The Regeneration & Housing Overview & Scrutiny Panel met to discuss the 2025 Secure Tenancy Agreement Review, and to review the Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan and the Council's Forward Plan of Key Decisions. The panel supported the report on the tenancy agreement review, and requested that the Executive consider removing the 'express clause' regarding automatic succession rights, so that other family members beyond a spouse or partner could be granted a new tenancy if they qualify, to make the best use of council housing stock. The panel also agreed to add consideration of how supporting infrastructure information is taken into account during planning application reviews to the work plan for future consideration.

Secure Tenancy Agreement Review 2025

The panel reviewed the Secure Tenancy Agreement, a legal contract between City of Doncaster Council (CDC) and tenants of Housing Revenue Account housing stock managed by St Leger Homes of Doncaster (SLHD). The last review of the agreement was in 2016, with a variation implemented in 2017.

The report before the panel recommended that they:

• Note the outcome of the consultation undertaken with tenants and other stakeholders.
• Support the proposed changes to the Secure Tenancy Agreement detailed in Appendix 3 of the Public reports pack to ensure legal timescales are met for the changes to take effect from 1 January 2026.
• Consider the recommendation regarding successions following the death of a tenant as part of the wider changes to the tenancy agreement.

Key points and proposed changes to the agreement included:

• Legislative Updates: Reflecting changes from the Domestic Abuse Act 2021¹, Data Protection Act 2018², and Fire Safety Act 2021³.
• Awaab's Law: Incorporating requirements to remedy hazards within legislative timeframes.
• Tenancy Types: Clarifying the types of tenancies allocated, including Introductory, Flexible, and Secure Tenancies.
• Succession Rights: Proposing a change to the express clause regarding succession due to increased demand for council housing. Currently, any family member living in the property for 12 months before the tenant's death can succeed the tenancy. The proposal suggests extending the qualifying criteria to 5 years.
• Flexible Tenancies: New flexible tenancies will be for a fixed period of 5 years, as opposed to up to the age of the youngest child's 19th birthday.
• Equality Act 2010: A full Due Regard assessment⁴ was completed, demonstrating a positive impact on customers, with some actions to address and manage equality risks. The panel discussed the importance of protecting housing stock while supporting people from having to leave their family homes. They also discussed the Right to Buy scheme⁵ and its impact on the council's diminishing housing stock. A member requested that the Panel support the removal of the Express Clause to extend automatic success rights to other family members beyond spouse/partner and be granted a new tenancy to allow them to remain in the property providing they qualified, to make best use of the Council stock. This was seconded.

The panel resolved to support the report, and to ask the Executive to give consideration to removal of the Express Clause to extend automatic succession rights to other family members beyond spouse/partner and be granted a new tenancy to allow them to remain in the property providing they qualified, to make best use of the Council stock.

Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan 2025/26 and Council's Forward Plan of Key Decisions

The Senior Governance Officer presented the Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan for the period 2025/26 and Council's Forward Plan of Key Decisions, for comments.

A member requested that the Panel address specific information that was provided with planning applications, to help them understand issues in the broader context. For example, how the supporting infrastructure information was taken into account when planning applications were presented to planning committee. This included, school places, doctors and chemists.

The panel resolved to note the Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan and Council's Forward Plan of Key Decisions, and to add consideration of how the supporting infrastructure information was taken into account when planning applications were presented to planning committee, to the work plan for future consideration.