Sutton Council offers tenancies for life (From Sutton Guardian)

Sutton Council offers tenancies for life

5:00am Tuesday 9th October 2012 in News By Sophia Sleigh, Reporter

Sutton Council has resisted pressure to limit tenancies to fixed terms by continuing to offer tenancies for life.

The Localism Act, which came into effect in April, encouraged local authorities and housing associations to offer council tenants tenancies as short as five years instead of lifelong tenancies.

But Sutton has refused, saying it feared it would cause a catastrophic loss of community, a rise in crime and anti-social behaviour, penalise success and punish families for leading normal lives.

On Monday, October 1, the authority issued its tenancy strategy restating its belief in offering open-ended tenancies to residents who behave responsibly.

The council believes that tenants would be penalised for getting a better job during their shorter tenancy because it would mean they would have to be evicted for no longer coming within housing need thresholds.

Also if an older child leaves home during the tenancy, the remainder of the family may find they have to be asked to leave at the end of the five years.

Council leader Ruth Dombey said: "It is very dangerous to create transient neighbourhoods where few people have any real stake in the community."