Our tenancy strategy and tenancy policy have been reviewed to ensure sustainable communities, where social housing tenants have security of tenure and social housing is genuinely affordable to local people in housing need.

We're required by the Localism Act 2011 to produce a tenancy strategy which sets out our expectations to private registered providers (the majority of which are housing associations) in relation to tenancies and rents. The draft revised strategy requests private registered providers to provide lifetime tenancies as default (following any starter tenancy) and to set rents below or in line with the relevant local housing allowance (LHA), thereby aiming to ensure sustainable communities, and that affordable housing is genuinely affordable to local people in housing need.

Where a local authority wishes to use flexible (or fixed-term) tenancies for its own housing stock it must produce a tenancy policy. In 2015 we adopted a tenancy policy which introduced flexible tenancies for the dwellings managed by its arms-length management organisation, STAR Housing. The draft revised tenancy policy proposes to phase out the use of flexible tenancies. This is on the basis that there is no evidence that flexible tenancies solve housing need or result in substantial additional dwellings for re-letting. 

The consultation period is from 8 November 2022 to 6 January 2023.

Documents

• Shropshire Council's draft tenancy policy.pdf
• Shropshire Council's draft tenancy strategy.pdf

If you have any comments on the draft tenancy strategy or tenancy policy please email: HousingStrategy@shropshire.gov.uk