The Housing Register
The council owns just over 3,000 properties in Thanet. If you are over the age of 55, sheltered housing is available from various housing associations. You will need to be on the council’s Housing Register to be able to apply. For further information see our alternative housing options page.
The Council provides a relatively small number of new tenancies each year, and these often have much less choice than you can find with privately rented properties.
Unless you have a housing need with high priority, you may be waiting some time on the Housing Register before you make a successful bid for housing. You may prefer to rent privately. Visit our looking for a new home page.
The housing register is for anyone over 18 who qualifies to go on our register. To qualify you will need to have a housing need and have a local connection to Thanet.
How to apply for social housing
From Thursday 1 June 2023 until Sunday 2 July 2023, all Councils across Kent, except for Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge & Malling Borough Councils, will be temporarily suspending the option to apply digitally (online) to the housing register whilst we move to a new system and a new look website.
If you need to apply to the housing register, we strongly recommend that you do so as soon as possible ahead of Thursday 1 June 2023.
If you need to apply urgently for housing during June 2023, you can contact your council via our ‘Contact Us’ page and they will give you advice on what to do next.
We will be reopening the option to apply to the housing register online on Monday 3 July 2023. For more information please visit our Housing Options FAQ’s page.
All applications for social housing must be made online.
For more information on the Housing Register, please contact:
Housing Options Team, Housing and Planning Service, Thanet District Council, PO Box 9, Cecil Street, Margate, Kent CT9 1XZ
If you need re-housing immediately Find more housing advice here.
You will have to fulfil at least one of the following housing need criteria:
- Overcrowding – applicants will have to be lacking in one or more bedrooms. (Two children are expected to share a room up until the age of 10 regardless of gender, and up until 16 if they are the same gender. Anyone over the age of 16 will be entitled to their own bedroom).
- Hardship – an applicant has to move to give or receive care.
- Medical or Welfare – a member of the household is unable to access the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen or living room in the property.
- Unsatisfactory Housing – there are one or more hazards in the home that affects the health of those living there. For example inadequate heating, trip and fall hazards, fire hazard, inadequate facilities, mould spores caused by dampness and so on.
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You will need to fulfil at least one of the following local connection criteria:
- Lived in Thanet for the last three years immediately prior to the date of application
- Evidence of full time employment in Thanet
- Lived in Thanet for three of the last five years, but not currently living in Thanet
If you are eligible you can apply to the housing register. If you are not eligible you can take a look at our Looking for a new home page
PermalinkTo apply to the housing register you will have to fill in our online application form and provide information to support your application and confirm your circumstances.
PermalinkWhen we have processed your application we will place you in one of the bands below:
Band A – Urgent housing needs
This band is for those people who require an immediate need to move due to medical or welfare grounds as their home is not accessible/suitable for their needs.
Band B – Serious housing needs
This band is if households are severely overcrowded by 2 or more bedrooms, social housing tenants who are under occupying and armed forces personnel.
Band C – Reasonable preference
This band is for households that have been accepted as homeless, people who need to move on medical or welfare grounds, key workers and people living in unsanitary or overcrowded housing or otherwise living in unsatisfactory housing conditions.
Band D – General housing needs
This band is for those households that are intentionally homeless or who have deliberately worsened their housing circumstances, people who are homeless by another authority and households who have an identified housing need but owe a former tenancy debt.
Once you have been placed in a band and given a bidding number you can start bidding for properties through the Kent Homechoice website. Priority is given to those in most need of housing. For more information on how we allocate the properties see our Allocations Policy.
PermalinkOnce you’ve filled in the form and have been told what band you are in, you’ll be given a bidding number which means you can bid for properties in Thanet. Properties are advertised daily and you can bid on a property at any time before the bidding closing date.
Please note, we will only contact successful applicants when an offer is to be made and if you hear nothing you must assume you have not been successful at this time. Unfortunately, officers within the housing options team do not have the resources to notify you if you are not successful.
We will provide feedback on the previous properties that have been advertised so you will be able to see the band that the successful bidder for each property was in and the length of time the applicant had been in that priority band. Please be aware that Local Letting Plans may apply on some developments.
PermalinkYou will need to tell us of any changes in your circumstances. You can email housing@thanet.gov.uk to notify us of the change.
PermalinkView the Councils Housing Allocation Policy