Regulated tenancies restrict the amounts by which landlords may increase rents – generally a ‘fair rent’ set by a rent officer, with increases from thereon limited to inflation plus 5%. They also make landlords responsible for major repairs, and give tenants and their heirs considerable security of tenure. Regulated tenancies can apply to all or part of a house, flat, maisonette or bungalow and can be furnished or unfurnished, but do not apply where there is a live-in landlord.

Evicting a tenant from a property which is the subject of a regulated tenancy is extremely difficult.  The courts can only grant possession orders in limited circumstances. Further, if tenants die, their spouses (or somebody living with them as if husband or wife will normally take over their regulated tenancy (another family member who has been living in the home for two years can also take over the tenancy but this will be as an assured, not a regulated, tenancy).

When it comes to rent, either the landlord or the tenant can apply to the rent officer for a fair rent to be registered. Once that has been done, the registered rent is the maximum that can be charged until it is reviewed or cancelled on application to the rent officer. 

Even if a rent is not registered, the landlord may only increase the rent in certain circumstances.

Because the amount of rent that can be charged is restricted, because regulated tenants have security of tenure, and because they are often older and more resistant to changes and improvements being made to their homes, the capital value of properties with regulated tenancies are usually substantially lower than similar properties without tenants.

To free up property with regulated tenants for refurbishment or development, landlords sometimes try to use provisions which allow them to move regulated tenants to suitable alternative accommodation. The procedure requires court approval – which it will only give if convinced it is reasonable to do so, and that alternative accommodation is of sufficient size and condition, and is presented with a certificate from the local council confirming that the alternative accommodation is indeed suitable. Should the move to alternative accommodation be approved, the new tenancy will also be a regulated tenancy.

Another ground for possession is that there is statutory overcrowding in the property, as defined in the Housing Act 1985.

Statutory overcrowding is a fairly complicated definition which boils down to a requirement that each resident should have a reasonable amount of sleeping accommodation, and that unrelated adults of the opposite sex do not have to share the same room. Children under ten may share a room with anybody of the opposite sex. How many same sex people should be permitted to sleep in the same room is determined by floor area – at least 70 square feet for one person, 110 square feet for two people. 

Rooms counted as sleeping accommodation include living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms and the living area of an open-plan kitchen/living room.  As a general rule one room is considered suitable for one or two people, if the two people are of the same sex or are partners, or one or both are aged under 10. Two rooms are considered suitable for up to three people, and 3 rooms up to five people.

In addition, the HHSRS, which applies to all residential properties (HHSRS), includes ‘crowding and space’ as one of its 29 categories of hazard. It is the only hazard where the current level of occupancy should be considered before scoring. HHSRS states that a dwelling with one bedroom is suitable for up to two people regardless of age; two bedrooms for up to four people; three for up to six people; and four for up to seven people. Living rooms and kitchens are also considered.

Possession might also be obtained if tenant has not paid the rent, or has broken some other term of the tenancy. The court has discretion, which is often used liberally, to decide whether to end the tenancy if the tenant can be shown to have caused a nuisance or annoyance to neighbours, has been convicted of immoral or illegal use of the premises, has damaged the property or allowed it to become damaged, or has damaged the furniture. Likewise, if the landlord has arranged to sell or let the property because the tenant gave notice that he or she was giving up the tenancy, the tenant has assigned or sublet the whole of the property without the landlord’s consent, the tenant was an employee of the landlord and the landlord requires the property for a new employee, the landlord needs the property for himself or herself or certain members of his or her family to live in and that greater hardship would not be caused by granting the order than by refusing to grant it (this does not normally apply if the tenant was a sitting tenant when the landlord bought the property), or the tenant has charged a subtenant more than the Rent Act permits.

Circumstances in which the court should grant the landlord possession include when the landlord let his or her home with the intention of returning to live there again, the landlord let accommodation to which he or she intends to retire, the property was intended for farm workers or managers and has been let temporarily to an ordinary tenant, the landlord was a member of the regular armed forces at the time the letting was made and intended to live in the house at some future date.

To use these cases the landlord must have given prior written notice that he or she may apply for possession for this reason in the future. However, given the length of time that regulated tenancies will have been in existence (tenants will have been in situ for more than 20 years), cases where these grounds apply are now extremely rare.

The government booklet ‘Regulated Tenancies’ explains the rights and duties of landlords and tenants of regulated tenancies in more detail (www.communities.gov.uk).