Choice Based Lettings
Choice Based Lettings has come to Thanet and
Canterbury, with the rest of Kent following later this
year.
From the 28th July 2008, if you are on the council's Housing
Register, you can view available properties online via
Kent
Homechoice. Web bidding starts on 1st August 2008 with
all other methods of bidding from 4th August 2008.
What is Choice based letting?
Choice Based Lettings is a new approach to letting homes which
will make lettings arrangements more transparent and give
prospective tenants more control over the lettings process.
Rather than homes being allocated by the council, choice based
lettings allow tenants and prospective tenants to bid for the
available properties they are interested in. Available homes
will be advertised on the internet and a
bi-weekly property magazine, which will allow applicants to see
what Council or housing association housing is available in the
area and enable them to play a greater role in the process of
selecting their home.
Choice based lettings will not increase the
amount of available social housing. However, people seeking
re-housing will have accurate information on how many homes are
actually available, where these homes are located and their chances
of being housed. As the system is much more transparent, housing
applicants will have all the information necessary to make their
own informed choices.
Bidding
All registered home-seekers will be able to
‘bid’ for the homes advertised. Bidding can be done through
the internet, by phone, by text or by coupon.
The property magazine will list many details
including a photograph of the property, its location and the size
of household that the home is suitable for. People will only
be able to bid for a property suitable for their household
size.
A shortlist of bidders will be drawn up and
the home-seeker in the highest priority will be offered the
property. If they do not want to accept the property it will
be offered to the next highest bidder and so on.
Other Options
One of the advantages of the transparency of choice based
lettings is that it helps people understand the likelihood of being
re-housed, and consider options other than being housed by the
Council or housing associations.
There are many other alternatives to social housing available to
home-seekers in Thanet and we will regularly publicise alternative
options, such as the Council’s Rent Deposit Scheme, and promote the
role of the Housing Options Team in working with home-seekers to
resolve their housing difficulties.
Information
Applicants have more information on their housing
opportunities. They will see the number of properties
available and the level of priority of successful
bidders.
Choice based lettings will also provide a
place to advertise opportunities for shared ownership, and
hopefully in the future private rented options.
While creating greater choice for people
seeking re-housing, choice based lettings encourages people to take
greater responsibility for their future housing. It helps
people who are unlikely to get into social housing to consider
other options to meet their housing requirements.
Support
Other statutory and voluntary agencies that
support vulnerable members of the community will have an important
role in ensuring their clients benefit from Choice Based
Lettings. We will help train these agencies so they can
support their clients to bid for properties. Our Housing
Options team will also provide advice and support.
There will be a variety of ways to bid.
People will be able to choose a method which suits them.
Information will be available in public areas and we will also have
a procedure where people can bid on the behalf of others, e.g.
relatives and friends, staff or support workers, who may have
problems otherwise.
We will monitor people who do not bid to find
out why this is happening and see if there is anything we can do to
help them. There will be more publicity on choice based lettings
before the launch so that everyone is aware of the new system, and
where they can go for more information and help.