How to get a council house in Birmingham - everything you need to know

There is currently huge demand for council houses in Birmingham.

Birmingham City Council currently has around 60,000 properties - less than half the number it had back in 1981 - and more than 18,649 households waiting on the housing register, according to the council's Housing Options report.

What's more, the council is receiving around 500 applications a week to join its housing register and is struggling to process requests quickly enough, according to an investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

So, how do you apply for a council house from Europe's largest local authority? Here are the steps you need to follow:

Find out if you are eligible

The council determines its priorities via the Housing Allocation Scheme to ensure that social housing is given to the people who need it the most.

Applicants must generally be 18 years or over to apply, and will need to provide certain documents to prove that they qualify for social housing.

Birmingham housing and a view of the city centre from Mary Street, Balsall Heath (file picture)" />

Reasons for not qualifying include:

• No local connection to Birmingham - applicants are expected to have a local connection to Birmingham in order to qualify. This can be having lived in Birmingham for the last 12 months, having on-going caring responsibilities for someone in the city, working, training or studying in the city, a young person who was housed or fostered by the council (Armed Forces personnel are an exception to this rule)
• Unacceptable behaviour or actions - such as eviction or breach of tenancy condition, fraud, being a domestic violence perpetrator, threatening behaviour towards council employees, having been in rent arrears, served with a legal Notice of Seeking Possession or convicted of using a property for immoral or illegal purposes
• No assessed housing need - following an assessment to determine whether a property is needed
• Asset / income threshold - household income and assets are taken into consideration and those at or above the threshold will not normally qualify
• Owning your own home in the UK or abroad, or with savings over the threshold - consistent with the Government’s upper limit for savings set out in the common rules of the DWP Benefit and Pension Rates
• Incapable in law of holding a legal tenancy unless they are in the care of the council, or a care leaver, a child in need as a result of a statutory assessment, are owed a full statutory homeless duty following assessment or have an adult acting as a trustee.
• Refusing offers of social housing - if an applicant refuses two suitable offers of social housing they will be disqualified from applying for social housing for 12 months, after which time a new application can be made.
• Subject to immigration control under the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996

Exceptional circumstances - and what to do if you're not classed as eligible

The council recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances, such as a threat to life or no other housing options available, where it becomes necessary to reconsider the qualification criteria in the case of individual applicants who would not normally qualify.

Those who do not qualify will be offered help to look at alternative housing options, including private renting.

What you need to apply

Applicants can apply by completing a housing application form online here. It is likely to take between 20 minutes to an hour to fill in, depending on family size and housing needs. The form can be saved along the way and returned to later if necessary. Information required includes:

• Full names and dates of birth for all household members

• National insurance numbers for all household members aged 16 and over

• An email address

• A telephone number

• Current address, including postcode

• Address history, including dates, over the last 5 years

• Homeless reference number (if applicable)

Once an application has been assessed, the individual will be contacted by email with the decision. Birmingham Choices is currently warning that the council is receiving a significant number of housing applications and apologies for delays in assessments being completed.

People are asked not to contact the council during the period of assessment but to log onto the My Account section of the website to track the status of their application.

Priority Banding

If an application is accepted, the applicant will be awarded a priority band based upon their circumstances.

By law, a council’s Allocation Policy must give priority to certain groups of people. This is called 'reasonable preference'. The priority bands are:

• Band 1 - People in Band 1 are deemed to have a 'very urgent need to move'. This could be due to domestic violence, acute overcrowding, that their current property is required within six months as it is in a designated clearance or regeneration area, they are swapping their significantly adapted property for a smaller property, their current property poses a health hazard, emergency medical, disability or welfare needs, there is a serious threat to a child or they are a foster carer
• Band 2 - People in Band 2 are deemed to 'need to move'. This could be due to overcrowding, swapping to smaller property, permanent lack of basic facilities such as a kitchen, bathroom or adequate heating, severe medical, disability or welfare needs, moving on from supported housing or care, children in need, threat of domestic abuse, unintentionally homeless or hardship
• Band 3 - People in Band 3 are generally those 'looking to move' due to overcrowding or making themselves intentionally homeless
• Band 4 - People in band 4 'want to move and have no reasonable preference' but qualify for other specified reasons such as being aged 55 or over or disabled and seeking retirement or extra care housing, or being ex Armed Forces personnel

Bidding system

Once an applicant has been put into a priority band, they are then able to bid for homes that are advertised by the council and registered provider partners on the Council’s Choice Based Lettings system. Find out more via the Birmingham Choice Housing Allocation Scheme here

Are you struggling with a housing issue? We'll try to help. Get in touch via our Brummie Mummies Facebook page or email zoe.chamberlain@reachplc.com