How to bid on Homechoice Bristol – how to get a council or housing association property if you are homeless or being evicted in Bristol

February 9, 2016 Chopsy Baby

Homeless in Bristol? How long will it take to win a bid on Homechoice? Want to know to get a council house in Bristol? Read our guide:

How to bid and win on Homechoice Bristol

Housing in Bristol is reaching crisis level and those bidding on Homechoice Bristol are finding it a very long and extremely stressful process. It’s really important to make sure you are maximising your chances of winning a bid in an honest, effective and ethical way.

Most importantly, make sure you are in the right banding. In the spring of 2015, the banding allocation changed. People were pushed up bands and others were removed from bidding entirely. Read the criteria on the Homechoice website very carefully. If your situation has changed let them know. Always file away paperwork very carefully as even years down the line, this can be incredibly helpful.

If you have been allocated a housing officer to deal with directly them work with them. Don’t arrive at council offices shouting and screaming every day. The staff do their best and cultivating a good relationship with them is better than annoying and abusing them. Remember to thank them where necessary. It has to be a difficult job. There are many people bidding on properties against you, all of whom have their own set of difficult circumstances. If there simply isn’t a property for you to move into, they cannot magic one up.

It is pointless taking the attitude that the council have to home you because… There are a limited number of properties. The council may have a legal duty to home you, but should it be regarded as an emergency you may end up in a temporary hostel. With high numbers of homeless families, the council may even use property or spaces outside of the city.

Do not lie, manipulate or make yourself intentionally homeless. If you council investigate and find you to be lying about your circumstances then not only will they not help, they make take action against you. Lots of ‘advice’ from others on the internet includes deliberately moving into a room that is not suitable for you and asking a family member to evict you, faking domestic violence or not paying rent to the landlord are some of the worst offenders. Not only are they unethical, they could be discovered with simple investigation.
If the council advise you to stay put in rented accommodation until you are evicted by a bailiff do exactly that. Do not do anything thing that could be seen to make yourself ‘intentionally homeless’. Always consult your housing advisor before making any big decisions and contact through email is best because you have a written record that cannot be disputed.

When bidding, you don’t have to be in first position to win a bid. This is worth bearing in mind should you be shortlisted for a property you don’t have any intention of living in. Refusing a property you have actually bid on will harm your application.

Keep an eye on Spotted Bristol type Facebook pages. A regular type of post will be from a person asking how long it took people bidding in specific bands to win a bid. Facebook users generally offer lots of helpful advice in response detailing how long they waited, in which band and at what position their winning bid came. Do ignore the bigoted responses. The council investigate homeless cases very carefully and only people who have a strong Bristol connection and have lived in the city two years prior to being homeless will be eligible for emergency housing help.

Everyone has spent time and resources building up a support network in their local community. Most people really don’t want to leave. They have children in school they don’t want to uproot. They may have caring responsibilities with elderly family members. Ultimately, it is unlikely, unless you currently live in an area with a very high amount of council housing stock that you will be able to stay in the immediate area. Flexibility is key.

Look at all the properties on the bidding cycle. Are they a short bus ride away? Are they on the same bus root? The First Bus Bristol website and Google Earth will help you work this out.

Google Earth is also very good for working out what neighbourhoods you are not familiar with are like. It can be surprising. Your conceptions of an area could be based on very outdated stereotypes and information. If you are in the top ten and definitely the top five, it is worth checking them for yourself in person. Go during the day and night. Especially the night.

Remember that although bidding should be in priority order, there are occasionally conditions attached. This could be Local Letting policy applies and they are looking for specific types of bidders. It could be a sensitive let which will exclude certain people. One advert was clear that bidders had to be working due to the expensive nature of the heating system.

Housing Associations can be very strict on bidders they accept. They may run credit and affordability checks. They won’t take people with a background of antisocial behaviour and new builds may have a mix of property owners and social housing tenants. The rent on Housing Association properties tend to be more expensive than council properties and the process to move in may take much longer.
Go back through all the past bidding cycles on the Homechoice Bristol website. You don’t even need to be on the register to access this. It will list every property, the number of people bidding and their ‘effective’ date from when they were eligible for that band. It will also tell you how long they have been on the Homechoice register. Do bear in mind that banding changed in Spring 2015, so from that season onwards, data will reflect current wait times.

You only get three bids. Use them wisely. Forget bidding on houses. Everyone wants the house with the garden. Fewer people want the sixth floor in a high rise in Hartcliffe. Exactly how desperate are you? Being housed is about need and not want. If there are tens or even hundreds of people above you for one property but not another then stop. You are wasting a bid. If you really need somewhere to live then it will not matter if it’s a house, flat or maisonette. A house and even a garden is a luxury at this point.
Good listings to look out for are new build Housing Association. This is because when they are putting up several flats in one building, they may list three in one bid. For example, one Homechoice listing could be 3 x first floor flats or 3 x ground floor flats. This means by bidding you are maximising your chances and could even be bidding on as many as nine properties in your three bids.

This won’t apply when you are first banded, but once you are in the top ten and even top six, bid strategically. One current annoying feature of Homechoice Bristol is that when you have used your three bids, you can see how many people are above you. But you cannot see how many people are above you for other properties you are eligible for but cannot bid on because you have registered three bids. If you are falling down too far on one listing, but another listing you haven’t bid on you would be higher if you did so – swap. You can keep changing your bid until the end of the bidding cycle. It is perhaps advisable to settle on a final bid before the last day. Especially so if your bidding cycle ends on a Sunday. If something goes wrong with Homechoice over the weekend then you don’t want to end up bidless.
You will find during the bidding cycle, your position may go up or down. It doesn’t matter at which point you bid because it is worked out on your need in the system. You will be automatically placed. However remember that those above you may have bid on something they are not eligible for – read the additional notes for each property at the bottom carefully. Certain ground floor properties may be given to those with disabilities who are further behind you but will take precedence.

Ultimately, careful bidding, flexibility and just waiting the time it takes should see genuine priority cases rehoused in a council or Housing Association property at some point.

This guide was compiled with personal experiences and is not an official Homechoice Bristol guide. Please contact Homechoice Bristol directly for advice and help.