Your rights
It's important to know your rights. Read through your tenancy agreement and resident handbook carefully. You'll find the handbook at the bottom of this page. If you're unclear about anything, please speak to your local officer.
Download the resident handbook for social and affordable rent
Your responsibilities
We expect you to pay your rent on time and in full.
If you're experiencing financial difficulty and are worried about being able to pay your rent or service charge on time, please log in into My Account to get in touch with your housing officer for advice and read our benefits and money advice page.
Clogged drains, broken light bulbs and dead batteries in a fire detector are all examples of repairs we expect you to carry out yourself, along with a variety of others. If a repair requires contractors to do any work, we expect you to let them inside.
It is one of the conditions of your tenancy that you and the other people living in your house or block keep the shared areas clean (unless you have a cleaner you pay for by a service charge added to your rent) and free from obstruction.
If you have a furnished tenancy, we expect you to take care of the furniture and let us know if anything is broken or damaged. You may keep the furniture for as long as you stay in your home. You'll need our permission to remove any furniture.
You may think because your belongings are inside a Notting Hill Genesis property they would automatically fall under our insurance policy. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Notting Hill Genesis does not have a financial interest in your contents or personal belongings. Your contents and personal belongings are your property and therefore your financial duty to have the appropriate contents insurance cover to protect you and your contents and belongings against damage or theft. You should seek independent insurance advice to help you arrange contents. To help you, the National Housing Federation My Home Contents Insurance Scheme in conjunction with Thistle Tenant Risks can offer tenants and residents the option to insure the contents inf their homes. As one option, please read 'My Home contents Insurance' leaflet for more information.
A tenant is unlawfully subletting if he/she signs a tenancy agreement with a landlord, doesn't live in the property him/herself, and instead charges someone else to live in the property and earns money from the rent.
Unlawful subletting is a very serious matter. You can be prosecuted for tenancy fraud if you are found to be unlawfully subletting, and your application for permanent housing with your local council can be annulled.
Please refer to your tenancy agreement and resident handbook if you’re unsure about what is and is not allowed, or read further information about subletting and lodgers. If you're still unsure, you should get in contact with your housing officer/PMO via My Account.
We expect you to treat our staff with respect and avoid strong language or threatening behaviour. Where behaviour is unacceptable, legal action will be taken.
Which tenancy type do you have?
When you start renting with us you’ll be given a probationary tenancy for one year. Once this period has ended, if you have kept to the terms of the tenancy, you can expect to be offered a fixed-term tenancy for a longer period of time, usually five years.
If you're a new tenant
New tenants will be given a probationary tenancy, which is an initial trial period that lasts for one year. This is granted as an assured shorthold tenancy for 12 months.
Towards the end of the year, we will review your tenancy. If you have kept to the terms of your tenancy and there are no arrears, you can expect to be converted over to an Assured tenancy In exceptional circumstances we may extend the probationary tenancy by six months or offer you a tenancy for two years.
If you do not keep to the terms of the tenancy, such as committing anti-social behaviour or not paying your rent, then you may not be offered a new tenancy.
Decisions to end or extend a tenancy may be appealed and your housing officer will provide information on how to do this. If we decide to end your tenancy, your housing officer will offer advice and information to help you find alternative accommodation.
If your probation period has ended
Most tenants will move on from a probationary tenancy to an assured tenancy.
Towards the end of the fixed term, we will review your tenancy to decide whether to convert the tenancy over to an assured one The review will look at circumstances including whether you have kept to the terms of your tenancy and whether the property is still the right size for your household. We will contact you to let you know when the review is happening so you will have an opportunity to tell us anything that you want to be taken into account.
If there have been no significant changes to your circumstances during your tenancy then you can expect your tenancy to be converted to an assured tenancy.
If your circumstances have changed, we may offer you a new tenancy at a different property, for example one which is the right size for your household or where you can get the right support for your needs.
If you have not kept to the terms of your tenancy, then you may not be offered a new tenancy. Your tenancy will not be converted over to an assured tenancy if you own another home that you can reasonably be expected to live in.
Decisions to end a tenancy or move you to another property may be appealed and your housing officer can give you information on how to do this.
If we decide to end your tenancy, your housing officer will offer advice and information to help you find alternative accommodation.
Succession
The rights to a successor vary and are specified in each resident’s tenancy agreement. Some residents will have a statutory or contractual right to a successor.
If statutory or contractual rights don’t apply, an applicant may have a discretionary right. This means that a discretionary tenancy would only be offered if there are exceptional circumstances. We will make a decision whether the exceptional circumstances exist when considering an application to succeed the tenancy.
All applicants applying to succeed a tenancy must provide proof that they have been living at the address a minimum of 12 months prior to the death of a resident.
If you're not sure whether you have the right to a successor, you should first check your tenancy agreement. If you need any more information, you should contact your housing officer/PMO by logging in or registering for My Account.
Right to Buy for tenants
Some tenants have a right to purchase their home. There are three schemes through which you may be able to buy the home you’re currently renting at a discounted price.
If you're interested and think you might be eligible for any of these schemes, please contact your housing officer by logging in to My Account. You can also find out more about buying one of our shared ownership homes.