# Housing Act 1988, Ground 7


The tenancy is a periodic tenancy (including a statutory periodic tenancy), or a fixed term tenancy of a dwelling-house in England, which has devolved The tenancy has devolved on a person (the “new tenant”) under the will or intestacy of the former tenant and the proceedings for the recovery of possession are begun not later than twelve months after the death of the former tenant or, if the court so directs, after the date on which, in the opinion of the court, the landlord or, in the case of joint landlords, any one of them became aware of the former tenant’s death.
But, if the new tenant is occupying the dwelling-house as the new tenant’s only or principal home immediately before the death of the former tenant, an order for possession on this Ground may not be made unless—
(a)the tenancy has previously devolved on the former tenant under a will or intestacy (whenever that devolution occurred), or
(b)the tenancy is a special tenancy immediately before the death of the former tenant.
In this Ground “special tenancy” means—
(a)a tenancy of social housing (within the meaning given by Part 2 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008) where the landlord is a private registered provider of social housing;
(b)a tenancy entered into pursuant to a rent-to-buy agreement (which has the same meaning as in Ground 1B) where the landlord is a private registered provider of social housing;
(c)a tenancy of supported accommodation, within the meaning given by paragraph 12 of Schedule 2;
(d)a tenancy where the former tenant’s occupation of the dwelling-house is in pursuance of a local housing authority’s duty to the tenant under section 193 of the Housing Act 1996 (and here “local housing authority” has the same meaning as in Ground 5G);
(e)a tenancy which meets the conditions in paragraphs (a), (b), (d) and (e) in the first paragraph of Ground 5H.
For the purposes of this ground, the acceptance by the landlord of rent from a new tenant after the death of the former tenant shall not be regarded as creating a new ... tenancy, unless the landlord agrees in writing to a change (as compared with the tenancy before the death) in the amount of the rent, the period or length of termof the tenancy, the premises which are let or any other term of the tenancy.
This ground does not apply to a fixed term tenancy that is a lease of a dwelling-house—
(a) granted on payment of a premium calculated by reference to a percentage of the value of the dwelling-house or of the cost of providing it, or
(b) under which the lessee (or the lessee's personal representatives) will or may be entitled to a sum calculated by reference, directly or indirectly, to the value of the dwelling-house.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/50/schedule/2/part/I/crossheading/ground-7 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/housing-act-1988/schedule-2/part-I/crossheading-ground-7
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.