Choice Based Lettings

A new way of allocating social housing

Choice Based Lettings is a new way of allocating social housing which the Government would like introduced for all housing let by a social landlord by the end of 2010.

Over recent months Charnwood’s officers have been meeting with the other Councils in Leicestershire and agreement has now been reached to develop a sub regional scheme with the help of government funding. The other Councils included in the sub-regional scheme are, North West Leicestershire, Hinckley & Bosworth, Oadby & Wigston, Blaby, Melton and Harborough.

We aim to have Choice Based Lettings in place by the end of 2010. To achieve this, a considerable amount of work is required to decide how the scheme will actually work in a similar way for all the Councils involved.

In brief, Choice Based Lettings is where the landlord advertises all empty properties, on a regular basis in a variety of formats, including advertising on the internet and in public buildings for example in libraries. It would then be the responsibility of the housing applicants to decide if they wanted to express an interest in a particular property. This process is known as submitting a bid for a property. Support would be given to vulnerable applicants to make sure that they do not miss out on potential homes that they might be eligible for. Housing applicants will still need to have registered on our housing register (waiting list) before they can bid for a property they are interested in.

We will use banding to determine your housing need and applicants would only be able to bid for certain properties and this would depend on which band they are in. Once we have assessed your housing need from your application form we place you in one of the bands- the greater your housing need the higher your band. You will then be able to bid on properties that become available within your band.

When the properties are advertised, there will be details of which applicants would be eligible. Details of the proposed bands in the Allocations Policy which we are currently consulting on can be viewed on the Charnwood Borough Council web site under the Cabinet Agenda Item “Choice Based Lettings New Allocations Scheme” of 15^th April 2010.

How will we decide who has priority?

The law states we must give reasonable preference to you if you:

• are homeless
• occupy insanitary or overcrowded housing or live in unsatisfactory housing conditions
• need to move on medical, welfare or disability grounds
• need to move to a particular locality to prevent hardship

All these reasons are reflected within the bandings.

We can also take into account any behaviour of you or your household which affects your suitability to be a tenant

Once we have processed your application you will be told your band, your date of registration and the type of property you can apply for.

The recognised benefits from a Choice Based Lettings scheme arise from the applicant being able to decide where they want to live. Views from applicants who are already involved in Choice Based Lettings schemes in other areas outside Charnwood describe them as being easier to understand, fairer and more transparent.

We will continue to keep you updated, via the web and Council publications, on the development of the scheme.

If you have any questions about Choice Based Lettings do not hesitate to contact us or If you are interested in being involved in the Charnwood Borough Council consultation event please contact Corey Henry on 01509 634670 or email CBL.consultation@charnwood.gov.uk .

The date and venue is to be confirmed, however interested individuals will invited.