If you pay to rent a house, you are called a tenant, or a lessee. The owner of the house is called the landlord or lessor. The tenant and landlord have an agreement, called a lease.

The lease can be for a fixed time, in which case the landlord does not have to give you notice to end the lease and you must leave the house on the date when the lease ends, unless the lease is renewed by agreement with the landlord. The landlord cannot make you leave before the date when the lease ends, unless you break a condition of the lease, for example, if you do not pay rent on time.

The lease can also be for an indefinite time where there is no time limit on the lease. In this case the landlord can only end the lease by giving you notice as prescribed in the lease agreement. If there is no lease agreement then the notice given should be reasonable. If you think the notice was unreasonable, you can take the case to court where it will be decided whether the notice was reasonable or not. (See Problem 8: Common problems in renting a house or flat)

Where people rent their houses from the local authority or town council, then it is the local authority who will decide who can get a house.