• Clarification of the statutory and contractual rights of tenants
• Understanding the differences between types of tenancy and the difference between
• tenancies and licences
• Suspected abandonment and how to deal with it
• Tenants’ responsibilities
• Social landlords’ rights and responsibilities
• The most common grounds for possession
• When the housing provider gets it wrong

Who should attend?
Caretaking staff who require an introduction to the legal framework of tenants' rights & responsibilities, how security might be threatened and what might happen if the housing provider gets it wrong.

Pre-course
Participants should bring copies of their different tenancy agreements on the day.

Workshop content

The legal framework: rights, responsibilities, interpretation & enforcement
Tenancy and licences: types of tenancies
Housing Corporation expectations
Tenants' statutory & contractual rights: succession, sub-letting, lodgers, assignments, mutual exchanges, repairs, improvements, Right to Buy
Tenants' responsibilities: contractual, use of dwelling, notice, access, rent payments, complying with terms
Case studies
Security threatened: death, abandonment, surrender of tenancy
Common grounds for possession, protection from eviction, boarding up empty properties, disposal of belongings  
When the housing provider gets it wrong: complaints mechanisms, Ombudsman, bad publicity, losing legal challenges, Housing Corporation and/or Housing Inspectorate
Questions and discussion, summing up, evaluation