Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to bring almshouse residents’ rights in line with tenants' rights.

The legal position of residents of almshouses is that they have a licence to occupy rather than a tenancy. This was decided in the case of Gray v Taylor (1998) in which the Court of Appeal held that the resident in that case occupied an almshouse as the beneficiary of a charity. This meant that she was not a tenant and only had a licence to occupy. In the case of Watts v Stewart and Ors, 2016, the Court of Appeal followed the judgment in Gray v Taylor that almshouse residents have a licence to occupy and that the grant of a tenancy would be inconsistent with the performance of the duties of the trustees, as it would not be possible for them to ensure that only qualifying persons occupied the almshouses. The trustees could only properly discharge the trusts of the charity, which limited its objects to those in need, hardship or distress, if a personal revocable licence was granted. As occupants of almhouses are licencees, the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 will apply. This requires that 4 weeks’ notice to quit must be given to the occupant.

Where almshouses are registered with the Regulator of Social Housing, they must also comply with the regulator's standards framework. The Tenancy Standard https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/419209/Tenancy_Standard_2015.pdf) compels Private Registered Providers to offer tenancies or terms of occupation which are compatible with the purpose of the accommodation, the needs of individual households, the sustainability of the community, and the efficient use of their housing stock.