refuse permission unless we feel that the business is likely to cause a nuisance to other people, or damage toyour Property or any adjacent property. If we do give permission to run a business from your Property and it causes a nuisance, we will withdraw thatpermission.

Nuisance and Harassment

1. This Section G applies to any behaviour which interferes with the peace, comfort or convenience of other people and includes any activity which amounts to discrimination or harassment on the grounds of race, sex, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief or age.

2. You, or any person living in or visiting your home, must not cause or do anything likely to cause a nuisance or harassment to any other person (including any authorised employee, agent or contractor of ours) residing, visiting or otherwise engaging in a lawful activity in the locality of your home, or in or around any other property of ours.

3. Examples of nuisance may include but is not limited to allowing noise, however caused, to be audible to others so that it causes nuisance and annoyance. This includes, for example, noise from the use of television, radio, music equipment, shouting, door slamming or offensive drunkenness.

4. Examples of harassment may include but is not limited to using or threatening to use violence, using racist or homophobic language, damaging or threatening to damage other people’s homes and/or possessions, making unwelcome telephone calls, making unsolicited sexual advances, putting rubbish or other substances near or in other people’s homes.

5. You, or any person living in or visiting your home, must not use or allow your home to be used for any immoral or illegal purpose, or commit in your home or in the Iocality of your home an arrestable offence, for example, the supplying or selling of any illegal or controlled drug or substance.

Domestic Violence

1. You, or any person living in or visiting your home, must not inflict or threaten to inflict violence, including domestic violence, against any person in the locality of your home.

2. You must not harass or use mental, emotional or sexual abuse against anyone who lives with you or make them leave your home due to such behaviour.

Motor Vehicles

1. You, or any person living in or visiting your home, must not, in the locality of your home, allow vehicles to be parked anywhere except in designated parking areas and vehicles should not be parked anywhere that would obstruct emergency services or prevent us, our agents or contractors carrying out their duties, for example, refuse collection.

2. You, or any person living in or visiting your home, must not park any vehicle on the estate of which your home forms part if the vehicle is longer than five metres.

3. You, or any person living in or visiting your home, must not park an untaxed or unroadworthy vehicle on the estate except in a garage or on your personal driveway. If circumstances arise that you have good reason to storean untaxed vehicle on our property, then you must obtain our written consent for such storage. Such consent will not be unreasonably withheld provided you:

· prove that a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) declaration has been sent to the DVLA;

· a copy of that declaration is forwarded to us; and

· a copy of the declaration is clearly displayed on the driver’s side of the vehicle’s dashboard.

If any of these conditions are not met the vehicle will be treated as untaxed and may be removed and destroyed.

4. You, or any person living in or visiting your home, must not in the localityof your home, carry out motor vehicle repairs which are likely to cause a nuisance or annoyance or offence to other people. For example, repairs which cause excessive noise or causeoil to leak in communal areas.

5. You, or any person living in or visiting your home, must not in the locality of your home,carry on a business involving the sale or repair of motor vehicles.

6. Subject to clause 3 of this ‘Motor Vehicles’ section, wemay clamp, remove and ultimately destroy any illegally parked, abandoned, dangerous or unroadworthy vehicle and charge the owner for all reasonable costs we incur. This provision also applies to any vehicle not displaying a valid licence or, where required, a valid permit.

Animals and Pets

1. You, or any person living in your home, has the permission to keep a reasonable number of pet animals, as long as the pet(s) does not cause a nuisance and annoyance to your neighbours or any person visiting or otherwise engaging in a lawful activity in the locality of your home.

2. If any of the following clauses of this ‘Animals and Pets’ sectionare broken we will inform you in writing that permission to keep the animal has been withdrawn.

3. Dogs must be kept on a lead in all communal areas. They must not be allowed to frighten, attack or injure other people.

4. The pet must not foul or cause damage to the surrounding land and communal areas.

5. You, or any person living in or visiting your home, must not feed pigeons, squirrels and other vermin either at your home or in the communal areas.

SECTION H

Repairs, Works of Improvement and Cleansing

1. We will keep in repair the structure and exterior of your home and keep in repair and proper working order the installations within your home for the supply of water, gas, electricity, and for sanitation, space heating and heating water.

2. You will have the right to carry out repairs if we have not done them as if section 96 of the Housing Act 1985 applied to this tenancy.

3. You must give all our authorised employees and agents (subject to them producing evidence of identity) all reasonable access to your Property to inspect or carry out any work including improvement work that may be necessary or in the interests of other or future tenants and at all times youmust co-operate with our

1. caretaking, maintenance and cleaning staff in the performance of their duties. We will give at least 24 hours’ notice of our intention to enter your home except in cases of emergency when forcible entry may be required. We will be entitled to recover from you any reasonable costs associated with your failure to provide reasonable access for such works.

4. Where we or agents acting on our behalf are carrying out a programme of pest eradication treatment, or safety checks including servicing of gas appliances or pipework, and you have failed to keep a second notified appointment, this will be treated as an emergency and we or our agents may forcibly enter your home to inspect or carry out works where in our reasonable view we need to do so to protect other tenants or residents. The same provision exists in their leases or tenancies so that we can protect you. We will be entitled to recover from you any reasonable costs associated with gaining access or making your home secure after gaining accessor any other loss arising from you breaking your promises under this Tenancy Agreement, such as the failure to give access, or damage you have caused to your Property.

SECTION I

Care of Your Property

1. You or any member of your household or visitor must not cause or allow damage to be caused to:

(a) the Property;

(b) any part of the estate of which the Property forms part;

(c) any services associated with the Property or the estate of which the Property forms part;

(d) any other property on the estate of which the Property forms part.

5. You must take all reasonable steps to prevent such damage.

2. You must keep the Property in a clean and tidy condition and keep any garden forming part of the Property tidy and free from rubbish.

3. You must pay us any expenses or loss of rental income which we incur in carrying out any repairs or special cleaning or clearance arising from your breach of this Section I of your Tenancy Agreement.

4. We will regularly inspect the outside and communal parts of all ourestates, including lifts and communal lighting.

5. On those estates where a full caretaking service is provided by us, we will clean communal areas, including staircases, staircase windows and recreational playareas (except in the case of a failure of supplies or for any other reason beyond our control).

6. You must not keep inflammable materials, liquids or gases in your home (other than as may be reasonably required for domestic use) or do anything which might cause a fire, flood or other damage to your home or nearby properties.

7. You must not use or store dangerous or offensive substances or materialsin any communal areas to which you have access or the garden of your home if any.

SECTION J

Improvements and Decorations

1. You are entitled to make alterations, improvements and additions to the Property on condition that:

(a) all statutory consents including town planning and building regulation approvals are obtained if appropriate;

(b) the requirement of statutory undertakers (such as the electricity, gas or water authorities) are met if appropriate;

(c) our priorwritten consent (such consent not to be unreasonably refused) is obtained prior to any works being carried out to the structure of the Property; and we are notified in writing before and after any major works are carried out;

(d) any damage caused to the Property, or unauthorised alterations to the Property, or neighbouring property or communal areas or ourservices will be repaired by you to our satisfaction or the cost of repair incurred by us in putting the damage or unauthorised alterations rightwill be paid for by you.

2. The terms of the Housing Act 1985 ss97-99 shall apply to this tenancy as if it were a secure tenancy, which may entitle you to compensation for an improvement when your tenancy ends.

3. We will, at our discretion, redecorate the outside of your home, other buildings on the estate and any clubrooms. You are responsible for keeping the interior of your homein a reasonable state of decoration. However, tenants meeting the criteria set by us (further details of this criteria is available on request) will be entitled to have their homes periodically redecorated internally.

SECTION K

Your (Preserved) Right to Buy

You may have a right to buy your home if –

• you were a tenant of your home when it was owned by the London Borough of Lewisham; or
• you have succeeded to this tenancy under Section C of this Tenancy Agreement; or
• the tenancy has been assigned to you under Section B of this Tenancy Agreement.

Your right to buy will be as set out under the Housing Act 1985 and the Housing (Preservation of Right to Buy) Regulations 1993 as if (if it is not the case) you were a tenant of your home and the London Borough of Lewisham was your landlord immediately before your Property transferred to us.

You will retain your Preserved Right to Buy even if you transfer from one property of ours to a different property of ours.

You will also have the right to acquire your home under the Housing Act 1996. You cannot use both the right to buy and the right to acquire.

Notes:

1. Any correspondence with us in relation to your Tenancy Agreement should be made via our offices as detailed below (or as otherwise advised). This is also our address for service for the purposes of Section 48(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987:

Address: …………………………………………

……………………………………………………

Telephone:

2. The period of 'a week' in this Agreement for rent and tenancy purposes is from Monday to Sunday inclusive.
Signed by the Tenant(s):



(sign & print name) (title) 1.____________________________

2.____________________________

Signed on behalf of the Landlord:

(sign & print name) (title) 1._____________________________

Date of Agreement: __ __/__ __/__ __ __ __