Home   Housing   Your tenancy   Your rights as a council tenant

Your rights as a council tenant

Most council tenants have a Scottish Secure Tenancy. Rights given to you by acts of parliament are known as statutory rights. 

Changes to tenants' rights were implemented in November 2019.

You can watch one of our housing officers explaining the changes:

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.

Permission will only be granted if:

  • the current tenant has lived there for at least 12 months before the application is made
  • the person you wish to add as a joint tenant has lived there, as their only home, for at least 12 months
  • we have been told that they were living there, as their only home, at least 12 months before the application is made

Succession

Succession is 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.

To qualify to succeed to the tenancy:

  • they must have lived in the home, as their only home, for at least 12 months
  • we must have been told that they were living there, as their only home, at least 12 months prior to the tenant’s death

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.

Permission will only be granted if:

  • the current tenant has lived there for at least 12 months before the application is made

If they were not the tenant throughout that period, then:

  • the house must have been their only home during those 12 months
  • the person who was the tenant at that time must have told us that the person who is now the tenant was living there

Assignation

Assignation is passing a tenancy on to someone else. You can pass your tenancy to another member of your household provided you ask our permission.

Permission will only be granted if:

  • the new tenant has lived in the home, as their only home, for at least 12 months 
  • we have been told that the household member was living there, as their only home, at least 12 months before the application is made

Exchanging homes

You can exchange (swap) homes with another council tenant or a tenant of a housing association. 

Getting repairs done

You are entitled to have certain 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 a 'qualifying' repair.

Carrying out home improvements

You can carry out improvements to your home (PDF, 68kb) provided you have written to us asking permission before you start. If we don't reply within 1 month of receiving your request and required information, you have the right to go ahead as if permission had been given.

Council tenants wishing to carry out alterations to their home, must apply to us for permission before starting any work. 

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.

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.

Complaint or significant performance failure

In the first instance, you should make a complaint to us. If you are unhappy with how things were dealt with, further guidance is available from the Scottish Housing Regulator.

Contact Housing

Get in touch with your local housing office

Telephone

01294 310000

Facebook

NAC Housing Services Facebook page

Staff training

Please note: Housing offices close from 1.30pm on the second Thursday of every month for staff training.

Tenant Approved Logo