Social Housing: Is it a good choice?

You may be looking specifically for a council or housing association home. Before you fill in a registration form, or if you’ve been trying to get one for a long time, consider whether that’s really your best option. Your chance of a home depends on the following factors:

1. Your rehousing priority

Council and housing association landlords use rehousing rules to decide who gets homes. Rules differ from landlord to landlord; but generally you get the highest priority for things like having a severe medical condition, or if you are in serious danger.

You’ll get a lower priority in slightly less serious situations – if your home is overcrowded for instance.

If you don’t have a serious reason to move, your chance of a home could be very limited.

2. How long you have had priority

As well as level of priority, properties are allocated to people who have waited the longest. So, where customers who have the same level of priority have bid for a home, it will be allocated to the person who has been in that band for the longesT time.
 

3. Where you want to live

There's more demand for homes in some areas than others. And some property types become available more regularly than others.

Your chances increase if you apply for more areas and consider more property types – especially in areas where homes come up more often. Our area guides show you the availability of homes in each area.

4. Your age

Unless you have children, your chance of a home can be seriously affected by how old you are. Many homes are restricted to people of a certain age.

Generally you have a poorer chance if you’re under 40, and a much better chance if you’re over 60.

Your chance

Your chance of a home depends on a combination of these factors. If you are registered for rehousing, you should look at the results of your previous bids to help you determine your chances of being offered a property. If you decide that social housing is not a good option for you, you should look at the other housing options available to you on this website.

If you are not registered for rehousing and want to check if you have a chance of being offered a social housing tenancy, click here to complete a quick questionnaire to check your chances. If you want to, you can then complete a full application form at the end of the questionnaire.