Frequently Asked Questions

 

 

The Government has suggested that every council in England and Wales should look at its housing allocation process and introduce ways to make it more customer friendly and to give customers more choice.

 

 

If you are on the Dudley housing register you can view homes in the Halesowen and Stourbridge area online, or pick up a housing paper in your local library or housing office. When you see a property that you would like to live in, you log onto a special area of the website and place a ‘bid’; this is not an amount of money, but an expression of interest in the property. If your ‘bid’ has been short listed, you can then arrange to view the property. You will be allocated a registration number that will allow you to ‘bid’ for properties.

 

All ‘bids’ are evaluated and the property is allocated to the ‘bid’ that is received from the customer with the highest priority need. For example, a three-bedroom family home will not be allocated to a single person with no children. If you are unsuccessful you can get feedback to find out if there is any information which will help you with future ‘bids’.

 

 

Anyone who is registered for a council property in the Dudley borough including people who have been accepted as being homeless, people who have particular needs, for example those who require properties with adaptations, and existing tenants who are looking to move and have requested to be on the register.

 

 

Properties will be advertised in a property newsletter and you can ‘bid’ for a property by phone or staff in your local housing office and Dudley Council Plus will be able to help you complete your application and register your interest for a property. You can find out more by attending one of the information days listed at the start of this article.

 

 

Yes – or Dudley Council Plus, during normal opening hours. We intend to have computers that you can use in all of the area offices and properties will also be published in a newsletter. All local libraries will also have computers which you can use free of charge. Information on the new system will be available via the Internet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

 

 

No. But you will have more information on the properties that are available. You will be able to ‘bid’ for properties that you are interested in and which you are eligible for. If your ‘bids’ are unsuccessful we will be able to advise you about other properties we have available and other housing options.

 

 

You can only apply for properties in any area which are suitable for your family size. Properties will be labelled to make this clearer; for example, single people, couples or families.

 

 

The new system may be able to match empty properties with applicants a little quicker. For example, information on all vacant properties will be listed and therefore you could ‘bid’ for a property in an area that you may not have considered before.

 

 

Yes. Staff in your local housing office and Dudley Council Plus will be able to give you information and guidance. You can also contact the Choice Based Lettings team by calling 01384 814183.

 

 

Yes. Every application will be confidential.

 

 

You will only be able to ‘bid’ for a property that you are eligible for. All ‘bids’ will be short-listed and the property will be offered to the applicant with the highest priority need.

 

If there are two applicants with the same need then details such as the length of time on the waiting list will be taken into account.