Part 4: Social Housing in England Chapter 6: Secure Tenancies Etc. Schedule 8: Succession to secure tenancies and related tenancies
This Schedule amends the Housing Act 1985 to make the rules governing succession to secure tenancies granted before 1 April 2012 the same as those for tenancies granted from that date.
	Spouses, civil partners, and those living together as husband and wife continue to have a statutory right to succeed to a lifetime tenancy.
	The statutory rights of other family members to succeed to a secure tenancy granted before 1 April 2012 are changed. The changes made by this Schedule mean that family members will not have an automatic right to succeed to a lifetime tenancy if they lived with a lifetime tenant for 12 months or more. Instead, under this section, local authorities will have discretion to grant them succession rights. Where the deceased tenant had a lifetime tenancy, persons other than spouses and partners who qualify to succeed cannot be given a lifetime tenancy and must be given a five year fixed term tenancy. The terms and conditions of the new tenancy will be the same and any outstanding possession order will continue to apply.
	The Housing Act 1996 is amended to make corresponding changes to the rules governing succession to introductory and demoted tenancies.
	These changes do not apply where the tenant has died before the Schedule comes into force.