Give notice to end your council tenancy

Tell us if you want to move out of your council house, or let us know if a tenant has died.

How much notice you need to give depends on your circumstances and the type of property you're moving into.

If you are:

  • moving into private property or a council house not nominated by us, you need to give four weeks notice. This must start on a Monday; so for example, if you give notice on Monday 1 January, your tenancy would end on Monday 29 January. 
  • moving into a council house nominated by us, you need to give us as much notice as possible. Your tenancy will end on the day you return your keys.
  • moving into residential care or sheltered housing, you will need to give us 28 days’ notice. 

If a tenant has died

If the tenant was the only person living in the house, you should let us know as soon as possible. It will ask you to upload a copy of the death certificate. 

If a joint tenant or a family member has been living there and wants to stay, they should find out about taking over a property if the tenant has died.

Any payments of housing benefit or Universal Credit the tenant got will stop after the first Monday following their death, and full rent will be charged to the account.

If you are a named executor in the tenant's will, we will end the tenancy as quickly as we can when you have cleared the house and returned the keys.

If the tenant did not have a will or you are not a named executor, we may need to serve notice on the house to formally end the tenancy. 

Give notice to end a tenancy