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
If the original occupier was a man who died leaving a widow who was residing F2in the dwelling-house immediately before his death then, after his death, unless the widow is a protected occupier of the dwelling-house by virtue of section 3(2) above, she shall be the statutory tenant if and so long as she occupies the dwelling-house as her 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
the original occupier was not a person who died leaving a surviving spouse who was residing F2in the dwelling-house immediately before his death, but
b
then, after his death, unless that person or, as the case may be, one of those persons is a protected occupier of the F5dwelling-house by virtue of section 3(3) above, that person or, as the case may be, such one of those persons as may be decided by agreement, or in default of agreement by the county court, shall be the statutory tenant if and so long as he occupies the dwelling-house as his residence F5entitled to an assured tenancy of the dwelling-house by succession .
5
F85A
For the purposes of subsection (3) above, a person who was living with the original occupier as his or her wife or husband shall be treated as the spouse of the original occupier and, subject to subsection (5B) below, the references in subsection (3) above to a widow and in subsection (4) above to a surviving spouse 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.
F91
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.
C12
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.
3
The bodies referred to in subsection (2) above are—
a
the council of a county F10, county borough or district or, in the application of this Act to the Isles of Scilly, the Council of those Isles;
b
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F11the council of a London borough or the Common Council of the City of London;
ba
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F14
F16bbb
the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority;
F17bc
the Broads Authority;
F18bd
any National Park authority;
c
the Commission for the New Towns
d
the Housing Corporation;
F19da
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
e
4
If any of the conditions for the time being specified in F23section 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, F24belong to a housing association which—
a
is F25a 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 F26the Housing Associations Act 1985.