AQW 26788/22-27

Ms Kellie Armstrong
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 08/05/2025
Answered On Date: 24/06/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities to confirm if he will bring forward legislation to enable social housing providers to legally transfer a tenancy to a victim of Domestic Violence, in situations where their abuser is the named tenant.

Answer:

Whilst bringing forward new legislation would be for me to consider, I have sought input from the Chief Executive of the Housing Executive on the current position and their view on the need for such a change. They have advised me as follows.

“The power to assign a tenancy from one person to another (on a non-voluntary basis) has been vested in the courts. Social Housing Providers will follow any court order to facilitate a statutory assignment of tenancy. This is referred to as assignment by Court Order.

A court may issue an order for a secure or introductory tenancy to be assigned from one person to another under:

Article 26 of the Matrimonial Causes (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 (property adjustment orders in connection with matrimonial proceedings)

Article 21 of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 (property adjustment orders after overseas divorce, &c.)

Paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (orders for financial relief against parents), or

Part II of Schedule 2 to the Family Homes and Domestic Violence (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 (orders transferring certain tenancies on divorce, etc., and on separation of cohabitees)

Part 2 of Schedule 15, or paragraph 9(2) or (3) of Schedule 17, to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (property adjustment orders in connection with civil partnership proceedings or after overseas dissolution of civil partnership, etc.)

In addition, the existing tenant may make a request to assign the tenancy voluntarily or in the case where the tenant (in a domestic abuse case) terminates the tenancy the social landlord has discretion to consider any remaining partner for an exceptional award of tenancy. Verification of the circumstances will be required.

Where the tenant has left the property, possession may also be sought on the basis for non-occupation, but this would be a last resort in the absence of a suitable agreed solution. When possession has been granted the landlord may consider any remaining victim for an exceptional award of tenancy.

There have been a small number of cases brought to the Housing Executive’s attention involving joint tenancies in which the Social Landlord cannot unilaterally vary the tenancy, the courts would remain the (correct) option in those cases. In these cases, the victim remained in the property with the alleged abuser absent (in law the joint tenancy endures so long as one of the joint tenants continues to occupy the property as their principal home).

It would be the Housing Executive’s view that the power to unilaterally vary tenancies has been correctly vested in the courts and it would not be seeking such a power.”