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Bidding and Shortlisting

Bidding for advertised homes

Properties are advertised each week. The bidding cycle opens at 00:01 hours on a Thursday and finishes at 23:59 hours on the following Monday.  If you have bid for a home, please be patient.

NB Social landlords can take up to 4 weeks to identify a prospective tenant and it is important to be patient.  Please do not contact the council about bids you have placed as council staff will not be able to assist you.  If you are selected as a prospective tenant, you will hear directly from the social landlord's lettings teams.

In the event that you are successful in bidding for a property you will be asked to provide up to one month's rent in advance, so please start saving now.

Please only bid for properties that youare interested in. Please carefully check the advert and property details to ensure that it meets your household’s specific needs and, if offered, you would want to live there.

To be considered for accommodation customers will be required to express an interest in a property by submitting a bid.

This can be done via:

  • Website – www.homes4wiltshire.co.uk
  • Visiting your local Wiltshire Council office
  • Visiting your local library
  • Nominating someone to bid on your behalf e.g. family, friends or support worker etc

Applicants can receive 2 offers of suitable accommodation.  If you refuse two offers, your application can be suspended for 12 months. 

Once a bid is placed, you will be shown a queue position. This is an estimation of your current prioritisation, in regards to all other bids that have been placed. This number will change during the cycle in relation to all other bids subsequently placed.  It does not matter when in the bidding cycle you place your bid as your queue position is not determined by bidding early or late.

Some applicants with severe disabilities are unable to bid for themselves and have bids placed on their behalf by our computer.  These are only placed at the close of bidding so your final position can change at this time.  

Once the adverts are closed and all bids have been submitted,  the properties will be shortlisted.  Sometimes this is carried out by the Housing Providers themselves and sometimes Homes4Wiltshire staff carry out this function on behalf of the provider. Shortlisting can take up to three weeks to complete.

Applicants can receive 1 offer of suitable accommodation if in Band 1.  If you refuse a suitable offer, your application can be suspended for 12 months.

If you are in Band 1, you have limited rights of refusal under our Policy because your case is deemed urgent and to turn down a suitable property will lead us to review your banding and priority.  It is essential that you consider carefully offers of accommodation and speak to us immediately if you feel the offer is unsuitable so that we can understand the issues and advise you.  If you reject a suitable offer of accommodation, your application will be suspended for 12 months.

If the council has accepted a duty to re-house you under the homelessness legislation (Part 7, Housing Act 1996), a refusal of a property which is considered by Housing Options to be suitable for you, will result in the cancellation of your application, the Council discharging its duty to you under Part 7 and your eviction from temporary accommodation where relevant.

Shortlisting

All bids received will be put in priority order to produce a list of eligible applicants for each property advertised.  If your name is at the top of the shortlist, your details will be passed to the housing provider unless there are reasons why we are unable to do this. The housing provider will have their own allocations policy which may prevent you from being suitable for the property and you can find details of each housing providers' individual allocations and letting policies on this website at The Homes 4 Wiltshire partnership.

When bidding for a property, applicants are prioritised in shortlists in the following order:

  • Applicants with local connection to the parish or town in which the property is locate
  • Then by band - ordered 1, 2, 3, 4 and Open Market Register - and
  • Within each band, effective date - the date applicants are placed in the band or on the Open Market Register