In the first of two articles, Jon Holbrook considers the new local authority flexible tenancy scheme
“It is no longer right that the government should require every social tenancy to be for life.” So said the Housing Minister, Grant Shapps MP, in November 2010, in a consultation document on the future of social housing. Eighteen months later the Localism Act 2011 (LA 2011) came into force to enable local authority landlords to grant flexible tenancies which, unlike the existing periodic secure tenancy, will give the landlord a mandatory right of possession. The flexible tenancy need only be for a minimum period of two years.
Fixed-term tenancies should, if local authorities and housing associations grant them, have a profound effect on the sector. The government has made clear its objective of ensuring that social housing is “available for those who genuinely need it” by giving landlords more control over who remains in social housing so that there can be a better match between need and provision.
LA 2011 amends the Housing Act 1985 (HA 1985) to create a new sub-species of the
