As a Highland Council tenant, you will have signed a lease for your home. This lease forms a contract between us as your landlord and you as the tenant and sets out terms and conditions of your tenancy. If you want to know more about either your or the Council’s rights and responsibilities, check the details of your lease. However, if you have any questions, you can contact us directly or you can contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau, Advice Agency or a solicitor. We also provide leaflets on a number of topics which may be of interest to you. You will find these in any Service Point or nearest Housing and Property Office.
If you are a Highland Council tenant, it is important that you keep us up to date with any changes in your household, such as a new baby, or new partner or in your employment status. You may also want to request that someone now living with you becomes a joint tenant, or you may want to take someone’s name off your tenancy, after a relationship breakdown for instance. Letting us know about these changes as soon as they happen will allow us to keep our records up-to-date and to give you the best information and advice about how the change affects things like Housing and Council Tax Benefit and other welfare benefits. You can download a “Change in Circumstances” form from the Current Documents section on the right hand side of this page. You can either print it out and fill it in, then post it back to your local housing office or e-mail it back to us at housingandproperty@highland.gov.uk”
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We aim to provide an efficient, prompt and courteous service at all times. However, if you are unhappy about the service you have received or the way you have been treated, you can bring this to our attention by completing the on-line form found on the Comments and Complaints page. Our Complaints leaflet explains how our policy works. This leaflet is also available at all Service Points. You can also make a complaint by telephoning the Service Centre on 01349 886606, writing to any Council Office or by calling in person at any Service Point.
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Housing and Property holds certain information relating to your tenancy and housing application. We may hold information about your health; social care or housing needs; criminal convictions; race and gender; family and financial details. This is held in writing and electronically. Some of the information requested is needed to ensure that we can operate ouir policies in a way that safeguards the rights of the individual and ensures that the Council complies with the law. Other information provided by you will be used in assessment; care planning housing and meeting the needs of you or your dependants. We also use information for statistical and planning purposes.
To comply with the law, information must be collected and used fairly; stored safely and not diisclosed to any other person unlawfully. To do this, the Housing & Property Service must comply with the Data Protection Principles which are set out in the Data Protection Act 1998. This means that personal data will be:
- Processed fairly and lawfully and shall not be processed unless certain conditions are met
- Obtained for specific and lawful purposes and not futther processed in a manner incompatible with that purpose and processed in accordance with data subjects’ rights
- Adequate, relevant and not excessive
- Accurate and where necessary up to date and kept for no longer than necessary
- Protected by appropriate security
You have the right to see the information that is held about you. You are entitled to know:
- What presonal information the Housing & Property Service holds about you and why (subject to conditions of the Act)
- How to gain access to it
To ask for personal information held about you please contact the Council by:
- Picking up, completing and returning a Subject Access Request form. These can be found at Council Service Points, Libraries or Council Offices; or
- Writing to the Freedom of Information Officer (see below), giving as much information about your request as possible along with your name, date of birth and address; or
- Downloading a subject access request form (105kb pdf). The form should then be completed and returned to the Freedom of Information Officer, Chief Executive's Office, The Highland Council, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness IV3 5NX.
There is no charge for making a Subject Access Request. You should receive a written response and copy of any appropriate access documents within 40 days of receipt of any request.
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Before you do certain things that affect your tenancy or property, you need to get permission from the Council. If we do not give permission, we will give you reasons why. the following are situations where you reuqire permission.
If a Council tenant dies, the following people may be eligible to succeed to the tenancy provided that the house was their only or principal home:
- husband, wife or partner or
- a joint tenant.
If neither of the above are eligible the tenancy may be inherited by another member of the family as long as he or she is aged at least 16 years and the house is their only or principal home.
In some cases a carer may be eligible to inherit the tenancy of the house.
If a tenant succeeded to a tenancy after 30 September 2002, then they will normally require a 5-year qualifying period and the discount will be calculated according to the new rates associated with the “modernised” right to buy. However, if the previous tenancy started before 30 September 2002 and they succeeded because they were a spouse, partner or joint tenant, then they should be eligible to buy on the old terms and conditions.
Because most of Highland’s communities are now covered by the Pressured Area Status designation all Highland Council tenants who began their current tenancies on or after 30 September 2002 in the designated communities have their Right to Buy (RTB) suspended.
In Caithness, only Thurso and its small neighbouring communities of Forss; Geise; Glengolly; Janetstown; Scrabster; and Weydale are covered by the Pressured Area Status designation. In other words, tenants with modernised right to buy entitlements living in Wick and the other Caithness communities not mentioned above still have the right to buy.
Contact your local Housing and Property Office to discuss a succession to tenancy. You may also wish to take advice from your local Citizens Advice Bureau, Advice Agency or a solicitor.
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Under the terms of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 Scottish Secure Tenants have the right to assign their tenancies provided they have written permission from the landlord which cannot be unreasonably with-held. If you want to assign your tenancy to someone, the house must have been their only or principal home for at least 6 months before the assignation is requested. We can only withhold permission on reasonable grounds.
Persons who are assigned a tenancy qualify for the “modernised” Right to Buy terms and conditions. This applies even if the tenant who assigns the tenancy has a Right to Buy entitlement based on the pre-2001 Act terms and conditions.
This means that in all Highland communities covered by the Pressured Area Status designation, anyone being assigned a tenancy will have their Right to Buy suspended unless the tenancy is the Caithness communities not covered by the designation.
Because in Caithness, only Thurso and its small neighbouring communities of Forss; Geise; Glengolly; Janetstown; Scrabster; and Weydale are covered by the Pressured Area Status designation, enants with modernised right to buy entitlements living in Wick and the other Caithness communities not mentioned above will still have the right to buy.
You can download a “Request for permission to Assign Tenancy” form from the Current Documents section on the right hand side of this page.
Contact your local Housing Office to discuss an assignation of tenancy. You may also wish to take advice from your local Citizens Advice Bureau, Advice Agency or a solicitor.
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Under the terms of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 Scottish Secure Tenants have the right to sub-let their tenancies provided they have written permission from the landlord which cannot be unreasonably with-held. This means that you can rent the whole house to another person for a period of time – for instance, if you are going to be working abroad for a few months or serving a prison sentence. This means that you retain the tenancy of the property and responsibility for it and you will have a home to go to when you return.
If you want to sub-let your home, you should contact us. We will want to know details of who you intend to sub-let to, and the rent to be charged. You must get our written permission before you can go ahead. As the tenant you will still be responsible for maintaining the property in good condition and for paying the rent. Permission to sub-let will not usually be withheld unless there is good reason to do so.
You can download a “Request for permission to sub-let” form from the Current Documents section on the right hand side of this page.
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Under the terms of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 Scottish Secure Tenants have the right to take in a lodger provided they have written permission from the landlord which cannot be unreasonably with-held. If you have a spare room and want to take in a lodger, you should contact us. We want to know details of who you intend to take in as a lodger, and the rent to be charged. You must get our written permission before you can go ahead. As the tenant you will still be responsible for maintaining the property in good condition and for paying the rent. Permission to take in a lodger will not usually be withheld unless there is good reason to do so.
You can download a “Request for permission to take in a lodger” form from the Current Documents section on the right hand side of this page.
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You must apply to us in writing if you want to run a business from your house. We will want to know what kind of business you plan to run. We will take into consideration whether your business will cause disturbance to your neighbours, e.g. from noise, parking of additional vehicles, etc.
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You must contact us if you want to make any alterations or improvements to your house, and we will give you a form to fill in. You must get our written permission before you begin. These alterations/improvements can include:
- Altering, improving, or enlarging the house, or its fixtures or fittings
- Adding new fixtures or fittings (for example kitchen or bathroom installations, central heating or other fixed heaters, double glazing or any kind of external aerial or satellite dish).
- Putting up a garage, shed or other structure.
- Decorating the outside of the house.
We will not refuse permission unreasonably, but we may apply some conditions regarding the standard of work and who does the work. You may be entitled to some compensation for certain improvements at the end of your tenancy. Please see the Scottish Executive’s leaflet on Compensation for Improvement which is available from all Service Points and Housing Offices and from a weblink on the main Repairs page.
Laminate flooring in flats
Please note that if you live in a flat, you should seek our written permission before laying laminate flooring. See the leaflet “Neighbour Noise between flats” which explains some of the issues around laying laminate flooring in flats. You can also lnik to it from "External Links"
Please note also that you lay laminate flooring at your own risk. If we need to take it up to effect a repair, you will be responsible for the cost of re-laying it – we will not do this for you.
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For more information, please e-mail: housingandproperty@highland.gov.uk