Housing register

The council is required by law to have a housing allocations scheme which shows our priorities for allocating homes and the procedures we follow to do this. 

The scheme sets out who is eligible to apply for social rented housing, how the council will prioritise applicants, and the basis on which accommodation will be allocated.

As of 1 April 2024, a new housing allocation scheme is in place across West Northamptonshire replacing the three legacy schemes which operated in the Daventry, South Northamptonshire and Northampton areas. 

The legacy policies operated in different ways to each other so introducing a West Northamptonshire Housing Allocation Scheme allows for a fairer, clearer and more consistent process across the West Northamptonshire area.

The new scheme has been implemented following a 10-week public consultation which took place in July and August 2023.

We have made some adjustments to the eligibility criteria to make the new scheme fairer, clearer and more consistent than the three legacy schemes for the Daventry, Northampton and South Northamptonshire areas. Applicants will be required to reapply and be assessed according to the new scheme criteria.

The new scheme includes four priority bands, in the order of A to D, which contain a list of criteria that satisfies each priority band.

Applicants will be prioritised for an allocation of social rented housing according to the following criteria:

• Band A has the highest priority and Band D the lowest
• where two or more applicants might have the same priority in the same band - the effective date will be used to prioritise between applicants
• the effective date will be the date from which we receive the last piece of supporting information to enable the completion of housing assessment and acceptance onto the scheme

The new scheme will also operate through a choice-based lettings system. This will enable residents to make choices about which properties they are interested in, making the provision of social housing fairer, clearer and more consistent across the West Northamptonshire area.

You can view the full housing allocations scheme in the document linked above.

The new scheme includes changes to the below qualification criteria:

• local connection criteria - those with a connection to West Northamptonshire via employment and family.
• housing related debt - the scheme now sets out an approach depending on the level of debt and the decisions that will be made.
• no housing need - If none of the circumstances as defined in the priority bands are relevant to the applicant then they will be regarded as having no housing need.

The full eligibility qualification criteria can be viewed in the new housing allocation scheme.

The new housing allocations scheme came into effect on 1 April 2024. Existing applicants have now been contacted and invited to re-apply to the new register as part of a phased process, and new applicants can also apply using the new online portal.

If you have not received an invitation to apply, you can apply using the new online portal. Please note it may take longer for us to re-assess your application against the new policy at the moment due to high application volumes. 

Even if you were previously verified and had a live application before 19 February 2024, it is important to make sure you re-apply; if you don’t, your application will be automatically deleted.

To re-apply to the new scheme, you will need to complete an online application form to enable us to assess your personal circumstances. 

Applicants should expect to provide:

• your previous application reference number
• identification for all members of the household
• proof of income
• statements for all bank accounts for the previous three months
• tenancy agreement
• rent statement for the previous three months or mortgage statement and estate agent evaluation
• details of notice to quit (Section 21 notice)

If you have previously provided any of this documentation, we may need to see it again or get up to date copies of some information. We will determine the supporting documentation required to assess a housing application form on a case-by-case basis. 

Where possible, we will make use of documentation already supplied to us by existing applicants. 

When new information is requested, it is so that we have the most up-to-date information in our system and can properly assess each applicant’s circumstances, and ensure nobody is unfairly disadvantaged because of missing information.

If you are a new applicant and wish to join the West Northamptonshire housing allocations scheme, you can apply using the new online portal. Please note it may take longer for us to assess your application at the moment due to high application volumes.

If you have an urgent housing need during this time, support is still available by contacting our Customer Services Team on  0300 126 7000 who will be able to direct your call to the relevant team to help.

Once you have completed your online application form, you have 28 days to supply all your supporting documentation to [email protected]. 

We may contact you if we need further information to assess your application, if this information is not provided within 28 calendar days of the request, we may cancel the application. 

Once we have all the information needed to complete your assessment, we will assess your application against the new scheme criteria and determine the priority of your application, we will then be in touch to update you on the outcome of your housing application.

We assess applications in date order and whilst we aim to complete the assessment within 33 working days, this can take longer when demand is high.

Being accepted onto the housing register does not guarantee that you will be offered social housing. We would advise all applicants to explore other housing options, including private rented and the mutual exchange scheme. 

Details can be found on the Northamptonshire Partnership Homes and Homeswapper websites.

The demand for affordable housing currently exceeds its availability. Not all applicants are accepted onto the housing register and successful applicants generally wait several years before they are offered accommodation. 

Our housing allocations scheme prioritises applicants who are most in need and ensures that available properties are offered fairly, transparently and in an effective way.

If you are accepted onto the housing register, you will be invited to bid for properties through a Choice Based Lettings system.

Choice Based Lettings

Choice Based Lettings (CBL) is a system used by the Council to hold a register of customers eligible for affordable housing and to advertise available properties. This is the same as was previously used in the Northampton area. The majority of homes that become available will be advertised through our CBL system.

Once a customer has applied to join the Council’s housing register and is assessed as eligible for affordable housing and in housing need, they will be given a reference number and be invited to bid on available properties suitable for their needs. CBL schemes allow customers to make choices about where they want to live and which home is most suitable for them.

Please note that we assess applications in date order and whilst we aim to complete the assessment within 33 working days, this can take longer when demand is high. You do not need to contact us for an update on your application or CBL reference number, as this could delay the process further. We will be in touch with you as soon as we can to advise on any next steps.

Due to a high demand for affordable housing and a limited number of properties available, properties of the right size and type in your preferred location may not always become available. 

Customers will need to make choices around which properties they place bids on taking into account the availability of homes alongside meeting their housing needs in a timely manner. 

If certain households do not bid, they may be directly matched to the next available suitable property.

We assess applications in date order and whilst we aim to complete the assessment within 33 working days, this can take longer when demand is high.

We will contact you if we need further information to assess your application, if this information is not provided within 28 calendar days of the request, we may cancel the application.

If we have all the information needed to complete the assessment, the allocations officer will then write to you to update you on the outcome of your housing application.

If your housing application is successful, we’ll contact you to let you know which priority bands fits your current circumstances.

Once we have all the information needed to complete your assessment, we will assess your application against the new scheme criteria and determine the priority of your application, we will then be in touch to update you on the outcome of your housing application.
 

If your circumstances change at any point after submitting your original application, you need to let us know.

A change of circumstances could be:

• change of address
• change of telephone number
• adding people to your application, for example, if you have had a baby
• removing people from your application, for example, you have experienced a relationship breakdown or you have children who no longer live with you
• changes to your income, employment or savings
• your medical needs have changed

This is not an exhaustive list and you are required to ensure that the answers in your application are accurate and up to date.

If you had a live application on any of the legacy schemes before 19 February, you will need to re-apply and must advise of your current circumstances so that your application can be assessed, even if they have changed from your previous application.

To let us know about any changes, please email [email protected] or call our Customer Services Team on 0300 126 7000.

Applications take several weeks to process and need all relevant supporting information to be supplied to properly assess, so unfortunately we may not have been able to decide the outcome of your application before the new scheme became live. 

We want every application to be fairly considered so we have invited all applicants to apply again from early April as part of a phased process. Once you have reapplied your application will be considered under the new scheme’s eligibility criteria.

This is to ensure we have the most up-to-date information to properly assess each applicant’s circumstances and ensures nobody is unfairly disadvantaged because of missing information.

In addition to filling in the application form, the following documents must be submitted as evidence to verify the information provided by you:

• identification for all members of the household, such as birth certificate, passport, immigration documents
• proof of residency, such as biometric resident's permit card
• proof of pregnancy
• proof of income,  such as last two month's payslips or eight weekly payslips, benefit letters
• a utility or Council Tax bill or other relevant documentation dated within the past three months
• details of any relevant unspent convictions
• all financial records from the past three months relating to income and savings, such as bank statements for all bank accounts
• all legal records relating to property ownership
• tenancy agreement and any notice served if you are at risk of homelessness
• up to date rent statement or mortgage statement

If you had an existing application on one of the three legacy schemes in the Daventry, South Northants or Northampton areas, your effective from date will remain the same when you re-apply to the new West Northamptonshire housing allocations scheme. 

For example, if your effective from date was 30 March 2023 on the legacy scheme, this will remain your effective from date when re-applying to the new scheme.

Your effective from date is the date from which your application has been processed and you are confirmed as eligible to join the housing register. 

Once the bidding portal is open, you will be able to bid for properties from this date and will be prioritised by housing band first and then effective from date.

We are still receiving high volumes of applications at this time and we are working through assessing them. If you have not yet been contacted with the outcome of your application or received a request for more information or documentation then you will not yet be able to bid.

Once we have assessed your application, we will confirm the decision by email or letter. Please do not contact us to check on the status of your application, as this may delay the process further.

Once you are accepted on to our housing register, you will be able to bid on appropriate properties at any point during the bidding cycle. The cycle runs from Wednesday to Tuesday, your priority for any properties you bid on is related to your housing need, not what time you place a bid within the cycle.

If your circumstances have changed since your application was submitted, please email us on [email protected] or call our Customer Services Team on 0300 126 7000.