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Please call 0300 456 0106 for a conversation with a Housing Caseworker to establish whether your housing circumstances mean that you will have a housing need under the council's Allocation Policy.
The Housing Caseworker will be seeking to understand your reasons for seeking to join the Housing Register and exploring opportunities to improve your present living situation with you. If there is a need to move, we will explore other potential housing options eg private rented accommodation and low cost home ownership.
If the Housing Caseworker decides that you have a housing need, you will be given the opportunity to make an online application on the Homes4Wiltshire website.
What supporting documents do I have to provide?
Uploading documents to your application:
The Housing Caseworker will need supporting documents to assess your housing need.
In order for an application to be assessed, all applicants must provide all relevant documents. The documents may be copies and can be provided electronically by email to your caseworker. Homes4Wiltshire and its partner landlords reserve the right to have sight of original documents at a later time, so please be prepared for such a request.
If you cannot scan or photograph documents into electronic format yourself, photocopies are acceptable. Please send photocopies to Housing Solutions, Wiltshire Council, County Hall, Bythesea Road, Trowbridge BA14 8JN (do not send originals without a self-addressed envelope, as the Council does not have the resources to return them). Please mark the paperwork with the log in number.
Please note that, if you are offered a home, the Housing Solutions team or a housing provider may ask for original documents prior to confirming that offer, to demonstrate your eligibility for housing in the UK and Right to Rent.
What does banding mean?
When an application form is received by the Housing Solutions, the information it contains will help officers to assess and band according to the Council's Allocation Policy. This banding allows applicants to be prioritised according to their individual housing need in relation to their situation.
Applicants will be banded and notified of whether we consider their situation to be an urgent, high, medium or low need in line with our Policy and this will depend on what information is provided.
Exceptions to this rule are -
Our bidding cycle is open each week from Thursdays 00:01 to Mondays 23:59. Active applicants will be able to bid for properties during this time every week. Applicants will be able to view the property listings either:
You can bid via:
Once applicants have been informed in writing by Homes4Wiltshire that their housing application is active, they must keep Homes4Wiltshire up-to-date with any changes in their circumstances or contact details. They can update us with this information by logging into their online account and using the ‘Update your application’ section.
It is vital that applicants tell us promptly (and within 4 weeks of any relevant changes) of changes of circumstances as their bandings and thus priority can be affected.
Once updated, any changes will then need to be approved by Homes4Wiltshire before they take effect and an applicant notified of the outcome.
An applicant's contact details are particularly vital. If we cannot get in touch or have reason to believe an application may be out of date, we suspend it pending confirmation of the applicant's circumstances. Applicants cannot bid while suspended and, importantly, may miss out on properties if we cannot get hold of them. If you have bid for a property, and are being considered for it, the local authority's Tenancy Services team or the relevant housing association needs to be able to contact you quickly. If your contact details are out of date, this may not be possible.
Once suspended, an applicant must contact the office on 0300 456 0104 to update their application and have it re-assessed.
Once notified of any decision in respect of their application, an applicant has the right to request a review if they are unhappy. Decisions made are based on the information we have been given, assessed according to the Allocation Policy. If an applicant is considering seeking a review or appealing, s/he may find it helpful to ring and discuss the matter as this may help with understanding how the decision has been made and what other information might have caused us to make a different decision.
Assuming you have a connection to Wiltshire Councils's area and no unmanaged housing debts or history of Anti-Social Behaviour which would make you unsuitable to be a tenant, the Open Market Register includes those whom the Council considers are adequately housed or have £16,000+ capital. There is an upper limit on earnings of £80,000 per year. The application process is the same as for Homes4Wiltshire and it is designed for those who are interested in -
1. Low Cost Home Ownership including discounted sale or shared ownership properties (part-rent/part-buy)
2. Lower demand affordable rented properties including
Applicants registered on the Open Market Register may bid for these ‘lower demand’ social and affordable rented properties in each weekly cycle as Housing Register applicants can. There are fewer properties advertised, of course.
Applicants have the right to challenge any decision in connection with their application if they think we have made the wrong decision.
Should I ask for the decision to be looked at again?
Before you request a review, we would ask that you understand the reasons why the decision has been made in the first place and the decision letter should clearly indicate this. If you are unclear, contact us and an officer can talk you through the decision making process and what information was relied on. This can be quicker sometimes.
You need to:
If you remain unhappy, you have the right to request a review of the decision and should do so in writing within 21 days of the date of the decision letter. You can do this by:
OR
Complaints
Homes4Wiltshire works hard to provide a high level of service to an ever increasing number of Applicants but accepts that it does get things wrong sometimes. Where we do, we are genuinely sorry and will work to put things right as quickly as possible.
Often we can get things sorted quickly by you contacting us informally and pointing out an error. This can rectify things promptly and cause minimum disruption to your application.
If, however, you remain unhappy with the service provided, you do have the right to make a formal complaint and an officer will be appointed to look at your case.
You should do this in writing (either via email or to our County Hall address – see “Contact Us”).
An Officer will look at your case, look at what decisions have been taken and why and make a decision as to whether your complaint should be upheld and give you reasons for that decision. You will be notified of this in writing and, if you remain dissatisfied, have the right to escalate your complaint through our Corporate Complaints Policy to a Stage 2 complaint. Details of how to do this will be provided to you as part of any decision and, in the interim, are available on the main Wiltshire Council website at: Making a complaint - Wiltshire Council
If Wiltshire Council are unable to resolve your complaint, you do have the right to ask the Local Government Ombudsman to look at your case. They will look and see whether there has been any maladministration and, if so, whether you have lost out as a result. Details of the Local Government Ombudsman can be found at www.lgo.org.uk or by ringing 0300 061 0614.
You may find it useful to contact Legal Advisor Finder or Shelter