Common Allocation Policy for Tees Valley Lettings Partnership

Advertising properties

Available properties will be advertised daily on the scheme's interactive lettings platform.

Adverts will be clearly labelled to show the property features, local neighbourhood information and the types of households that can apply. A photograph will usually be included.

Adverts will clearly state who is eligible to apply for them and eligibility criteria will be either 'essential' or 'priority'. The essential criteria must be met for the applicant to be able to place a bid on a property advert.

Eligibility criteria is used to determine who can or cannot bid for an advertised property. We use the following types of eligibility criteria on our property adverts:

• age - sometimes properties may be in schemes that have an age criteria that applicants must meet in order to be able to bid, for example, a designated older person accommodation which usually requires applicants to be aged 55 and over
• bedroom need - properties advertised on Tees Valley Home Finder will be allocated by bedroom need (see Appendix 4 for how we calculate this) as determined by the type and size of an applicant's household
• adapted or ground floor need properties - properties that have features such as level access showers, ramps may be restricted to applicants who have an assessed need for these adaptations
• family type accommodation - landlords may specify that the property they are advertising is suitable for families with children

Note: The use of the eligibility criteria is defined by the landlord advertising the property.

Properties are sometimes advertised during an existing tenant's four weeks termination period and may be withdrawn if the tenant changes their mind about moving. In this case, the advert will be withdrawn.

Where there is more than one property of the same description in the same location, sometimes only one advert will be displayed. The property advert will show that there are a certain number of properties of the same type available at the same time, for example if there are two or more flats available in a block or where there are several new build properties on the same development.

Shortlisting and selection

At the end of the advertising period, a shortlist of applicants will be produced. An applicant's final queue position will only be known when the advert closes.

Applications will usually be placed in band order (ranked 1 to 4). If there are two or more applicants with the same band, the date they entered the band (their priority date) will be used as a tiebreaker.

Some Partnership Registered Providers may use a quota system, which means that a percentage of their properties may give preference to Band 2, 3 or 4 first. This will be made clear within the property advert. This allows for applicants across the range of bands to have a chance of securing accommodation, including those in non-priority bands.

Local Lettings Policies may also affect the order of the shortlist.

Viewing properties and refusing offers

When an applicant has been selected for an offer, the landlord will contact them to arrange to view the property before deciding to accept it. Sometimes, more than one applicant may be invited to view. 

If an applicant who has been given a Priority Band 1, 2 or 3 for housing refuses an offer that meets their identified housing need (for example, is appropriate and suitable) and this refusal is deemed unreasonable, they may have their priority removed and be placed in Band 4 for a period of six months.

Time allowed for accepting an offer

Applicants will usually be allowed two working days to respond to an offer, but individual circumstances will be considered and applicants with specific need will be given more time, for example if an assessment for adaptation work is needed or someone with a disability needs more time to consider the offer made.

Additional information

Local lettings policies

In some cases, a property may be advertised with a Local Lettings Policy (LLP). This means that there may be certain qualities or characteristics that the landlord will be looking for when allocating the property. A quota may also be set giving preference to specific bands.

An LLP is usually developed between the landlord, local authority and other agencies in order to achieve a specific aim for an area, estate or new build development, for example:

• where there is an issue with anti-social behaviour (ASB) on an estate, and a LPP can be used to ensure that no more households with a history of ASB are housed there until the area stabilises
• for new build developments, an LLP can help create a mixed and balanced community on an estate

Where a property has an LLP in place, we will state this within the advert and make it available for the applicant to read.

Making direct offers without advertising

Alongside applicants applying for advertised properties on the system, there will also be circumstances in which some applicants will receive a direct offer from a Registered Provider.

A direct offer may be made in exceptional circumstances, for example:

• applicants being assessed by the local authority as being owned a homelessness duty
• people who need emergency accommodation due to fire, flood or major repairs
• ex-offender subject to Multi Agency Public protection Agency (MAPPA), where a full support package is in place with other relevant statutory and voluntary agencies to enable them to be returned to the community
• people who are at imminent risk of violence or a threat of violence, for example victims of domestic abuse, hate crimes or through a witness protection scheme

If an applicant refuses a direct offer of accommodation, they will only be given a second offer in exceptional circumstances

Affordability checks

Applicants may be subject to affordability checks when they are offered a property to ensure that it is affordable for them. If a property is found to be unaffordable, the offer will be withdrawn.