Tenancy Rules and Responsibilities

Your tenancy agreement is a legal document. It shows that you are a tenant of Tendring District Council and explains:

• ✅ Your rights (what you are allowed to do)
• 📋 Your responsibilities (what you must do)

Types of tenancy

We use different types of tenancy. All of them are weekly tenancies, which means:

• Your tenancy goes from week to week
• It keeps going unless you or the council end it with notice

Before you sign

We will:

• Tell you what type of tenancy you have
• Explain the rules
• Let you know when we might share your new address with gas or electricity companies (for example, if you leave owing them money)

Tenancy agreements you can view:

• 🔒 Secure and Introductory Tenancy Agreement
• 🏠 Temporary Non-Secure Tenancy Agreement
• 📄 Summary of Differences Between Tenancy Types

Non-secure tenancy

You will usually have a non-secure tenancy if:

• You applied to us as homeless, and you don’t yet qualify for a different type of tenancy.

What This Means:

• You can’t take in lodgers or move to another council home.
• You have less protection from eviction.
• We will do most repairs in your home.
• You will keep this tenancy until we can offer you a more settled home — this might be an introductory tenancy in the same place later on.

Introductory tenancy

An introductory tenancy is a 1-year trial.

During this year:

• You get some of the same rights as a secure tenant.
• But you can be evicted more easily.

You can’t:

• Take in lodgers
• Make changes to your home
• Swap homes with another tenant

We will do most repairs for you.

If you follow the rules in your tenancy agreement during the year, you will automatically become a secure tenant.

Secure tenancy

This means you have more rights and protections.

• You can only be evicted in special cases.
• You can take in a lodger (someone who rents a room from you).
• You may be able to swap homes with another tenant.
• You might be able to buy your home at a discount.
• We will do most repairs in your home.
• We should ask your opinion about how your home is looked after.