Housing Association Homes in Broxbourne

The Council maintains a waiting list of people who would like to live in a Housing Association home in the Borough.  This is known as the Housing Register.  The Council also maintains a waiting list of people who already live in a housing association home who would like to transfer to a different housing association property.  This is known as the Transfer List.  For more information on the Housing Register, please visit the Housing Register page. 

 

When a housing association has an empty property, they ask the Council to nominate someone from the Housing Register or the Transfer List to move into that property.

 

This work is all done by the Housing Needs department.  Their contact details are on the Housing Needs section page.

 

Who does the Council nominate for housing?

  • Applicants on the Housing Register
  • Tenants of housing associations in homes where the Council has nomination rights
  • Ex-service personnel who enlisted from an address in the Borough and who have completed their term of permanent service of three years or more

 

What accommodation is provided?

The Council nominates applicants to a property of the size that their household actually needs.  Each applicant is placed on the list for the size of property that they will eventually be nominated for.

 

Homeless families will normally be placed in hostel or another kind of temporary accommodation.  Bed and breakfast accommodation may be used on occasion or the Council may help the household to find private rented accommodation by lending them the money for the deposit. 

 

Moving to smaller accommodation

Tenants of housing associations who wish to move to a smaller property can be moved via 'management transfers' and this will be dealt with as quickly as possible.

 

When will the Council nominate me to a housing association?

This question is frequently asked and unfortunately it is difficult to answer with any degree of accuracy.

 

Applicants are reminded that they might move down the list rather than up, if another applicant is entitled to more points.

 

The Council can only nominate you when a property becomes available.  With very little new housing being built, this largely depends upon existing tenants of housing associations moving out and therefore there is no precise way of estimating waiting times.

 

The Council must be informed if an applicant's circumstances change in any way as this could affect their position on the list.

 

Where will I be housed?

The Council has nomination rights to properties spread right across the Borough from Hoddesdon in the north to Waltham Cross in the south.  Applicants will be asked to indicate their preference.

 

The sizes and types of properties in each area vary, and we may not have the type of property you need in the area you prefer.  For further information about what properties are available, please ask for a property information leaflet by telephoning the Council on 01992 785505 or e-mailing housingneeds@broxbourne.gov.uk. 

 

Building new housing association homes

The Council works with housing associations, private developers and the Housing Corporation (the government body with funding for new housing association homes) to build new housing association homes.  These new homes are often referred to as affordable housing. 

 

Affordable housing is required on many new housing developments in order to meet the need for cheaper housing in the Borough.  Some of these new homes will be rented out by the housing associations to people on the Council's Housing Register and Transfer List.  Other new homes will be 'shared ownership' homes, which means that the person living in them buys part of the home from the housing association and pays rent on the part of the home that the housing association still owns.  This allows people who cannot afford local property prices to get onto the property ladder by buying a 50 per cent share in a property and then buying more if they can afford it later.

 

Developers wanting information about the Council's preferred housing association development partners and tenure split should contact the Policy and Project Manager on 01992 785521 or jdc.housing@broxbourne.gov.uk.