Updated February 2022
This short guide is to help people understand how the Council manages applications for social rented housing, which is provided by Housing Associations.
A reminder!
The Council does not own any social rented housing. There is no ‘council housing’.
Housing Associations are the main source of all social rented housing in the district.
How do I find out more?
All applicants may contact the Councils housing options team for advice and assistance which includes:
- Types and locations of the social rented homes in the district.
- Whether homes have a shared or private garden.
- How old the property is.
- An indication of how frequently rented homes might become available to-let and estimated waiting times
What do I need to make an application?
The following information must be provided by all applicants, who want to go onto the housing register for social rented housing:
- Identification - For everyone included on the application
- Any convictions - Relating to anti-social behaviour
- Financial evidence - For the past three months
- Proof of where you have lived - For the past three months to confirm current or last address.
- Any other relevant information
Housing Association tenants who already live in social rented housing and who want to apply for a housing transfer, are included on the same housing register as new applicants.
A reminder that any person making an application must not make incorrect statements or withhold information and the Council must be made aware of any changes in circumstances.
The Council will always contact applicants, telling them whether their application has been successful.
All applicants have the right to request a review about decisions made.
How do I know I am eligible to apply?
The Council must only allocate social housing to eligible persons. This means someone with a right to come into and stay in the UK for as long as they wish, who is continually resident in the UK.
The Council decides who is disqualified from being allocated social rented housing, this includes any person who:
- Is aged below 18 years of age, or who are a ‘child in need’
- Has not lived in the district for at least three years, worked in the district for at least 6 months or have family members living in the district for less than five years
- Has savings more than £16,000.00 (this rate is subject to change, check with the councils housing options team).
- Has been found responsible for unacceptable behaviour (e.g. person who the courts have excluded from a property, a perpetrator of domestic abuse, have unspent criminal convictions related to housing, have committed fraud, or been threatening to employees of the Council
- Owes rent arrears of 4 weeks or more, to any social or private landlord, or has broken any other rules of an occupancy agreement
A persons’ eligibility will be checked at the point they make an application to join the housing register and again when an offer of a property is made.
The Council will always confirm to all applicants if they are eligible and qualify for social rented housing.
People can re-apply to join the housing register at any-time if their circumstances change.
How is property prioritised?
The Council does not own any social rented housing. There is no ‘council housing’.
Housing Associations are the main source of all social rented housing in the district.
Unfortunately demands exceeds supply and therefore the Council has to prioritise applicants. Applicants will be placed in one of two Bands A or B:
Band A
- Victims of domestic abuse
- Victims of racial harassment
- Same sex couples who are victims of harassment
- Witnesses of crime, or victims of crime, who are at risk
- Those who need to move because of urgent medical reasons
- Families in severe overcrowding
- Persons escaping serious anti-social behaviour
- Persons who are homeless
- Members of the Armed and Reserve Forces
Band B
- Persons who are intentionally homeless and have a priority need for accommodation as set out by the Government in the Housing Act 1996 Part VII and the Homeless Prevention Act 2018
- Persons who are not intentionally homeless and have a priority need for accommodation
- Persons who are threatened with homeless
- Persons occupying property assessed to have severe housing hazards
- Persons needing to move on medical or welfare ground
- Persons needing to move to a particular area in the district, where failure to meet this need would cause hardship
The Council are able to apply discretion when allocating social rented housing, however, only in very limited circumstances
How is property allocated?
Certain applicants in Band A and Band B who are homeless, are not entitled to select their preferred location.
All other applicants in Band A and B will be able to choose from the following locations:
- Barling Magna
- Canewdon
- Great Wakering
- Hockley/Hawkwell
- Hullbridge
- Rawreth
- Rayleigh
- Rochford/Ashingdon
- Stambridge/Paglesham
Applicants are allowed time to decide whether to accept an allocation, sometimes called a nomination, of social rented housing, however, if an applicant refuses, this may result in applicants being given reduced preference for 12 months.
Applicants will only be offered properties they can afford.
Applicants will be offered a property that is suitable for their needs.
Applicants escaping abuse will not be allocated a property in the area where the crime took place.
The housing association will decide whether a joint tenancy will be granted, and they will inform the applicants whether the property is furnished, plus be invited to view the property prior to accepting.
The rights of housing transfer applicants, will not be lost as result of being allocated a new home