Qualifying Occupier
You are a qualifying occupier (PDF) if you live in one of our tenants’ homes as your own main home, either as their family member, subletter (with permission from us) or lodger (with permission from us), or you have had the tenancy transferred to you (with permission from us). You must be at least 16 years old.
If we apply to the court to take possession of the house you live in, as a qualifying occupier, you have the right to apply to the court to be involved in the proceedings.
We may choose to repossess your home for a number of reasons, including if rent has not been paid, or if the tenant has behaved in an anti-social way or has harassed someone in the area. Repossession is a last resort after all other options have been considered.
If we begin proceedings to repossess your home we will issue a notice of proceedings, which acts as a final warning and tells the tenant we can apply to the court to start legal action within six months. If we go ahead with court action, we will send the tenant a copy of the summons, which starts the process. Before a court order can be granted, the case must be heard at a sheriff court. We will write to you, as a qualifying occupier, to keep you updated on the process.
Qualifying Persons
There are three levels of priority persons:
First priority: surviving joint tenant, tenant’s spouse, co-habitee (providing that this is your only or principal address for six months prior to the tenant’s death).
Second priority: a member of the deceased tenant’s family.
Third priority: a carer for the deceased tenant or member of the tenant’s family, provided they had given up their principal home to provide care.
You can get more advice about qualifying occupiers from: