Does anyone have any experience of home move? (Council home bidding)

[ilovecheese1]

Shamelessly posting because I can’t find the answers on google. I’ve just been allocated a bidding number to bid on a council home. I’m in ‘band c - accepted homeless’ The letter states I have 3 months to bid on properties & after that the council will bid for me on suitable properties. Does that mean we’re being made priority & can expect to be housed within 3 months?
Me & my 2 young children have been in emergency accommodation & it’s been horrendous. If this is the case I’d be so so happy, but have been told we could be in emergency for upwards of 2 years, so I don’t know.
Sorry for the boring post & thanks if you stuck with it.

Have you placed a bid on anything? And does it show what place you're at in the 'list'?

It just means they expect you to be an active bidder. Show willing. If you don't, they will just bid for you which means they will put a bid against whatever they have that they can't fill.

Are you bidding?

I have bid, on 3 properties (the maximum) on the first cycle. The cycle only ended Thursday so it hasn’t told me where I placed yet, only the number of bids on each property (between 100-200 on all 3) not feeling at all hopeful this first time round. Where should I expect to be coming in placement wise?

Thank you both for your responses btw!!

If you are priority due to a homeless status I would expect the top 5. I have a friend who was in a similar situation, was housed within 8 weeks.

That’s really helpful thank you @galaxy101. I know different councils can have a different way of working but what band was your friend in, if you know? I can’t understand how band c could be priority surely we’d have to be band a?

It depends how they work their bands. Our local council a is the lowest priority and b and c are higher. Next council over A is the highest.

Where we are the banding is just priority, high, medium and low

We were allocated a Band B (severe over crowding). A was the highest band for us but that was reserved for illness etc. If I take away all the messing about etc (we were given a Band C which is minor over crowding initially until someone did a home visit and changed our banding that day). We were offered a house within 2 months.

Like others have said though it all depends on how your system works.

And can I ask what kind of living situation you're in at the moment? I don't know how it works elsewhere but we were living with family. We were told that had we been in emergency accommodation we would have been given a lower band. I don't understand how that makes any sense but that's what we were told.

It can mean that if you haven't successfully bid on something after three months, the council can make you an offer. If they offer you something suitable (that doesn't have to mean your preferred area) and you decline it, they may reduce your priority. There should be information available in their housing policy. Not all local authorities operate in the same way! If you are being very specific in an area of high demand, that will limit your options.

Some statutorily homeless people are in temporary housing for a very long time, because of a shortage in their local authority area. Others can be rehoused much more quickly. There are maisonettes always available in a couple of locations in the city where I live, but they are seen as a last resort for a lot of people, even if they are homeless. I'd have a chat to a friendly housing officer and ask if the area you want is in demand, and if its likely that you'll get something there within the three months. If its not, you may have to widen your options.

It depends on your council. You're clearly on the internet. Go onto their website and check the housing allocation scheme for your area. Where I work C would be the correct band. Where A is Urgent need to move; B is high priority; C is medium priority and D is low priority.

If the council will start bidding on your behalf after a certain point it usually means you're high priority, though that priority also comes with the 'get what you're given' caveat where you can't turn things down - on the presumption that you're 'genuinely' homeless and therefore should take anything offered (note: the council bids will be on properties that are less desirable, eg high rises or large estates)

It's not unusual to be priority (accepted duty to rehouse) but not the top band. A lot of people fall into this category (mainly, people with dependent children without rent arrears) Priority within the band will be on time waiting.

The top band is usually reserved for such an rare category it's barely used, eg someone having to leave their home because the council have a compulsory purchase order on it, or someone living in a block that the council are trying to close down. Some will have a banding for homeless + significant need, eg homeless + mobility issues that are a serious hazard to health (eg living in temp accom with no lift and issues with using stairs)

If you have a look on your council website they usually have a guide to the categories they use.

In my area c means no priority. A is only for people who are under occupying or people whose houses are going to be demolished. Every council is different

@Bored40 thank you! Really helpful! I have looked on the council website at allocations before coming on here but I think they’re out dated as it doesn’t classify my situation as band c, which is the band I’ve been given. I did find one article about it & it seems it’s a recent thing. So not much to go on.

My local authority doesnt have a bidding system, which is good because it is a horrible system, but I have recently been rehoused under the homelessness rules.
After my second 21 notice had been served I was moved into the band I think you are in now (different naming system) and was offered precisely nothing.
It was only when the notice expired that things began to move. They said that the landlord wouldn't be able to apply to the court for 2 weeks, and this is the window they work in, but I had to accept the first property I was offered or I wouldn't be considered homeless and they would do nothing more for me.
Luckily i was offered a lovely 3 bedroom house in a sought-after village location and I have just finished moving in. Its lovely and I am going to be very happy here. However, the whole thing was extremely stressful, particularly the last few weeks when I had overstayed the eviction notice and I was worried that I would be homeless with my kids.
With the bidding, you need to be checking it all the time, because some councils are first come first served, as long as you have the points, which totally disadvantages those without the internet and those with work/caring responsibilities who can't be checking their phone every 2 minutes.
It is stressful, but keep plugging away and if you are renting elsewhere dont leave until you have somewhere to go to, no matter what the landlord says.
Good luck

Why is bidding horrible? At least you get a choice? Can’t see why that would be a bad thing?

Hazell42, can I assume there were no private renters who had been trying for a long time to get a council house in a lovely village location in your local authority? I always felt it quite unfair that 'family a' who live in private rented and pull all the stops out to pay their rent, seek out another private rented house when they have to move rather than wait for the bailiffs. They may bid for months and years and get nowhere, yet 'family b' in a similar situation uses eviction to effectively jump the queue.

First come first served normally only applies only to properties that have been advertised for a while with no bids. In some areas they would be the ones that are offered to homeless families.

@Gran22

Obviously I have no idea about any other renters. I was told only that I had to take the first property I was offered, which was the first property that came available during the 2 weeks between the expiry of the Section 21 notice and the landlord being able to apply for eviction.
I was told categorically not to move out, but was looking at private rented properties because I was worried about what I might be offered. The council house was far and away nicer than any private homes I saw within my budget.
I was lucky, and while I appreciate that someone else may feel aggrieved that I was offered a nice house while they had been waiting a long time, if the first house that had come up had been awful, I would have had to take it because I have children to consider and I would only be offered one. If that had happened, no one behind me in the queue would have complained about me jumping it.
This is one of the few times in my life where I have dropped lucky. If you know any renters who are likely to be evicted, my advice to them would be to stay put. It only took my council 10 days to find me somewhere else