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Settled Accommodation
Private Rented Sector Accommodation
This accommodation is available via letting or agents or the landlord themselves.
Most properties are advertised online, although some advertising takes place through notices or similar. The landlord will have discretion about who they offer a tenancy for the property. Rental costs can vary significantly, and if the proposed tenant relies on benefit income to pay their rent they will be subject to the Local Housing Allowance rates (link).
To rent in the private sector you will normally have to pay a deposit. You may also need to pay rent in advance and fees, and you may need to buy essential furniture (see also the page concerning furniture). It can be difficult to get all the money together to make these types of payments.
Renters receiving benefits may be able to obtain a budgeting loan (link) to cover the rent in advance and the cost of furniture. The Council's Tenancy Finance Scheme (link) can help people in urgent housing need with these costs. But don’t just assume the scheme can help you - find out first.
Applying for Social Housing
Rented social housing is almost never an immediate option. There are usually around 2000 applicants on the East Staffordshire Housing Register seeking social housing, and around 550 homes become available each year.
Most rented social housing in the borough of East Staffordshire (Burton upon Trent and Uttoxeter area) is owned by Housing Associations. To apply for most social housing in East Staffordshire, you need to apply to be added to the East Staffordshire Housing Register. To be added to the East Staffordshire Housing Register, you need to fill in an Application Form (link) so that your circumstances can be considered in terms of the Allocations Policy.
The East Staffordshire Housing Register and the letting of homes is managed by Trent & Dove Housing, Trinity Square, Horninglow Street, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, DE14 1BL Tel: 01283 528 528 (details of the Uttoxeter Office here {link}) Housing Need is assessed using the Allocations Policy for social housing which can be found here (link). The Allocations Policy sets out:
- Criteria for joining the register (page 5 - 6)
- How the decision is made about which ‘Band’ of priority an applicant will put into (page 12 – 14)
The Housing Register operates on a ‘Choice Based Lettings’ scheme, which means that rather than directly matching applicants to properties, available social housing is advertised by Trent & Dove (link), and applicants can ‘bid’ (express an interest) in the properties they would like to be considered for. The Choice Based Lettings system runs on a weekly cycle beginning on a Tuesday and ending on Monday. The shortlist for each property is not set until the cycle ends, so an applicant’s final position will be the same regardless of when during the cycle they placed their bid. The property is offered to the ‘bidder’ in the highest band, who has been in that band for the longest amount of time.
The likelihood of being offered a property depends on a process which will result in the applicant being positioned higher on the rank list compared to other applicants. This process will be determined by the following: how many suitable properties become available, which properties the applicant expresses an interest in, the popularity of those properties, their Band and how long they have been in the Band.