Shortlisting

The principle of the system is that properties are normally let to the household that wants the property, and has been waiting the longest in the highest band. For more details on how the Gateway prioritise applications, please see here.

Available properties are advertised on the Gateway to Homechoice website for a week, starting on Thursday morning and closing on the following Wednesday at midnight.

As applicants place their bids for housing, the system automatically compiles a shortlist of applicants. The order of the applicants is from Band A down to Band E. If 2 or more applicants have the same band, then the system will normally place the applicant with the longest date first.

We recommend that all applicants put the appropriate financial provisions in place to cover moving costs and rent in advance, which is a requiredment of most housing providers and landlords.

 

Offers

All bids received will be put in priority order to produce a list of eligible applicants for each property advertised. The landlord of the property will carry out any outstanding eligibility checks, (e.g. rent checks, household circumstance checks).

If your name is at the top of the priority list you will normally be invited to view the property. There may be reasons why we are unable to do this, for example, if you have rent arrears or the local authority is taking legal action against you for breaching a tenancy condition or you do not meet the eligibility criteria that was specified in the advert.

If we are unable to offer the property to the applicant at the top of the list we will move to the next applicant, and so on.

If you are offered a property you will not be shortlisted for other properties until you have decided to either accept or refuse the offer.

If you decide to refuse the property, it will be offered to the next person on the priority list. You will not normally be penalised for refusing a property and will continue to be able to bid for properties advertised. For more details, please refer to sections 7.19 and 8.3 of the Allocations Policy.

 

For troubleshooting or further information, please see our FAQs​.