Tenancy policy and strategy

Runnymede Borough Council’s tenancy policy impacts the type and length of tenancy housing applicants will be offered from their social landlord.

Local authorities, like Runnymede Borough Council, publish a Tenancy Strategy to give guidance and information to those who provide social housing in Runnymede. Housing Associations and other social landlords have more freedom when deciding the length and types of tenancies they can give to their tenants, but the Tenancy Strategy that Runnymede Borough Council writes should be taken into consideration by them.

Alongside the Tenancy Strategy, the Council produces a Tenancy Policy which sets out the types of tenancy it will use for its own tenants.

Runnymede Borough Council’s tenancy strategy advocates that social landlords in Runnymede, including the Council, only use 2 year fixed term tenancies in exceptional circumstances. The reason for this is that it can be unsettling for tenants to have such a short tenancy. There is a risk that tenants won’t feel part of the community they are living in because they may be worried that they will be moving on in only a few years’ time. The Council will continue to recommend five and ten year flexible tenancies.