Choice Based Lettings

What is Choice Based Lettings?

Choice Based Lettings is an advert based scheme used to allocate council and housing association homes. Choice Based Lettings will not solve the shortage of social housing in Oxford but it will give applicants more choice. 

New sub-regional scheme

Oxfordshire Homechoice is a "sub-regional" partnership between: Oxford City Council, Cherwell District Council, Vale of White Horse District Council, South Oxfordshire District Council and local housing associations. The new scheme started on 27 July 2009.

Any applicants registered on the Council's Housing Register are able to bid for a selection of homes in other areas of Oxfordshire, without having to register again with another council. The aim is to provide opportunities for people to move to other areas across most of Oxfordshire that may suit them better.

The out-of-area pool will be made up of properties advertised to let in the following categories:

• Up to 10% of all general housing vacancies
• Most sheltered housing
• Most properties adapted for use by disabled people
• Most HomeBuy and other shared ownership opportunities

How do I do it?

You need to find out which properties are being offered for new lets.

You can find the most recent available properties list below. This list is updated every two weeks:

• Direction Home Property List

Alternatively you can log on to the Oxfordshire Homechoice website or find adverts in your landlord's offices, in libraries and other places around Oxford.

How often will the properties be advertised?

Properties will normally be advertised for 13 days every fortnight starting on a Wednesday and ending at midnight on Monday 13 days later.  Check the website, Direction Home Newsletter or contact the Housing Needs Team for further information.

How do I choose?

The adverts will tell you about the size, type and location of the property, usually with a photo of the property (or a similar property type).

Not sure which home to bid for?

You can look at the "outcomes" to see who was successful in earlier bid rounds. This will show you which properties and areas are the most popular.

Who can bid?

• Anyone on the general housing register (General Register applicant)
• Anyone who has been accepted as statutorily homeless by Oxford City Council (Homeless applicant)
• Any social housing tenant of Oxford City Council or its partner housing associations on the Oxford Register for Affordable Housing who wants to move home (Transfer applicant)
• Applicants registered with neighbouring councils in Oxfordshire, for selected properties only

How can I bid for a property?

• Online using the Oxfordshire Homechoice website
• Using our automated 24 hour phone bid-line
• By sending us a text message
• In person at an Oxford City Council or partner Housing Association office (if you are unable to use any of the other ways of bidding)

For more information on how to bid please see the user guide below.

Choice Based Lettings User Guide (kB PDF)

Who gets the property?

Everyone who's told us they're interested (by placing a bid during the bidding cycle for the property) will be listed in band order. If more than one person in a band applies, people with a local connection to Oxford will normally be listed first. This will not normally apply if the property is advertised across the sub-region. Then people will be queued up in date order from their registration date (unless they are in Band 1) they went into the band.

In some cases the Council gives preference to specific applicants/households for certain properties. Where this is the case, the advert details and icons will indicate which applicants or households will be given preference (see the page 7 of the Choice-Based Lettings User Guide for more information).

For more information about bands please visit the Choice Based Letting Bands page.

Will I be more successful if I bid early?

No, your bid is worth the same whether you bid on the first day or the last day. But your queue position will change as other people make their bids, so you may appear higher up the list early on in the bidding cycle.

What if I change my mind?

You can withdraw your bid before the end of the bidding cycle.

My bid was successful - what next?

We will only contact you if you successfully bid for a property (normally this is the person at the "top of the list" at the end of the bidding cycle).  If you are successful and are still interested in the property you will be sent an offer of accommodation. The landlord of the property will contact you very soon after bidding closes, so make sure you'll be available and have supplied up to date contact details. You'll get a chance to ask any questions you have.  If you like the property and there are no problems with your application you'll be asked to sign up for the tenancy.

The property turned out not to be suitable

We know that choosing a home isn't easy. We know we can't show everything about a property in the adverts.

That's why we don't have penalties for refusing a property after viewing (unless it's happening time after time, when we'd need to sort out what's going wrong). But we do ask you to think carefully before refusing a property as your refusal can also affect other applicants.

Not successful?

You've bid for a property but didn't come top of the list?

There is an acute shortage of Social Housing in Oxford and the other Districts in the Oxfordshire Homechoice partnership and many applicants are unlikely to successfully bid for a property in the foreseeable future and need to consider other Housing Options (see the Housing Options Leaflet available from the Housing Needs Team).

To improve your chances of finding the right home look at the outcomes from previous advert cycles.  We publish information about homes that have been let. We tell you the number of applicants that bid for a property, the band and registration date of the successful applicants. This will help you decide whether to look for other types of property or areas where you may not have to wait as long, or to consider other housing options such as private rented or low cost ownership schemes.  

Remember the same number of properties will be available, so Choice-Based Lettings will not make waiting times shorter, but it will give you more choice.

Page last reviewed 19 Apr 2010