Part I Preliminary
Statutory tenancies
4 Statutory tenants and tenancies.
1
Subject to section 5 below, where a person ceases to be a protected occupier of a dwelling-house on the termination, whether by notice to quit or by virtue of section 16(3) of this Act or otherwise, of his licence or tenancy, he shall, if and so long as he occupies the dwelling-house as his residence, be the statutory tenant of it.
2
Subject to section 5 below, subsection (3), F1. . . below shall have effect for determining what person (if any) is the statutory tenant of a dwelling-house at any time after the death of a person (“the original occupier”) who was, immediately before his death, a protected occupier or statutory tenant of the dwelling-house in his own right.
3
F27If the original occupier was a person who died leaving a surviving partner who was residing in the dwelling-house immediately before the original occupier’s death then, after the original occupier’s death, unless the surviving partner is a protected occupier of the dwelling-house by virtue of section 3(2) above, the surviving partner shall be the statutory tenant if and so long as he occupies the dwelling-house as his residence.
This subsection is framed by reference to the case where the original occupier was a man, but is to be read as applying equally in the converse case where the original occupier was a woman.
4
Where—
a
b
5
F265ZA
In subsections (3) and (4) above “ surviving partner ” means surviving spouse or surviving civil partner.
5A
For the purposes of subsection (3) above—
a
a person who was living with the original occupier as his or her husband or wife shall be treated as the spouse of the original occupier, and
b
a person who was living with the original occupier as if they were civil partners shall be treated as the civil partner of the original occupier,
and, subject to subsection (5B) below, “surviving spouse” and “surviving civil partner” in subsection (5ZA) above shall be construed accordingly.
5B
If, immediately after the death of the original occupier, there is, by virtue of subsection (5A) above, more than one person who fulfils the conditions in subsection (3) above, such one of them as may be decided by agreement or, in default of agreement by the county court, shall be the statutory tenant by virtue of that subsection.
5C
If the original occupier died within the period of 18 months beginning on the operative date, then, for the purposes of subsection (3) above, a person who was residing in the dwelling-house with the original occupier at the time of his death and for the period which began 6 months before the operative date and ended at the time of his death shall be taken to have been residing with the original occupier for the period of 2 years immediately before his death; and in this subsection “ the operative date ” means the date on which Part I of the Housing Act 1988 came into force.
6
A dwelling-house is, in this Act, referred to as subject to a statutory tenancy where there is a statutory tenant of it.
5 No statutory tenancy where landlord’s interest belongs to Crown or to local authority, etc.
F81
A person shall not at any time be a statutory tenant of a dwelling-house if the interest of his immediate landlord would, at that time—
a
belong to Her Majesty in right of the Crown or to a government department, or
b
be held in trust for Her Majesty for the purposes of a government department;
except that an interest belonging to Her Majesty in right of the Crown shall not prevent a person from being a statutory tenant if the interest is under the management of the Crown Estate Commissioners.
C1C5C4C6C32
A person shall not at any time be a statutory tenant of a dwelling-house if the interest of his immediate landlord would, at that time, belong to any of the bodies specified in subsection (3) below.
C5C4C6C33
The bodies referred to in subsection (2) above are—
a
the council of a county F9, county borough or district or, in the application of this Act to the Isles of Scilly, the Council of those Isles;
b
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F10the council of a London borough or the Common Council of the City of London;
ba
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F13
F15bbb
the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority;
F16bc
the Broads Authority;
F17bd
any National Park authority;
c
the Commission for the New Towns
d
the Housing Corporation;
F18da
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
e
C5C4C6C34
If any of the conditions for the time being specified in F22section 15(4) of the M4Rent Act 1977 (conditions for the operation of the corresponding provision of that Act) is fulfilled, a person shall not be a statutory tenant of a dwelling-house at any time if the interest of his immediate landlord would, at that time, F23belong to a housing association which—
a
is F24a registered social landlord within the meaning of the Housing Act 1985 (see section 5(4) and (5) of that Act), or
b
is a co-operative housing association within the meaning of F25the Housing Associations Act 1985.