Choice Based Lettings

More Choice in Lettings

The Residents' Guide

Choice-based letting is a government-led initiative looking into new ways of letting council and registered social landlord (housing association) accommodation, giving you more choice and control over where you live. We will advertise available properties and invite you to bid for them.

We have designed this web page to give you information about the choice-based letting scheme. One of the aims of the scheme is to improve and modernise the letting service. This is your chance to get involved and give us your comments.

Each borough calls their choice-based letting scheme something different. In Barking and Dagenham, the scheme will be called More choice in lettings.

Why the change?

The government expects all councils to produce an allocation scheme that offers new applicants and existing tenants a more active role in choosing their accommodation.

We want your views on choice-based lettings.

Please fill in the feedback form in the leaflet. You can then hand it in at one of our local offices or send it in an envelope to Landlord Services Consultation at the address shown.

What is choice-based letting?

More choice in lettings will mean modernising our current allocation policy and the system of offering council accommodation. The new allocations scheme will replace a complicated points system.

It was introduced in April 2005 and is a simple scheme. The idea is to offer people who want to rent affordable housing more choice over which property and area they would like to live in.

Under the existing system for offering accommodation, council officers offer homes to the people applying for housing and tenants according to their points priority and the area and type of property they have asked for.

Under the new More choice in lettings system, we will advertise properties in a local newspaper or magazine every week, and you will be able to make 1 bid for properties advertised.

The bids will then be shortlisted according to priority and waiting time. Summaries of previous successful bids for properties will show the registration date of the bid with the most waiting time. You will then be able to predict how long you might have to wait for a certain type of property.

Although people who want to move and those on the housing register will continue to have their needs assessed, we will act as an estate agent, advertising the homes that are available to rent.

More choice in lettings will give you:

A letting system that is clearer and easier to understand
A better idea of your priority for housing, and your chances of making a successful application
The ability to weigh up your needs with the likelihood of being more successful when applying for a property
Stability - if you choose your own home you are less likely to want to transfer later
More information about the range of properties available (that is, where they are, the facilities available and the property features)
More choice and involvement when choosing a home and area to live in; and
The opportunity to find a home sooner by applying for a home that has less demand

What choice-based lettings is not

This scheme is not the answer to the housing shortage and we will not be able to house everybody on the housing register.

However, the scheme offers more choice and control than the current way of offering council homes, and should mean more people are happier with their housing.

Using a choice-based letting system will not mean that:

We have to follow another councils allocation policy
Empty properties will take longer to fill; or
More properties will become available to let

How 'more choice in lettings' would work for Barking and Dagenham

If you are on the housing register or on the transfer list, you will be able to take part as soon as the new scheme is launched. If you are not on one of these lists, you can join the scheme by filling in an application form, which you will be able to get from a local office.

We will advertise properties weekly in a magazine, similar to how an estate agent advertises properties for sale or rent. The magazine will be available at all local offices and we will send it to people who have a disability that affects their mobility or are vulnerable.

We will put people applying for housing into a particular group. We will tell you what group you are in for bidding arrangements. This will help you to choose homes you want to apply for and work out your chances of success.

Occasionally, people have to be rehoused on an emergency basis because it is impossible for them to stay in their current accommodation.

When this happens, we will award additional preference and we will offer the person applying accommodation outside the bidding system. So, not all properties that become available will be advertised.

We will not advertise sheltered housing and properties that have been adapted for people with special needs, and the current procedure for offering these properties will continue.

We will only consider people who are eligible and show an interest by bidding for a property. So, for example, a single person cannot move into a large family house.

Within the groups, the person applying who has the greatest need and has been on the housing register for the longest period will usually be successful.

You can show your interest in a property by calling an automated telephone line on the internet or by using the kiosk (touch-screen computers) that will be based in council offices.

You should:

Bid for 1 property of your choice every week
Bid for any property that displays your group symbol; and
Apply before the advertised closing date, otherwise we may not accept your application

You should not:

Make more than 1 bid for each property
Apply if you have missed rent payments (we will not accept your application); or
Wait for us or the registered social landlord (housing associations) to offer you a home (this will not happen)

Below is a simple guide to how you apply for a home

Step 1: Look through the magazine and choose homes that you would like to live in and that are suitable for your needs.

Step 2: Apply on the internet, by telephone or by using the kiosks. If your first language is not English, you can ask for the leaflet in a different language. Internet access is available at local libraries.

Step 3: We will tell you if you are successful. We will tell you how many people were interested in a property that has been advertised before and the longest time any bidder has been on the housing register. This will show the competition that you faced when applying for a home.

'More choice in lettings' is the way forward for Barking and Dagenham.

Current government guidelines suggest that choice-based letting offers you a letting service that is easy to understand, along with more information, more choice and more involvement when choosing a new home.

Please let us know what you think about this option for letting council and registered social landlord properties. Fill in the feedback form in the leaflet and return it in an envelope to Landlord Services Consultation at the address shown.

For more information, please contact the Housing Advice Service at the address shown.

Local Area Housing Offices|