The Council's Housing Register
The Council holds a Housing Register of
everyone who is interested in Council and/or Housing Association
homes. In 2007 this register contains nearly 6,000
households. As there are only around 500 vacancies per year,
most people on the Housing Register will not resolve their housing
need this way: for this reason, potential applicants are advised to
read the sections providing information about other options.
If you want to join the Housing Register you
will need to complete a
Housing Application form and return this to the Civic
Centre in person, together with all necessary documents: please
note that forms submitted without documents will not be
accepted.
The law, through the Housing Acts, tells us
who is, and isn’t, eligible for housing, and what sort of things
should be taken into account when deciding who should be a
priority.
If a person is eligible for housing in the UK,
they can apply to any local authority in the country, regardless of
where they live. Every local authority is required to have an
Allocations Policy which describes how homes
will be allocated. Harlow has a choice-based lettings scheme
called Harlow
Homefinder ( HHF ).
Housing Register applicants are placed
in one of four bands, according to their housing circumstances link
to band extract Applicants are invited to ‘bid’ for Council
and Housing Association vacancies which are advertised on a
fortnightly basis. ‘Bidding’ simply means expressing an
interest, and this can be done by internet, telephone, text
messaging or by sending in a coupon. Vacancies are advertised
in a magazine ( available for collection from the Civic Centre and
Harlow libraries, or mailed direct for a subscription fee ) and on
the Harlow Homefinder
website.
At the close of the bidding period, each
property is offered to the person from the highest band, with the
earliest band date ( and where there are no
outstanding queries ) of those who have
bid.
To read more about Banding Priority and how the council
allocates properties in Harlow, look at 'How
the Council and Housing Association Homes are Allocated'