Purpose

This report presents the proposal to formally adopt the Thanet District Council Tenancy Strategy and Tenant Management Policy. Previously updated in 2022, the documents have been reviewed and revised to ensure compliance with recent legislative changes and align with current social and housing data to address local needs.

Local Authorities are mandated by the Localism Act 2011 to publish a Tenancy Strategy. This strategy provides guidance to Registered Providers of Social Housing (RP’s) regarding their tenancy management policies and other such policies and guidelines that affect their tenants.

The Tenant Management Policy is required by all social landlords and should regard the contents of the Tenancy Strategy. The policy outlines what tenancy flexibility can be offered, how tenancies are managed, how tenancies are ended and criteria for tenancy succession.

While both the Tenancy Strategy and Tenant Management Policy have their own defined purpose, there is significant overlap between the two documents. Therefore, it was judged that both should be brought before Cabinet together as the updates and refresh are more often relevant to both documents.

Decision

Cabinet agreed the following, to:

1. Approve the draft Tenancy Strategy and Tenant Management Policy for adoption.

Reasons for the decision

It is a statutory requirement that the council has a published Tenancy Strategy and Tenant Management Policy that is regularly updated. These new documents ensure the council meets these obligations and ensure transparency and fairness for all council tenants within the district.

Alternative options considered

The previous strategy and policy was published in 2022 and has reached the end of its lifetime. Both required an update due to changes in legislation and regulation.