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Types of council tenancies

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What to expect

We want you to feel happy, secure and supported in your Camden home.  

What you can expect from us

As your landlord, you can expect us to: 

  • take action to address problems and support people as early as possible 
  • make our services approachable, transparent and easy to meet the diverse needs of residents 
  • listen, understand and act with kindness 
  • ensure no one gets left behind 

Find out more about our housing and repairs standards. 

What we expect from you

As a tenant, we expect you to:  

Read more about your tenancy agreement and tenancy conditions.

If you have a question about your tenancy 

If you have a question about your tenancy, contact your Neighbourhood Housing Officer or call us on 020 7974 4444. 

Introductory tenancies

When you become a new council tenant, you have an introductory tenancy for the first 12 months.  

An introductory tenancy is like a trial period before you become a secure tenant. 

You have the right to: 

  • have your home repaired 
  • be consulted about changes that will impact you 

You do not have the right to: 

  • exchange your home 
  • sub-let part of your home or take in a lodger 
  • alter your home, including decorating the outside 
  • buy your home 

During your introductory tenancy, we expect you to follow the conditions of your tenancy agreement. 

If you keep to your tenancy conditions, you will automatically become a secure tenant after 12 months. This means you have more rights, including the Right to Buy.  

If you break the conditions of your introductory tenancy 

If we are taking legal action to end your tenancy, we'll send you a ‘notice of possession proceedings’ letter explaining our reasons. 

You can attend the review with someone to represent you. This could be a friend or legal representative. You can get free legal advice from the North West London Law Centres. 

Secure tenancies

You will automatically become a secure tenant after 12 months of an introductory tenancy unless we have: 

  • extended your introductory tenancy by 6 months 
  • taken possession action against you 

If you have a secure tenancy, you have the right to: 

You will remain a secure tenant if you’re a: 

  • council secure tenant and move from one tenancy to another with no gap between 
  • housing association secure or assured tenant moving into a council home with no gap between the tenancies  

Struggling to meet the conditions of a secure tenancy 

If you’re struggling to maintain your tenancy, you should contact us as soon as possible on 020 7974 4444. We want you to have a successful tenancy and we'll work with you to overcome any issues.  

Eviction is a last resort, and we will only make a request to the court if our efforts to work with you have failed.  If this happens, we’ll send you a notice of possession proceedings letter. The court will only approve the order if we can prove our reasons for ending your tenancy. 

Assignment of a tenancy 

You can only assign your tenancy to someone who would be able to succeed to it if you died.  

You should get independent legal advice before starting the assignment process. You can apply for an assignment by asking your Neighbourhood Housing Officer for a form. 

Joint tenancies

When a new tenancy begins, we normally offer a joint tenancy to married couples and couples with a registered civil partnership. 

We will also consider requests for joint tenancies with a partner when the tenant is not married or in a civil partnership. The couple must have been living together for at least a year.  

We will not consider requests for joint tenancies with anyone other than spouses or partners. 

Make an application for a joint tenancy 

Speak to your Neighbourhood Housing Officer if you want to make an application for a joint tenancy. 

If one tenant moves out 

If one tenant moves out, the joint tenancy continues if the remaining tenant lives in the property as their only or main home. 

A sole tenancy will only be considered when a joint tenancy is ended by one of the tenants and there is no under-occupation of the property. 

If a joint tenant dies 

If one joint tenant dies, the other joint tenant keeps the tenancy in their sole name. This counts as a succession.  

The remaining tenant is responsible for paying the rent, including any arrears. 

Adding someone to your household

If someone joins your household, contact 020 7974 4444 so we can update our tenancy records.