bidding on Council Housing.

sniggings

Just got on the housing waiting list, its a choiced based system so I can bid on certain housing, I know it's hard to say without knowing the area etc but I can bid on 11 in my area and it tells me there are 25 on some and up to 70 people on other properties in front of me who have bid, do I not stand a chance of getting a property until the number in front is either 0 or 1 or 2? as I'm guessing more people join the list each week so I may always be 25-70 behind?

Fire_Fox

They are not in front of you, it's not done in order of application date but on how much in need you are deemed to be. It's a bit like job applications - loads of people apply before the closing date, all get compared to the criteria, shortlisted and the one successful candidate.

mrs_motivated

Hi sniggings,

You need to look at the allocations policy and the CBL scheme.

It usually depends on what type of housing you are eligible for (flat, house, how many bedrooms etc.) and how many of that property type is on stock. It will also depend on which band you are in and the percentage of properties allocated to that band etc. do they operate date scheme within bindings etc.

If you can tell us what scheme it is (who the landlord is) we may be able to advise you better.

fairytinkerbell

hello the system will check that everyone is up to date on rent etc and even if you are slightly behind they will get refused so there's always chance. i was second in the list to view a property and i got it

sniggings

it's just the wording says "there are 25 people above you for this property" so was thinking they got first refusal?

Fire_Fox

sniggings wrote: »

it's just the wording says "there are 25 people above you for this property" so was thinking they got first refusal?

Why don't you ask the council for clarification?

mrs_motivated

Fire_Fox wrote: »

They are not in front of you, it's not done in order of application date but on how much in need you are deemed to be. It's a bit like job applications - loads of people apply before the closing date, all get compared to the criteria, shortlisted and the one successful candidate.

Not exactly true, date criteria is applied on some schemes within bandings. Each CBL scheme has different criteria based on landlords allocation policy.

For example a scheme I know has 3 bands, allocates on registration date within band. The need is assessed by the banding. So that 70 per cent of allocations are made to band A (urgent need), 25 per cent go to general need. And 5 per cent to no recognised need. This scheme meets best practice and landlords are only obliged to give reasonable preference since the Ahmed case, which was instrumental in changing allocations law. Landlords now have much greater flexibility.

sniggings

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Why don't you ask the council for clarification?

I will, my application has just come online so I have just noticed, they are closed at the min so thought you guys may know, guess I'm a bit excited that I might get a place sooner than I thought.

eliviajen

i rang recently asking about whether it was worthwhile bidding when i obviously wasnt going to get anywhere (we are band C - adequately housed...) and the woman said that if you finished within the top 30, you still have a chance as they then look down the list and select the most appropriate candidate.

some of the things they look for are if the house is too big for your needs (of if you WILL grow into it in the forseeable future), if you have asbo's, rent arrears, problem neighbours, complaints, on witness protection ect.

so at least 10-15 people of that 25 could be taken off just in rent arrears, being bad neighbours. and then they could offer it to a couple of people and they could then turn it down.

another thing our woman told us was that it looks better to be bidding than not as that counts as a positive!!!

We are bidding as we are in a 2 bed flat, with 2 children of different sexes the oldest is almost 7 - the youngest is only 2. we both work and do not get any housing benefit so the bedroom tax wont affect us, we just want seperate bedrooms if we can. we bid on at least one house a month, most of the time 2 bedroomed (but local knowledge means that we guess which would be sutible to split into 3 bedrooms....)

dont give up hope, the more you bid the better your chances!! more people probaly get rehoused each week than people joining i would imagine so over time you should get there - Good Luck!! x

mrs_motivated

Also whilst there may be 25 people in front of you. The property may be allocated to number 8 or 9. If for example people are bidding on properties and don't meet the eligibility criteria (which often happens on certain schemes)

angelbob

good luck but don't get your hopes up, i wanted to leave my violent ex (he owned the house and i have police/court letters etc) council put me on the list in band 2 (second highest, band 1 is mainly for elderly people who need to move for health reasons) have 2 kids, and was bidding for over 2 years.
got nothing, council said as i work i wasn't a priority :mad::mad::mad::mad:
gave up and rented privately.
It all depends on your circumstances and all councils are different.