Divergence between Local Authority Tenancy and Tenancy under Housing Act of 1988

This assignment discusses the differences between local authority tenancy and tenancy under the Housing Act of 1988, subsequent legislations, and Secure Tenant under Rent Act of 1977. It highlights the importance of the Housing Act of 1988 in providing assurance and security to tenants and landlords. The assignment also provides valuable information on secured tenancy and the rights and interests of landlords and tenants.

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Real Estate Industry
Table of Contents

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Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Local authority Tenancy and Tenancy under The Housing Act of 1988........................................3
The subsequent legislations.............................................................................................................4
Secure Tenant under The Rent Act of 1977....................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Reference List..................................................................................................................................9
Introduction
The housing Act of 1988 is one of the most important acts of the parliament of United Kingdom.
This act lays emphasis upon the relationship and the rules and regulations prevalent between the
landlord and the tenants. This act holds an important position in United Kingdom because it

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introduced the ideas of assured tenancy and assured short hold tenancy. Another important
legislation passed in United Kingdom with this regard is The Rent Act of 1977. This act secures
the tenants who are in possession of a residential immovable property from the charging of
exorbitant rents and providing them with the rights to hold their possession of the property in the
same way like it was before. All these are enforced through contractual terms and obligations as
per the laws of United Kingdom. It has introduced the important concept of protected tenancy in
England and Wales (Tang, 2011).
The current assignment deals with the divergence between the local authority tenancy and the
tenancy under the Housing Act of 1988. The subsequent legislations with this regard have been
noted down in the assignment. Emphasis has been laid down upon the concept of Secure
Tenancy under the Rent Act of 1977. Upon referring to the above acts, valuable information can
be received with regard to the secured tenancy and differences in the local authority tenancy and
the tenancy under the Housing Act of 1988.
Local authority Tenancy and Tenancy under The Housing Act of 1988
Before the passing of the housing act in 1988 the maximum tenancies were secured. Once the
tenants occupied the property in their possession, it would become a hereditary thing. The
tenants and then their offsprings would continue their possession in the properties. The landlords
had a difficult task in removing the tenants from their possession. Consequently, the landlords
did not want to rent their properties to the tenants. Then the Housing act was passed in 1988.
This revived the situation of the tenants in the private sectors. The housing act of 1988 comprises
the assured tenancies and the assured short hold tenancies. The assured tenancies mean the legal
type of residential tenancies to a person. Assured tenancy provides assurance and the security to
the tenants from the legal aspects (Kumar, 2011). The assured short hold tenancy is a kind of
assured tenancies with the provisions of a secured time limit as specified in the contracts. The
major points of difference between such assured tenancy under the housing act of 1988 and the
local authority tenancy, is that the former possesses the rights and interests to purchase instead of
the right to acquire the immovable property. There are various other subtle differences between
the two tenancies under the housing act of 1988

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The differences between the local authority tenancy and the tenancy under the housing act of
1988 are many. Some landlords are of the opinion that the tenants think that the Housing Act of
1988 deals with the private rights and the statutory responsibilities of each of the parties. The
differences include that a tenancy under the housing act of 1988 lays down those rules,
conditions and regulations in detail which a local authority tenancy cannot provide. The second
difference with this regard states that a tenancy under the housing Act of 1988 refers to the
definite terms of the tenancy. For instance, how much amount of rent would be feasible and what
would be the longevity of the agreement (McKee, Muir & Moore, 2017). The local authority
tenancy does not deal with these factors. On the contrary, the local authority tenancy possesses a
much narrower outlook. It is not as wide as the tenancies covered under the arena of the housing
Act of 1988.
Other differences with regard to the local authority tenancies and the tenancies under the housing
act of 1988 includes that the latter provides a tenure with great security. The legal principle
involved behind this criteria is that the act was created to provide the protection. This is
accompanied with a notice period of two months (Fereidouni, Al-Mulali & Mohammed, 2013). It
provides the landlord with the right to gain the possessions as in the matters of serious matters.
The tenancy under the Housing act of 1988 possesses certain features which are not included
under the local authority tenancies. Some of these features include, the succession of the
beneficiaries and the controlling and the monitoring of the rents. There remains an open ground
for the tenants to challenge the rents and other capitals issued for this purpose (Parr, 2011).
As per the tenancy under the housing act of 1988, there are various considerations as regards the
landlord. The agreements between the landlord and the tenants should be in accordance with the
laws of the ruling act and other acts in force. The whole agreement then would be considered as
a valid one. In case a letting agent is empowered to manage the properties of the local authority
tenant and the tenant under the housing act of 1988 the responsibilities of the agent becomes
increased for the tenants who act for the former (Hoolachan et al., 2017).
The subsequent legislations
After the commencement of the housing act of 1988, it became a watershed time for the rented
areas in the private sector. The importance was shifted to the landlords from the tenants, who in

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turn had become the virtual owners of the properties which they had taken on rent. It pushed the
tenancy to a balanced position and there was equal rights and liabilities created for the tenants as
well as the landlords. This act brought about a more equitable position in the scenario of the
tenancies (Ingram & Kirwan, 2011).
While referring to the subsequent legislations that took place after the commencement of the
housing act of 1988, it can be rightly stated that there has been not many amendments and the
passing of many statutory regulations after it. the housing act of 1988 opened various avenues
and introduced new concepts with regard to the provisions of tenancy (Davidoff, 2013). The act
successfully promoted ways to the enhanced protection of the landlords and the tenants. Special
emphasis has been laid upon the security and the rights and interests of the landlords. This act
provides the reduction of rent, a secured tenure of the tenancy of the immovable property as per
the terms of the contract stipulated between the parties. It brings in the concept of assured
tenancy to provide protection and security to the landlords from the prolonged and indiscriminate
letting out of the immovable properties to the tenants. The act enhances the principle of securing
the landlords in the interest of their properties (Jordan, 2018).
After the commencement of the housing act of 1988, the record of the subsequent acts and the
legislations with regard to the housing acts and the reforms in the housing aspect are given
below. The landlords and the tenants, including the category of the letting agents, must function
as per the laws and the rules of the laws in force in United Kingdom at that time Cowan &
Hatinoglu, 2012). In case of any violence of the rules stated in those acts or failure to comply
with the rules and regulations of the statutes created by the legislative authority of the parliament
of United Kingdom, then there would be severe punishments awarded depending upon the
situation and the present circumstances. To add to this, there would be a ban in letting out further
properties to those individuals in the near future. The Housing Act of 2004 has altered various
concepts of the previous act of 1988. It has introduced the contemporary concepts of tenancy. It
imposes letting out of the properties from a modern point of view (Kemp, 2011). It creates
stringent definitions upon tenancy deposit compliance, licensing and the examination by the
council which has been authorized for this purpose. Furthermore, there were more escalations to
this concept. As a result of which, there were alterations in the deposit protection of tenants
monies. This was introduced in April 2007, but it was escalated after five years. it was

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commenced in April, 2012 in the name of the Localism Bill. Furthermore there was another bill
introduced for this purpose. This was the Deregulation Bill of 2015. This bill adds a new phase
to section 21 of the housing act. The section is altered and a notice for a period of two months is
included in it (Gooding & Gul, 2014). There lies expiration of the notice period after the passing
of the dates stipulated in the agreements of the tenancies. Various restrictions are also imposed
upon its use. After the passing of the housing act in 1988, there were similar regulations and
statutes passed in this concept. The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations of 1998 was
enacted. The subsequent legislations also include: the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act of
1999, The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order of 2005 along with the Building Regulations
of 2000 (Boon, 2014). The case law, Superstrike v Rodrigues states that these subsequent
legislations possess the ingredients of supporting the housing Act of 1988. With the passage of
the Wales Housing Act in 2014 and The Heat Network (Metering and Billing) Regulations of
2014, the concepts of tenancy has become more clear. Thus, these were the various subsequent
legislations after the passing of the housing act in the year 1988 (Health, 2014).
Secure Tenant under The Rent Act of 1977
A secure tenant is often known as a protected tenant. A protected tenancy is a kind of tenancy
which is controlled and monitored with the help of the statutory codes and the rules as stated in
the rent act of 1977. The concept of secured tenancy is applied to most of the important tenancies
which has commenced before the date of 15th January 1989. This is during the times when the
new code was made with the help of the housing act of 1988 (Holt, Eccles & Benett, 2011).
The legal principle involved in this concept of the secured tenancy under the rent act of 1977, the
essential features of such tenancy are stated under. Such a secured tenant possesses the right of
registering a fair rent, which would be the absolute date and the sole rent permitted for this
purpose. Such a tenant can, in the ordinary course can be evicted from the tenancy if such a
tenant is in arrears of the rent. In such a case, the landlord must provide with an appropriate
accommodation upon the alternative basis. In case the secured tenant possesses a spouse or any
relative or a member of the family at the time of the expiration of such secure tenant, then such a
person would inherit and succeed either a different tenancy, which would be protected under the

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rent act of 1977 or if there was an existence of an assured tenancy (Arden & Dymond, 2012).
The former condition is covered in case of spouses, while the latter covers the long term security
of the tenures.
The impacts of the above condition stated above comes into force, when a tenant cannot evict
and who is in general possesses the responsibility to pay the required sum. Such a sum is
comparatively lesser than the rent which is prevalent in the market and could have been charged
if such a property was under the assured tenancy. The statement of assumptions involves the
recognition of certain rules with regard to the protected tenancies (Astmarsson, Jenen & Maslesa,
2013). They include the following:
Firstly, in case the property is being sold at a cost which is considerably very low, then it would
be a normal signature that there has initiated a kind of a problem. These are the criteria for the
fulfillment of the object that there remains a presence of the secured tenant. Secondly, when
there is lack of availability of any agreement of tenancy. If the sellers are not competent enough
to furnish a copy of the agreement of the tenancy, there should be various alarms which would be
eminent in the brains (Badarinza & Ramadorai, 2015). This might create an indication, that the
tenancy would be commenced from the time when it was framed. Thirdly, there would be
checking of the valuation of the office of the rent register. In case the tenant is registered, it
would be found on the electronic basis of the modern technology. It should be maintained by the
valuation office and the secured tenants would be protected in this manner (Bellemare, 2012).
Thus, these were indications of the secured tenant as per the rules and regulations of the rent act
of 1977.
Conclusion
After a close perusal of the above facts and information stated in the assignment, it can be
concluded that the housing act of 1988 throws light upon the rights, interests and the liabilities of
the landlords and the tenants in a property. The history has witnessed the poor conditions of the
landlords, and hoe they were deprived of their own properties from the tenants to whom they had
let them. With the evolution of the act of 1988, the landlords were more protected and their
tenancy was secured. The tenants were benefitted too, from this act. There were reduction in the
costs of the rent. There were many differences between the assured tenancy under the housing

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act of 1988 and the local authority tenancies. There has been subsequent legislations after the
passing of the act. The rent act of 1977 lays emphasis upon the secured tenants.

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