Social Housing

If you rent from a council or housing association, you are generally referred to as a 'social housing' tenant.

Social housing tends to offer long-term, secure tenancies and in the majority of cases, you can't be asked to leave unless you have broken one of the terms of your tenancy agreement. This could be because you haven't paid your rent or if you have been a bad neighbour.

A social housing landlord will normally have written standards for the services they provide and their tenants are encouraged to get involved in setting those standards. Bodies such as the Housing Ombudsman Service are there to make sure tenants get a good service.

Unfortunately, the demands for social housing is very high, with more demand than supply in most areas. Social housing tends to be let to people in the highest housing need so it can be difficult to access for some people.