Council bidding

OriolaW

How long did it take you to receive your property?

If you are yet to receive your property how long have you been bidding?

This was fairly successful for me from a housing association.

Your Bid Position 26/116

As I understand it the properties from my council aren't first come first serve even with this result I didn't get contacted.

shelleyanns

Hi OriolaW

When i split up with my daughters partner i moved back to my parents. Me and my daughter slept on a mattress on the floor as my two brothers, mom and dad all lived in the 3 bed property. That was in the October i was bidding on properties every week and never came close. It was only when my health visitor wrote a letter to the council stating that it was not in the best interests to have my daughter and me sleeping on the floor and where we were living was overcrowded that i got a property 4 months later and this was offered to me before it went on the site for bidding.

I dont know about other councils but mine, when i filled in the housing forms i was given a pin and a band based on immediate housing needs. I believe that here if you are in band A you are desperately in need of housing. It then goes band b , band c, band c2 all the way through. So if for instance a property on the website is open to bands A, b, c, c2 if someone from band A bids on the property then they will be top of the queue then all the people from band b and so on

You may be waiting a while and i would'nt expect to be contacted unless you are in the top ten and even then you've got to have 10 people turn the property down.
I need to downsize because of the bedroom tax. I have been bidding since December 2012 and have never even got 20th in position. There is a shortage of housing in my area

OriolaW

Thank you for your post

Racml34

It would depend on what area you live in and what the demand is there. The first twenty bidders may not be suitable for one reason or another, they may have rent arrears, previous tenancy breaches etc or the first bidder might be entirely suitable.

Hump

Most councils now use a 'choice based' lettings system which allows you to express an interest in available properties for which you are eligible. Most work on a banding system - probably 4-5 different bands. Most applicants are lumped together in one main band, a few lucky applicants deemed to be in greater need of housing are placed in a higher band. In general the 'higher' the band the more chance you have of securing an available property. Usually time in higher bands is time limited to push you to express an interest to resolve your 'greater housing need' rather than to sit and wait for a 'perfect' offer.

How long you will actually wait will depend on your 'banding' and the availability of properties.

One feature of almost all these schemes is a feedback system that lets you know the banding (and sometimes the length of time that person had been waiting) of the successful 'bidder' for each advertised property. Usually this information runs a bit behind. This is supposed to help you gauge your own likelihood of getting a place.