Council Tenants' Rights
(for tenants with a Scottish Secure Tenancy)
Most council tenants have a Scottish Secure Tenancy. This is the same type of tenancy as most other tenants living in council or housing association homes in Scotland. Rights given to you by acts of parliament are known as statutory rights.
What are my statutory rights as a tenant?
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Joint Tenancy
You can ask to hold a joint tenancy with another member of your household provided he or she is over 16 years old.
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Succession (taking over a tenancy when a tenant dies)
The tenancy can pass to a joint tenant, or a member of the family who was living in the home at the time of the death.
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Sub-letting and taking in lodgers
You can take in lodgers provided you do not overcrowd your home. You can sub-let part or the whole of your home. The Council allows you to do this for up to 6 months provided you meet certain conditions.You must write to get our permission before you take in a lodger or sub-let. We must reply within a month.
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Assignation (passing your tenancy on to someone else)
You can pass your tenancy to another member of your household provided you ask our permission. The new tenant must have lived in the home, as their only home, for at least 6 months.
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Exchanging homes
You can exchange (swap) homes with another council tenant or a tenant of a housing association.
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Getting repairs done (PDF 48Kb)
You are entitled to have certain urgent repairs carried out within set times under the Right to Repair regulations. You will be told if a repair you have reported is classified as one of these 'qualifying' repairs.
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Carrying out improvements to your home (PDF 48Kb)
You can carry out improvements to your home provided you have written to us asking permission before you start. If we do not reply you have the right to go ahead as if permission had been given.
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Access to and control of personal information
We must treat all personal information about tenants as confidential. You can see information relating to you held by us on file or on computer provided you give us reasonable notice. We can make a charge for this. If you are unhappy about anything recorded in your files, you can ask for it to be corrected or erased. If we disagree with your request, you can insist that your views on the matter are added to the records.
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Changing your management
You and your neighbours may choose to form a tenant management co-operative which could take over managing one or more aspects of the housing service. Your new organisation must be approved by Scottish Ministers. A consultation process would be conducted before such a change could take place.
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Buying your home
You may be able to buy your home in certain circumstances.