Offers
All bids received will be put in priority order to produce a list of eligible applicants for each property advertised. The applicant at the top of the priority list will be contacted by the landlord of the property to carry out suitability checks, unless their is a known reason that the property would be unsuitable.
Applicants are able to bid on as many properties as they are eligible for. This can be as many as 3 or 4 properties per week. This sometimes delays properties being offered to people lower down on the list whilst the first person decides which property they would prefer.
Registered providers will ask applicants to decide which property they like the best. Applicants will need to make a choice on one property when they are contacted. This means that they will withdraw their interest in the other properties they have bid on.
When an applicant chooses their favourite property, the registered provider will amend their status on Island HomeFinder to prevent them from bidding on any more properties.
When bidding on a property you may want to consider the following:
Transport
- Do you need a car and parking space?
- Is the public transport network sufficient?
- Can you afford the public transport?
- Will public transport get you to your job/school on time?
Support
- Is it near enough to friends and family?
- Is it close enough to your existing health providers?
- Is it close enough to your place of work?
- Will your children remain in the same schools?
Property
- Is it in an area you want to live in?
- Can you manage more than one or more flight of stairs?
- Do you want to live in a block of flats?
- Can you manage a garden?
If the applicant is considered suitable for the property they will normally be invited to view it. If for some reason the applicant at the top of the list is not considered suitable for the property, they will be notified via the system and the landlord will move to the next applicant, and so on.
Once a property has been viewed, the applicant can decide whether the property is suitable for them. If it is not, they will be able to bid on other properties. However, it is important to note that applicants can only refuse two properties without good reason, or one property if they are statutory homeless, before they can be suspended from the housing register.
It is essential that applicants carefully consider which properties they would like to register an interest in. This makes it a fairer system for all the people on the on the housing register by reducing the waiting times for those who would like to move into a housing association home.
Applicants should also note that they may be required to pay money up front for their tenancy such as for a deposit, rent in advance or credit reference fees. Each landlord will have their own criteria for what you may be required to pay, but applicants should be mindful that they will need to have some funds ready to take on a tenancy so it is suggested that some money is set aside ready for when it is needed.