# Rent Act 1977, Paragraph 2

Extent: E+W

The surviving spouse, or surviving civil partner, (if any) of the original tenant, if residing in the dwelling-house immediately before the death of the original tenant, shall after the death be the statutory tenant if and so long as he or she occupies the dwelling-house as his or her residence.
(2) For the purposes of this paragraph, a person who was living with the original tenant as if they were a married couple or civil partners is to be treated as the spouse or civil partner of the original tenant.
(3) If, immediately after the death of the original tenant, there is, by virtue of sub-paragraph (2) above, more than one person who fulfils the conditions in sub-paragraph (1) above, such one of them as may be decided by agreement or, in default of agreement, by the county court shall for the purposes of this paragraph be treated as the tenant’s spouse or civil partner.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1977/42/schedule/1/paragraph/2 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/rent-act-1977/schedule-1/paragraph-2
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.