Article 2 Exempt tenancies or licences for the purposes of Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004I1

England and Wales

(1)

A tenancy or licence of a house or a dwelling contained in a house is an exempt tenancy or licence for the purposes of Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004 (“the Act”) if it falls within any of the following descriptions—

(a)

a tenancy or licence of a house or dwelling that is subject to a prohibition order made under section 20 of the Act whose operation has not been suspended in accordance with section 23 of the Act;

(b)

a tenancy described in any of the following provisions of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Housing Act 1988^f1, which cannot be an assured tenancy by virtue of section 1(2) of that Act—

(i)

paragraph 4 (business tenancies);

(ii)

paragraph 5 (licensed premises) ^f2;

(iii)

paragraph 6 (tenancies of agricultural land); or

(iv)

paragraph 7 (tenancies of agricultural holdings etc) ^f3;

(c)

a tenancy or licence of a house or a dwelling that is managed or controlled by —

(i)

a local housing authority;

(ii)

a police authority established under section 3 of the Police Act 1996^f4;

(iii)

the Metropolitan Police Authority established under section 5B of the Police Act 1996;

(iv)

a fire and rescue authority under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004^f5; or

(v)

a health service body within the meaning of section 4 of the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990^f6;

(d)

a tenancy or licence of a house which is not a house in multiple occupation for any purposes of the Act (except Part 1) by virtue of—

(i)

paragraph 3 of Schedule 14 to the Act (buildings regulated otherwise than under the Act); or

(ii)

paragraph F13A of that Schedule (buildings occupied by students F2: England)^f7;

(e)

a tenancy of a house or a dwelling where—

(i)

the full term of the tenancy is more than 21 years;

(ii)

the lease does not contain a provision enabling the landlord to determine the tenancy, other than by forfeiture, earlier than at end of the term; and

(iii)

the house or dwelling is occupied by a person to whom the tenancy was granted or his successor in title or any members of such person’s family;

(f)

a tenancy or licence of a house or a dwelling granted by a person to a person who is a member of his family where—

(i)

the person to whom the tenancy or licence is granted occupies the house or dwelling as his only or main residence;

(ii)

the person granting the tenancy or licence is the freeholder or the holder of a lease of the house or dwelling the full term of which is more than 21 years; and

(iii)

the lease referred to in sub-paragraph (ii) does not contain a provision enabling the landlord to determine the tenancy, other than by forfeiture, earlier than at end of the term;

(g)

a tenancy or licence that is granted to a person in relation to his occupancy of a house or a dwelling as a holiday home; or

(h)

a tenancy or licence under the terms of which the occupier shares any accommodation with the landlord or licensor or a member of the landlord’s or licensor’s family.

(2)

For the purposes of this article—

(a)

a person is a member of the same family as another person if—

(i)

those persons live as a couple;

(ii)

one of them is the relative of the other; or

(iii)

one of them is, or is a relative of, one member of a couple and the other is a relative of the other member of the couple;

(b)

“couple” means two persons who are married to F3, or civil partners of, each other or live together as if they were a married couple or civil partners;

(c)

“relative” means parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or cousin;

(d)

a relationship of the half-blood is to be treated as a relationship of the whole blood;

(e)

a stepchild of a person is to be treated as his child;

(f)

an occupier shares accommodation with another person if he has the use of an amenity in common with that person (whether or not also in common with others); and

(g)

“amenity” includes a toilet, personal washing facilities, a kitchen or a living room but excludes any area used for storage, a staircase , corridor or other means of access.

Annotations

Textual amendments

F1: Word in art. 2(1)(d)(ii) substituted (1.5.2026) by The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (Consequential Amendments) and Tenancies (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/325), regs. 1(1), 6(a)
F2: Word in art. 2(1)(d)(ii) inserted (1.5.2026) by The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (Consequential Amendments) and Tenancies (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/325), regs. 1(1), 6(b)
F3: Words in art. 2(2)(b) substituted (2.12.2019) by The Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1458), reg. 1(2), Sch. 3 para. 85

Commencement

I1: Art. 2 in force at 6.4.2006, see art. 1(2)

Footnotes

f1: 1988 c. 50.
f2: Paragraph 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Housing Act 1988 has been amended by section 198(1) and paragraph 108 of Schedule 6 to the Licensing Act 2003 (c. 17).
f3: Paragraph 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Housing Act 1988 has been amended by section 40 and paragraph 34 of the Schedule to the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 (c. 8).
f4: 1996 c. 16.
f5: 2004 c. 19.
f6: 1990 c. 19.
f7: See section 254(5) of the Act.