Sections 193B and 193C of the Housing Act 1996 deal with what happens when a person, who is owed either the prevention or relief duty, deliberately and unreasonably fails to cooperate with the local housing authority. Section 193B deals with notices and section 193C deals with the consequences of serving a notice under section 193B.
	If the local housing authority is satisfied that the applicant is homeless, eligible for assistance and has a priority need, and they are not intentionally homeless, then the applicant is still owed a duty to be accommodated but it is a lesser one than the duty under the main housing duty. The duty is to offer a fixed-term tenancy of at least six months as opposed to the period of at least 12 months which is required under the main duty, to provide a sanction, for those who deliberately and unreasonably refused to cooperate. With the repeal of fixed-term tenancies the lesser offer is redundant and is removed by this section.
	Subsections 2(b)-(d) make further minor amendments as this Act abolishes section 21 evictions, assured shorthold tenancies and fixed-term tenancies and references to them must be removed.
	Separately, subsection (4) removes the reapplication duty from Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 which is a duty owed by a local housing authority to a homeless applicant who accepted a final offer of suitable accommodation in the private rented sector, and then becomes homeless again within 2 years and reapplies for accommodation. The duty applies regardless of whether the applicant has priority need.
	The reapplication duty was introduced alongside the introduction of Private Rented Sector Offers (PRSOs) as a means to end the main housing duty, in response to concern that due to the short-term nature of assured shorthold tenancies, applicants who accepted a PRSO may become homeless again within a two-year period and, on application for assistance, would be found to no longer have priority need. The Act is repealing assured shorthold tenancies and fixed-term tenancies; therefore, in the future, all tenancies will be assured and offer greater security of tenure. This increased security of tenure and removal of section 21 evictions means the reapplication duty will no longer be required.
Part 1: Tenancy reform Chapter 1: Assured Tenancies Section 25: Accommodation for homeless people: duties of local authority Background