Our Housing Allocation Policy is a 48 page document. You can download the full policy from this web page in English, Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Chinese or Polish.
Summary of our Allocation Policy 2006 for offering housing (amended 2008)
Alternatively, you can read or download a summary of the document.
Download the summary
Download a summary of our Allocation Policy 2006 for offering housing (amended 2008) (59kb 12 page pdf)
Read the summary using the links below
New choice based lettings
Applying for housing
Housing need and priority
Assessing your medical or social needs and your needs if you have a disability
People who are homeless
Housing homeless people: in line with their needs and choice
People who can contribute to the community
Local lettings schemes
How we match you with a property
The number of offers we will make
Which area can I choose to live in?
Other decisions we make
Your legal rights
Your right to a review
Monitoring, reviewing and continually improving
Appendix 1 – Housing register bands
We and Six Town Housing, are committed to promoting choice in a way that best meets your and the communities housing needs.
We have introduced Bury Homes Options with effect from 2nd April 2008. This Choice Based Lettings System allows you to choose from the properties available.
This is how the system works :
- Every week we will advertise all of our available homes.
- You can apply for one of these properties if you want to.
- We will let the property to whoever has the highest housing need.
- You must already be on our housing register to be considered.
Our housing register
This is a single register for:
- new customers; and
- current tenants who want to transfer to another property.
Bury is a popular place to live and more people want a council home than there are tenancies available. To provide a fair system, the allocations policy divides the register into six bands of housing need.
Band 1 is the highest priority and band 6 the lowest. Within each band, the longer you have been waiting, the higher your priority.
To join the register, you must fill in an application form.
Only people who are on the register can be considered for a council home.
Anyone who is 16 or over can apply to be added to the housing register.
However, some people do not qualify for a council home and cannot go on the register. These are some people from other countries, and people whose unacceptable behaviour makes them unsuitable to be a tenant.
If we decide you do not qualify to go on the housing register, you can appeal against our decision.
We give the highest priority to people who have the greatest housing need. We place people who we assess as being in urgent housing need in band 1. We place people who we assess as having no housing need, that is, they already have suitable housing in band 6. Within each band, we give priority to people who have been waiting longest.
For more information on the six bands and the categories within each band, see appendix 1. By law, we must give priority for offering housing to the following groups.
- People who do not have a home for whatever reason
- Homeless people owed legal duties by the council that is:
- people in “priority need” who are homeless or threatened with homelessness through no fault of their own
- people in “priority need” who are homeless through their own actions
- people not in “priority need” who are homeless through no fault of their own
Having a “priority need” means:
- being pregnant
- having dependant children
- homeless due to emergency (fire or flood etc.)
- aged 18 to 21 years old and have just left care
- aged 16 or 17 years old and homeless through no fault of your own
- are vulnerable as a result of moving from accommodation because of violence or threat of violence, old age, mental illness, physical disability or having left military service or custody
- People living in unsatisfactory housing conditions.
- People who need to move for medical or welfare reasons.
- People who need to move to a particular area in the borough to avoid hardship.
Extra priority
We can give you extra priority if you have very urgent housing needs (please see band 1). This extra priority is called additional preference and gives you a higher priority than people in Band 2.
Band 5 - People who have less priority
We give less priority to people who:
- are guilty of Anti Social behaviour;
- currently owe rent or have missed rent payments in the past; and
- have no connection to the borough but have some housing need.
- Intentionally overcrowd a property in order to get a higher priority.
This is called “reduced preference”.
Bury Connection
You have a Bury connection if you meet any of the following criteria:
- live in the borough (through your own choice)
- have work in the borough;
- have close family (for example, father, mother, brother or sister) living in the borough; or
- have any other special circumstances (for example, if you need to be near medical services or support services that are only available in borough, or you are on a full-time course in the borough).
If you live in the borough through your own choice your application will be placed in Bands 1-6 according to your housing need.
If you don’t live here, but meet any of the connection criteria and have some level of housing need, you will be placed in Band 4.
People without a Bury connection but in housing need will go in Band 5.
People in no need with a Bury connection would be placed in the lowest Band (6) as are all other no need applicants.
If you are homeless, different rules apply. To find what these are please contact our homeless prevention team on 0161 253 5537.
Medical assessments
If you apply for a council home because of your medical needs or because you have a disability, we will either offer to visit you at home or arrange an interview at one of our local offices. The medical assessment looks at how your current housing affects your health.
Sometimes if your case is complicated, the Health and Social Needs Panel will consider it and make recommendations. The panel is made up of people who represent various health and social care agencies.
A sub-group of the Health and Social Needs Panel will consider applications from people with mental-health needs and make any recommendations if appropriate.
Properties adapted for people with disabilities
We have improved our systems for holding information about people with disabilities who have applied for a council home and the adapted council properties that are available.
We will continue to advertise properties that have been adapted for people with disabilities through Bury Home Options (choice based lettings system).
We will offer you an adapted property based on your need.
We have a legal duty to give the highest priority to people who:
- we assess as being homeless and in priority need through no fault of their own and
- have a local connection with the borough.
These people are known as statutorily homeless and we have a legal duty to help them.
Under this policy, we give priority to homeless people as follows.
Band 1 People who have become homeless through no fault of their own who have a connection with the borough and have dependent children, or are pregnant and are staying in the council’s temporary accommodation.
Band 2 Other people in priority need who have become homeless through no fault of their own and who have a connection with the borough.
Band 3 People who are homeless through no fault of their own but have no priority need.
Band 4 People who have made themselves homeless.
We and Six Town Housing always aim to offer you the type of home you prefer in an area where you want to live.
We must consider your urgent need to move as a homeless person, but we also need to consider other people on the waiting list.
Waiting times for some areas and types of home in Bury can be very long, because a lot of people want these homes. For this reason, it is not always possible to offer you housing where you would prefer to live.
To reduce waiting time, for everyone on the register if you are statutorily homeless (that is, we have a legal duty to find you a home), you will be able to keep your homeless priority only until we make one suitable offer of accommodation.
If you refuse a suitable offer, we no longer have to offer you a home. This means that you would lose your band 1 or band 2 priority and be placed in a lower band in line with your needs. You can appeal against this decision. You will still be able to stay on the register and receive offers in the same way as anyone else.
You can refuse any offers housing associations make without losing your band 1 or band 2 priority.
Where will you offer me a home?
If you are homeless, you can choose either North Bury (Bury, Tottington and Ramsbottom) or South Bury (Radcliffe, Whitefield and Prestwich).
If there are exceptional reasons why you cannot live in an area (for example, risk of violence), we will not offer you a home there.
What choice do I have about the home you offer me?
We encourage all homeless people to use Bury Home Options. However, if you do not express interest for suitable properties, we can express interest on your behalf. This expression of interest is classed as one suitable offer and if you refuse it, you will lose your band 1 or 2 priority.
If you apply for an advertised property then refuse the offer, this would also mean you would lose your priority.
What if I am not statutorily homeless?
We do not consider you to be statutorily homeless if we assess that you have no priority need or that you have made yourself homeless (see table in section 5 – people who are homeless). If you are not statutorily homeless, we will not give you band 1 or band 2 priority and you will still keep your priority if you refuse our first offer.
We will give priority to the following groups.
Key workers
Key workers, are people whose work contributes to the community, for example, health workers, teachers and care workers. We will give them Band 3 priority. To qualify, you must:
- work in this type of job in the borough; and
- live outside the council’s boundaries.
Local lettings schemes allows us to let properties in a different way to the main priorities in this policy. Usually, the aim of these schemes is to let homes to people who will help make an estate, block of flats or area more settled. For example we can reduce problems such as vandalism and neighbour nuisance on an estate if we do not offer homes there to people with a history of unacceptable behaviour. As long as we follow the rules of this policy for letting most of our homes, we can let some of our homes using local letting schemes.
- All schemes have to have measures in place to prevent any discrimination.
- Local letting schemes must be approved under our rules for decision making, as set out in our ‘Officer Delegation Scheme for Decisions’.
The table below shows what sort of property we offer you, based on your household and your needs.
The size of the property we will offer you
Single people and couples who do not have children - If you are single, or in a couple, and do not have children, we will normally offer you a property with one bedroom, unless our medical officer or visiting officer assess that you:
- need another room for a carer;
- you are currently living in a property with more than one bedroom but we are going to demolish your home. However, we would not give you a home with more than two bedrooms.
Families - The number of bedrooms in the property we offer you is based on the following.
- We offer one room for you and your partner.
- We offer an extra bedroom for up to two children of the same sex. If you have more than two children of the same sex, we will offer you more than one extra bedroom.
- We offer one extra bedroom for up to two children of a different sex if your children are 5 years old or under. If your children are over five years old, we aim to offer you another extra bedroom. But we will not give you overcrowding priority until one of the children is 10 years old.
Properties adapted for people with special needs
We advertise all properties that have major adaptations through Bury Home Options. We then offer you a property based on your need.
Ground-floor flats - We will let ground-floor flats to all age groups, but we will consider the ages of other people living in the same block. We will give priority to people who need to live on the ground floor for health reasons and applicants over 55 years of age.
Bungalows - We usually offer bungalows to applicants over 55 or people with health needs.
Sheltered accommodation We will offer you sheltered accommodation if you are aged 60 or over only.
There are normally no limits to the number of properties we can offer you, and there are no penalties for refusing offers unless you are a homeless person in band 1 or 2 (see ‘People who are homeless’).
However, if you don’t reply to our offer letter and you do not contact us when we write to ask you to do so, we will take you off the housing register. This is so that we do not make you offers you don’t want and to keep the register up to date. If there are genuine reasons why you haven’t got in touch with us, we will put you back on the register as long as you ask us to do this within 12 months of us taking you off.
The six towns in Bury are divided into the following two areas.
North Bury which includes Ramsbottom, Tottington and Bury.
South Bury which includes Whitefield, Prestwich, and Radcliffe.
You can state on your housing application form which areas within the categories above you want to live in.
However, if you are homeless and in band 1 or band 2, you can only choose either Bury north or Bury south or both. We would not expect you to accept a property in an area you may be at risk of violence or serious harassment.
We face high demand for most of our housing stock, so the more areas you choose, the greater your chance of us offering you a home.
What if my application doesn’t fit into any of the property bands?
This policy sets out as many circumstances as possible within the bands, but if your application does not fit into any of the categories listed, we do have discretion to give you an appropriate band according to your housing need.
How will we offer an available property?
All properties are advertised on Bury Home Options and applicants need to apply for each property they are interested in. We normally offer a property to the person who is in the highest band with the longest waiting time.
We will monitor these cases very carefully to make sure we are making offers fairly.
You are entitled to:
- free advice and information about making a housing application;
- help with applying, if you need it;
- have your application kept confidential; and
- information to help you understand your chances of being offered a home and make choices about where we offer you a home.
If you are not satisfied with our decisions under the circumstances listed below, you can ask us to review our decisions.
If we have decided that you do not qualify to go on our housing register.
If we have placed you in band 5 because of your unacceptable behaviour.
If you think we have made our decision based on information that is wrong.
You must ask us to review our decision within 21 days of the date of the decision letter.
We will send you more information about the review process and give you the name of the officer who will carry out the review. This will be an officer more senior than the person who made the original decision.
We will carry out the review within eight weeks from the date you asked us, unless we agree a longer period with you.
We will write to you to tell you:
- the result of the review;
- whether we have changed our decision; and
- if we cannot change our decision the reasons why.
We and Six Town Housing also have complaints procedures you can use. For information about how to complain, please write to:
Access and Assessment Team, Room 24, Town Hall, Knowsley Street, Bury, BL9 0AF
Phone 0161 253 5251
Fax 0161 253 5879
Email: access-to-housing@bury.gov.uk
Six Town Housing, Point Blue, Moor Street, Bury, BL9 5AQ
Phone: 0161 686 8000
Visit the Six Town Housing website
If you are homeless, you can also ask us to review whether we offered you a suitable property or any other homeless decision we made against you.
For more details, phone the Homelessness Team on 0161 253 5537.
We will monitor this policy to make sure it continues to meet all its aims.
You can find a detailed plan of how we will do this in the full version of this policy.
It is also available on request in the following formats.
- CD
- Large print
- Braille
- Audio tape
- Translations are available in, French, Polish, Arabic, Urdu, Cantonese, Farsi and in other languages if you ask us.
Please phone the Access and Assessment Team on 0161 253 5251 if you would like a copy of the policy in the formats mentioned above.
Band 1 (additional preference) is awarded to people with the most urgent need.
- Families/women with children or who are pregnant and need to move to permanent housing and for whom temporary accommodation is particularly unsuitable
- People who need to leave hospital with a serious long term illness or disability who cannot leave because they have no suitable accommodation.
- People losing their home because of redevelopment projects in the borough.
- Homeless people we have a legal duty to provide housing for who have dependent children (including pregnant women) and live in emergency accommodation, or who have exceptional circumstances.
Band 2 (very high preference) is awarded to people with a very high need to move but who do not fall into Band 1
- Homeless people we have a legal duty to provide housing for who are in priority need.
- Households needing to move for medical or support reasons including a disability, if we assess that need is very high.
- Households in supported housing who are ready to move on.
- Households living in unsanitary or statutorily overcrowded accommodation.
- Our current tenants who need to move because they are at risk of violence or severe harassment, including racial harassment.
- Our tenants who are leaving a 4 bedroom house and requesting a 1 bedroom property.
- [If you are experiencing, or at risk of domestic violence, our homeless prevention team will assess your case].
Band 3 (high preference) High housing need: Is awarded if there is a large gap between a person’s current housing and the housing they need
- People who are homeless through no fault of their own but are not in priority need.
- Households who need to move for medical or support reasons relating to a disability if we assess that need as high.
- People living in bed and breakfast accommodation in the borough.
- People who are sleeping rough and registered with Bury Housing Concern
- Households living in severely overcrowded accommodation.
- People who are being asked to leave their current accommodation and who do not have a secure tenancy.
- Our current tenants who have a property with two or three bedrooms and who have asked for a one-bedroom property.
- People who want to adopt, or households who are approved foster carers, who need a larger home to be able to adopt or foster.
- Key workers who want to move to Bury because they work in the borough, or to take up an offer of employment.
Band 4 (medium preference) Medium housing need. Is awarded where a person’s current housing does not fully meet their needs. This band also includes people who have made themselves homeless.
- People who have made themselves homeless and have priority need.
- Households living in overcrowded accommodation.
- Carers who need to move to provide support.
- Households needing to move for medical or support reasons including a disability, if we assess that need is medium.
- Households sharing facilities with another household which is not part of their family.
- Our current tenants who live in a home that is too big for their needs and who want a property with two or three bedrooms.
- People in housing need who don’t live in the borough, but have close family, work or some other special circumstances here.
Band 5 (low preference) Lower housing need or some housing need. This band includes people who do not have a Bury connection.
- Applicants from outside the borough with some housing need.
- Households sharing facilities with another household from the same family.
- Households who need to move for medical or support reasons (including reasons relating to a disability) who have low priority under our 2002 Lettings policy.
- People who need housing who we have given less priority because of their behaviour.
Band 6 (no preference)
- People who want to move but have no housing need under this policy.
