Housing allocation FAQs

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.

The pausing of the register was necessary as housing applications take several weeks to assess, therefore applications received in February and March would not have been assessed under the legacy policies before the new scheme was introduced. 

They would also have been missing information required under the new West Northamptonshire housing allocations scheme as the three legacy schemes required different information from applicants to register their application.

By pausing new applications, we were able to collect all the information needed to make an informed decision about someone’s housing need under the new scheme criteria. This ensures we have the most up-to-date information to properly assess each applicant’s circumstances and means nobody is unfairly disadvantaged because of missing information.

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 when your application was been processed and we confirmed to you that you were eligible to join the housing register.

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

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. Applicants are now being contacted and invited to re-apply to the new register as part of a phased process.

Once applicants have reapplied under the new allocations scheme, there will be a period where you will not be able to bid for properties. This will enable all applicants time to re-apply and will ensure nobody is unfairly disadvantaged during the bidding process.

Please keep an eye on this website for more information.

We will be in touch with all existing applicants as part of a phased process to invite you to re-apply to the new housing allocation scheme using the new online portal. Even if you were previously verified and had a live application before 19 February 2024, it is important to make sure you do re-apply; if you don’t, your application will be automatically deleted.

Information around this is available on this website and teams working in locality hubs are on hand to support and guide you through the application process.

Please note, once you have reapplied there will be a period where you will not be able to bid for properties. This will enable all applicants time to re-apply and will ensure nobody is unfairly disadvantaged during the bidding process.

We will be in touch with applicants who had an application on one of the three legacy schemes for the Daventry, Northampton and South Northamptonshire areas with details on how to re-apply to the new West Northamptonshire scheme.

If you wish to be on the housing register, you must apply or re-apply, 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 when invited to enable us to assess your personal circumstances. Applicants should expect to provide:

• 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, this 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.

Please note, once you have reapplied, your application will be reassessed against the new allocations scheme. If you meet the qualification criteria of the new scheme, there will be a period where you will not be able to bid for properties. This will enable all applicants time to re-apply and will ensure nobody is unfairly disadvantaged during the application and bidding process. Please keep an eye on this website for more information.

We will contact you in writing by post or email with details on how to re-apply as part of a phased process. 

If you are unsure if your correspondence address or email address are correct in our system, please contact us to update them.

If you are a new applicant and wish to join the West Northamptonshire housing allocations scheme, you will have the opportunity to apply using the new online portal as part of a phased process. Please keep an eye on this website to find out when it is time for you to apply.

If you have an urgent housing need during this time, support is still available by contacting our Housing Team on 0300 126 7000 who will be able to help.

Being accepted onto the housing register does not guarantee that you will be offered social housing, and 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.

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 you had a live application on any of the legacy schemes before 19 February, you will be invited 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.

Your housing application could be cancelled in the following circumstances, if you:

• request it be cancelled
• become ineligible for housing or cease to qualify for the scheme – subject to an appeal
• were owed a homelessness duty but have since accepted suitable accommodation and that duty has now been discharged
• have accepted an Assured Shorthold Tenancy, or equivalent form of housing
• haven’t maintained your housing application, or have moved home and failed to provide us with the relevant contact details or information to update your housing application
• have failed to respond to a request for further information within a specified time given
• have failed to respond to the annual review

Applications take several weeks to assess so unfortunately, we were unable to decide the outcome of your existing application before the new scheme became live. 

We want every application to be fairly considered so we have begun inviting new 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:

• ID 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, last two months' 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