How do you get on a housing association list?

[Layersoftaytoes]

I have lots of friends/family/acquaintances who are housed by the council or a HA. Mostly because a lot of them have been on the the list for many years so, I guess it’s kind of lucky as there wasn’t such a fight for it back then. I can’t lie, I am a bit jealous and I would absolutely love to have the cheaper rent/not be under the control of a landlord and when they want to sell and to just have the security of it. We privately rent, would never be able to buy a home for us and our children it’s just not something we’d ever be able to afford sadly. Which I’m ok with it’s just the not knowing of when our landlord is going to want to sell. I moved around a lot as a child so I just want my children to have a solid home. We pay a pretty high rent already in the outskirts of london, and when our contract is up for renewal (18 months) I imagine the landlord may raise the rent. I always look on rightmove to see what’s available (even though we’re not due to move) but there are NONE within our price range. Not even remotely close by. We’d have to move about 45 minutes out. :(

Ive been researching how to get in these lists, the council essentially said no, you don’t qualify to be on our list. you’re already renting.

but even so, I’d just like to be on a list?? Or is that greedy? I have no idea how to go about HA lists, I presume it’s done via council too no?

any information is welcome

My understanding is that anyone can be put on the list, but priority levels will differ. In London, and already housed, I suspect you’ll be nowhere near the top. Possibly ever.

You’d probably just need to call the council and ask about how to get on the list.

I applied to my HA directly and bid for a property on their website.

Not in London though.

I rent through the local council but on their housing association side not the council side. So I needed to put down a bond and rent isn’t as cheap as council but still lower than private rental. They advertise on right move so anyone can apply, you don’t need to be on their list already. This is in the north of England .

As you have somewhere to live you'd be at the bottom. They did this to me even though the older I was getting, the less and less suitable my parents home was becoming. My parents house has 6 steps and they said I could only manage 3. Despite this i was placed at the bottom of the list.

I only got my flat after a 3 year fight and in the end complained.

You need to look at how to join the local housing register in your area. It is likely to be a collaboration between all the housing associations and council. However some housing associations also have their own. You need to research it.

As you are adequately housed you’ll be a low banding. You are most likely to be successful on a property that has a local connection 106 attached to it. Make sure all your local connections are put on your application.

Sorry I’ve just seen the bit Council have said no. Can you tell us the area? Some housing registers don’t allow those they seem not in priority need to join allocations register.

I applied directly with my housing association when they advertised on rightmove.
HA properties are like gold dust.
I have a secure tenancy now sp can apply for an exchange via the housing register if I wanted to

DF used Gateway to Homechoice.

As others have said you can apply to HA direct. Well we did anyway (midlands). I was in private rented accommodation that was stretching us financially and I agree that not having the security was not nice. We were on our HA waiting list for five years before we successfully bid on a property though and this was 18 years ago.

I have a council house. To get it, we were evicted during covid. There were no houses available to rent, mainly because people weren't allowed to leave their house never mind think about moving.
The landlord was very nasty about it and I had to involve the police. It was so stressful.
Yes we have the cheap rent and security but getting here was horrendous.

As this range of replies show every area is different. You really need to look at your own councils allocation policy which will tell you how they do access to the register.