1.1 Under the Localism Act 2011 every local housing authority in England has a duty to prepare and publish a tenancy strategy. This is the tenancy strategy provided by Portsmouth City Council (“the city council”) to cover the Portsmouth local authority area. The strategy must set out the matters which Registered Providers (RPs), who provide social housing within their area, must have regard to in formulating policies relating to:
- the kind of tenancies they grant
- the circumstances in which they will grant a tenancy of a particular kind
- where they grant tenancies for a specific term, the lengths of the terms, and
- the circumstances in which they will grant a further tenancy when an existing tenancy comes to an end.
1.2 The strategy also includes the city council’s approach to granting tenancies to its own social housing stock.
1.3 It is important to note that RPs need only to have regard to the tenancy strategy in developing their tenancy policies and are not legally obliged to follow it. However the city council requests that RPs in Portsmouth review their tenancy policies in line with this strategy in order to ensure that wherever possible their policies work to complement, and do not contradict, this strategy.
1.4 RPs operating in Portsmouth include non-profit making and charitable housing associations registered with Homes England and the Regulator for Social Housing. This includes the council as a landlord of social housing.
1.5 The term ‘affordable housing’ in the context of this strategy covers properties let at either a social or affordable rent.