Qualification for a Housing Association property

Do I qualify to be considered for a Housing Association property?
You can join the Housing Register if you:

• are 18 years old, and
• are not subject to certain immigration control, and
• have not been deemed guilty of unreasonable behaviour which would make you an unsuitable tenant.

If you are 16 and 17 years of age you will be considered if you:

• are pregnant, or
• have a dependent child or children, or
• an involvement with Social Services, or
• found to be homeless.

If you are found to be ineligible to join the Housing Register you will be told in writing why we have made that decsion. You will then have the right to request a review of the decision.

Local Connection

You do not need to have a connection to the Borough of Surrey Heath to join the Housing Register however if you do not have a connection you will have no priority to be offered housing.

Due to the demand on housing locally we have not housed anyone into family housing who did not have a local connection for many years and do not expect to do so in the future.

The only exception to this is for people over 60 years of age who will consider a move into sheltered housing.

A local connection is established by:

• Living in the Borough for 3 out of the last 5 years, or 6 out of the last 12 months in accommodation of choice (e.g. does not include accommodation secured in the Borough by another housing authority in respect of their homelessness duties, moves into short term supported housing schemes, etc.); or,
• Having a close family association with the Borough (i.e. father, mother, brother, sister, adult children) and that family member has lived in the Borough continuously for 5 years; or,
• Having permanent employment of over 20 hours a week in the Borough.

If you have an exceptional need to move to the Borough for some special reason the Council will consider each case on its merits and in light of local housing circumstances at the time of your application.

Application packs are available from the Housing Needs Team either by calling in to the Council Offices, ringing on 01276 707127 or emailing housing@surreyheath.gov.uk. Alternatively you can print off the attached form and complete and return it to the Council Offices. Unfortunately at this time we can not accept e-mailed forms. You will also need to provide all the documents detailed on the form in order for us to assess your application.

• Application for Housing FormFile Type: Adobe PDF document, File Size:518.34 Kb (76 seconds @ 56K) Opens in a new window