Housing Act 1980

28 Secure tenancies

(1) A tenancy under which a dwelling-house is let as a separate dwelling is a secure tenancy at any time when the conditions described below as the landlord condition and the tenant condition are satisfied, but subject to the exceptions in Schedule 3 to this Act and to subsection (5) below and sections 37 and 49 of this Act.

(2) The landlord condition is that—

(a) the interest of the landlord belongs to one of the bodies mentioned in subsection (4) below; or

(b) the interest of the landlord belongs to a housing association falling within subsection (3) of section 15 of the 1977 Act; or

(c) the interest of the landlord belongs to a housing co-operative and the dwelling-house is comprised in a housing co-operative agreement; or

(d) the interest of the landlord belongs to a county council and the tenancy was granted by it in the exercise of the reserve powers conferred on county councils by section 194 of the [1972 c. 70.] Local Government Act 1972.

(3) The tenant condition is that the tenant is an individual and occupies the dwelling-house as his only or principal home; or, where the tenancy is a joint tenancy, that each of the joint tenants is an individual and at least one of them occupies the dwelling-house as his only or principal home.

(4) The bodies referred to in subsection (2) (a) above are—

(a) a local authority;

(b) the Commission for the New Towns;

(c) a development corporation;

(d) the Housing Corporation;

(e) a housing trust which is a charity within the meaning of the [1960 c. 58.] Charities Act 1960 ; and

(f) the Development Board for Rural Wales.

(5) Where a secure tenancy is a tenancy for a term certain and the tenant dies, the tenancy remains a secure tenancy until either—

(a) the tenancy is vested or otherwise disposed of in the course of the administration of the tenant's estate; or

(b) it is known that when the tenancy has been so vested or disposed of it will not be a secure tenancy.