Gloucestershire Homeseeker

Persons from abroad deemed ineligible through immigration rules and regulations. Your rights will depend on your immigration status. It may be necessary for the housing team to contact the Home Office to check your status - it is recommended you get advice before applying the Gloucestershire Homeseeker. You can get independent advice and information from Shelter.
Persons under 16 years of age. (Please note that a tenancy would not usually be given to households under the age of 18 years. A guarantor would normally be required for any person under 18 years of age who is offered, and accepts a tenancy).
Social housing is only available as your only or principal home. Therefore if you, or anyone in your household owns any other property, you are generally not eligible to have a tenancy (see section 9 of the Gloucestershire Homeseeker Policy for details of exceptions).
You may not hold two tenancies at one time, and must be able to end your current tenancy if you accept an offer of a tenancy through Gloucestershire Homeseeker.

Why can't I move onto the next page?

There are some questions that must be answered before you can move onto the next page.
If there are question you must answer, the system will list the questions at the top of the form in red coloured writing. Carefully go back through the questions (they will be highlighted in red) and complete them.
You will then be able to submit that page and move on.
If you think you have answered everything but still cannot move onto the next page, please contact your local housing options team.

Why is my application suspended?

Your application may be suspended for a specified time if:

You have outstanding rent arrears on a current or former property. Therefore the suspension of your application may be to correspond with a period of time to clear the debt.
Or, if you have been responsible for serious anti social behaviour at your current or previous home. In this instance, the suspension of your application may be to show that there are no further problems with anti social behaviour.

Also, there may be circumstances when an application is suspended while investigations take place or a review is carried out.

How do I make changes to my application?

It is very important that you update your application and add as much information about you and your household as possible.

We may have asked you to make some changes. It is really simple to do:

Log in to your application by clicking on 'Login/My Account '.
Type in your reference number and PIN, and click on the 'login' box.
Once you have logged in, a page will appear which says 'My Account'.
Click on the tab called 'My Housing Register'.
Click on the link that says 'Click here to update your details'.
You will be taken to the first page of your application.
Go through the application form by clicking on 'Next Section' and make the changes you need to.

Please note: you will not be able to make changes to your application until it has been made active; you will know that your application is active because you would have received a letter or email from us with details about your banding.

If you have submitted an application and need to make changes urgently, please contact your local housing options team. . Otherwise, wait until you are active and then make your changes.

Why have Homeseeker made changes to the application form?

As you will have seen on the 'Log in/My Account' page, we have changed some questions on the application form.

We have done this to improve the way Gloucestershire Homeseeker works. It is very important you go back to your application and make the changes. How do I make changes to my application?

There are some properties that need specific information, for example Section 8 is about local connection. Some properties may only be allocated to people with a local connection to that area, and so we believe that by having better information we can make sure you are able to bid on properties and you might be given priorty because you have a local connection. What does local connection mean?

If you are not able to make these changes yourself, or you need a computer with internet access, you can contact your local housing options team.or see our page 'Contact points and where to get help'.

When will an application be removed?

Your application may be removed if:

You request us to cancel it.
We lose contact with you.
You have not responded to a request to renew your application.

Please note: when you are offered a tenancy and accept it you will be considered suitably housed. You will not be able to bid for any more properties. If you wish to move again then you will need to make a new application.

Can I save an incomplete application and come back to it?

Yes! When you have completed the first stage of the application with your main household details, the following page will state your unique reference number and PIN. Make a note of these so you dont forget them. You will then be able to log out of the system and return to it within 7 days to complete it.

Tell me about the form before I start

When you are in the page called 'New Household Registration Form', you will be asked for information about the main household member (this could be you).
You must complete all the information asked for and submit this page - by clicking on the 'Submit application' button.
You will be taken to a page that has your unique reference number. You must make a note of this number as you will need it everytime you log in.
Your PIN number will be automatically set to your date of birth - you are able to change this once you complete a full application.
To continue and complete a full application, click on the button that says 'Apply for social housing'. This is a 15 page form but just complete what is relevant about you, and all of your household. You might find that you skip sections because they do not apply to you (and your household).

Click here to find out what information you will have to give us.

How do I inform Gloucestershire Homeseeker about my support needs?

The application form has a section for you to detail your support needs.

So your application can be assessed properly please make you sure you complete as much as possible, or ask your support worker to help you with it.

How long will it take me to complete the application form?

It is estimated that the form will take about 30 minutes to complete. This may be longer for applicants unfamiliar with online services. Please make sure you have all the information with you when you complete your application.
If you do not have all the information you need with you, the system will save your application for 7 days. You can then come back to it once you have all the information you need.

What information will I have to give you?

Some information must be given to us in order for your application to be complete. These fields will have a star (*) next to them. Please make sure you complete all the sections that are relevant to you and your application. Examples of information we need are as follows:

All information about all household members, including full name, date of birth, National Insurance numbers, and income.
Current place of residence (full address including post code).
Contact telephone number and email if you have one.
All personal details of the main applicants including disability, support needs and benefits you receive.
Name and contact telephone number of your support worker, if you have one.
Addresses for the last 5 years including post codes.
Contact address if different from your place of residence - some people may have a different contact address if they do not want letters sent to their place of residence.
We will also ask you for your ethnic origin, religion/faith, sexuality and your main language. This monitoring information will have no effect on your application. If you do not want to answer these questions, please select 'Prefer not to say'.
You must detail any convictions, anti-social behaviour, and rent/mortgage arrears of all members of your household at current and previous addresses.
Name and address details of your current landlord.
Name and address of your doctor.
Details of the property you live in and why you want to move.
Details of past social housing tenancies.
Details about your housing needs e.g. if you have a medical condition that is affected by your current housing situation.
Your connection to areas of Gloucestershire e.g. place of employment, or family support.
Your preferred areas of Gloucestershire.

What will happen after I apply?

Once you have completed your application fully, the system will tell you what bands you have been placed in. Please note that this is temporary banding.
The Housing Advice/Options Team will make your application active (within 4 weeks) and you then will receive either a letter or an email confirming what bands you have been placed in, your effective date and what size property you are eligible for.
Please note that you may be asked to send in any supporting evidence, such as birth certificates and medical documents. Although you will be able to bid for available properties, you will not be offered a tenancy until the documents have been supplied to your Housing Advice/ Options Team.

We advise you to send any documents and supporting information to your Housing Advice/Options Team as soon as possible so you do not lose out on potentially being offered a property.

What do I do if the application form does not allow me to continue?

The application form will not allow you to continue to the next page if you have not completed required questions. At the top of the page, the system will list the questions you have not answered. You will need to scroll down to the questions, which will be highlighted, and complete as necessary. You will then be able to submit that page and move on.

Why have you asked for my ethnicity, nationality and religion?

For every member of your household we ask for certain information to meet our equalities monitoring standards. We will ask:

Ethnic Origin
Nationality
Religion/ Faith
Sexuality
Main Language
Do you consider yourself to have a disability?
How old are you?

You have the right not to answer any of these questions if you do not want to.

Telling us these things will not effect your housing application, or your chance to get a property.