Moving out of your home If you decide you want to end your tenancy, you must give us four weeks written notice (ending on a Monday at 12 noon) or pay four weeks rent instead. Before ending your tenancy, you should complete a tenancy termination form and make sure your rent is paid up to the end of the notice period. When you move out of your home, you must:

• Leave it empty, clean and in a good state of repair.
  We will usually inspect your home before you end your tenancy and tell you if any items need to be repaired or replaced.
  
  
• Leave any loft space, garden, garage, shed or outbuilding or land allocated to you clean and clear of belongings.
  We will charge you if we have to remove any belongings or rubbish from the property.
  
  
• Report any repairs that are our responsibility and repair any items that are your responsibility.
  We will charge you for any repairs we have to carry out that you were responsible for or as a result of any unsatisfactory alterations you have made.
  
  
• Use a gas safe registered engineer if you are taking any gas appliances with you and the gas supply must be properly capped off.
  
  
• Return all keys before the end of the notice period including front door, communal entrance door, garage, shed and storage shed keys.
  You will be given a receipt when you return the keys and if the keys are not returned by the end of the notice period we will charge you a further weeks rent.
  
  
• Tell your electricity, gas, water and telephone companies that you are moving and arrange for your mail to be redirected to your new address.
  Please see the DirectGov website for further information on who to tell when you are moving.

Transfers

If you are a secure tenant, you can apply to move to another property by joining our housing register.

The amount of time you have to wait for a move will depend on:

• how urgently you need to move (for example your present home is unsuitable for medical reasons); and
  
• how soon a suitable property becomes available in the area you want to move to.

If we agree that you do need a transfer, we will inspect your home to make sure it is in a satisfactory condition and tell you what (if any) repairs or redecoration you need to carry out before you can move.

To apply for a transfer, you can complete our Application for Housing form. To see the amount of vacancies and properties we own in each part of the district, please read A guide to council accommodation (pdf document).

If you wish to move to a smaller property and have a secure tenancy, you may be eligible for our Under-occupation transfer incentive scheme (pdf document).

Exchanges All exchanges are dealt with through HomeSwapper which is an internet based service. This holds the details of thousands of tenants across the country who are looking to exchange their homes. For further information, visit the Homeswapper website. If you exchange, you accept responsibility for the condition of the property as left by the tenants you are exchanging with. We will only carry out an electric and gas safety check at the start of your tenancy and any repairs needed to the structure or outside of the property.

Intermediate market rent

This is an option that offers new build homes to rent at 80% (or less) of typical market rents and homes are available through a range of housing associations on an assured shorthold tenancy, usually for an initial period of six months.

Many housing associations that let properties through this scheme also offer an option to buy a share in the property on a New Build HomeBuy basis at a later date. Some housing associations may ask you to agree to purchase the property after a pre-defined rental period. This is called Rent to HomeBuy.

More information on intermediate market rent is available from the HomeBuy options website.

You can also see our home ownership pages which includes information about buying property through shared ownership schemes, right to buy and information for council leaseholders.

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