Statutory tenancy
8.—(1) This paragraph applies if the spouse or cohabitee is entitled to occupy the dwelling-house by virtue of a statutory tenancy.
(2) The court may by order direct that, as from the date specified in the order,—
(a)that spouse or cohabitee is to cease to be entitled to occupy the dwelling-house; and
(b)the other spouse or cohabitee is to be deemed to be the tenant or, as the case may be, the sole tenant under that statutory tenancy.
(3) The question whether the provisions of paragraph 1 to 4, or (as the case may be) paragraphs 6 to 9 of Schedule 1 to the [1978 NI 20.] Rent (Northern Ireland) Order 1978, as to the succession by the widow or widower of a deceased tenant, or by a member of the deceased tenant’s family, to the right to retain possession are capable of having effect in the event of the death of the person deemed by an order under this paragraph to be the tenant or sole tenant under the statutory tenancy is to be determined according as those provisions or the corresponding provisions of the Rent Restriction Acts have or have not already had effect in relation to the statutory tenancy.