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Frequently Asked Questions

 

Sometimes it can be difficult to know who to contact about the different aspects of your housing journey. The attached graphic help explains the differences between Homesearch, Housing Options and Housing providers in Monmouthshire.
Enter your log in details here. You will only be able to log in if you have completed the Housing Register Application Form.
All household members must provide their NI number when registering.

All household members over the age of 18 can only be on one housing application at a given time. If you are already on another housing application then you will not be able to continue.

If this is not the case, and you haven’t already applied, but the system does not allow your NI number then please email us with proof of your NI number and a member of the team will look into this for you.

Please click here to apply to join our housing register. It's an online form, grab a cuppa as the form will take you about 30 to 40 minutes to complete.
Anyone over the age of 16 can apply to join the Housing Register although some people may not be eligible to join.

These include people who are subject to immigration control

Please view our

Waiting Times Calculator on our social housing page, which will provide you with a guide to how long you could wait to be housed.

 

If you have any changes to your circumstances, e.g. a change of address, change of contact number, a new addition to the family, please let us know by completing our online change of circumstances form, which can be accessed from the 'your account' page.

. If you need to update us on your new phone or email address, please update your contact details when you next sign in.
The aim of this policy is to ensure that households with strong links to rural areas are given the opportunity to remain in their communities. Please see our Applicant's Guide to Rural Allocations in the 'help guides' for more info.
To see where you were 'ranked' on a shortlist. Please sign in to you account, go to 'Your previous bids' and click on 'show all previous bids'. This will show where you were ranked as well as the shortlisting status of the property.
During each weekly bidding cycle, your bid position can change. It all depends on how many people have bid on a property.

Properties located in towns are more sought after than properties in rural areas and will always attract more bids. Your ranking may change if other people bidding have a higher housing priority and registered before you.

If you are bidding on a property where priority is given to a certain band, your ranking will change after bidding ends.

A shortlist is created of everyone who is interested in a property. This list is placed in order of bands and if more than one person with the same band has placed a bid, your registration date is then taken into account.

The person with the highest band and/or earliest registration date who meets the criteria for the property( e.g. rural allocations or adaptions, local letting plans or quotas) is the person who is likely to be offered the property. This is subject to checks and references carried out by the landlord.

The size and type of property you are eligible for depends on your household size, for example whether you are a single person, couple or a family. Please see our guide here
Yes, you are not limited to the number of bids you can place at any given time. However, you should only bid on properties that you are genuinely interested in as the policy only allows for two refusals. Your application will be demoted if you refuse 2 properties within a 12 month period. For Homeless applicants, only one reasonable offer is allowed.
Occasionally, a property that has been available on the website becomes unavailable after bidding closes. This can happen when the tenant changes their mind about leaving the property and withdraws their notice or if there are major works going on in the property causing significant delays.

When you look at properties on the website without logging in, you will be able to see all of the properties advertised in that week.

Once you have logged in, you will only be able to see the properties that you are eligible to bid on. If you feel there is a property available that you are eligible for and are unable to bid on, please contact us.

For Homesearch to provide any priority banding, you must be able to demonstrate that you have a Local Connection to Monmouthshire. Examples of this is shown in the attached table HERE
After 8 days a property advert will close. To find out the status you can log in to you page, go to your ‘previous bids’, then click on ‘show all previous bids’. If you click on ‘?’ on status, this will show you a table of what these statuses mean. A property will continue to show as ‘shortlisting’ until the shortlisting officer from the relevant landlord has completed the review of the shortlist. The time a shortlist takes to process is dependent form landlord to landlord and can be influenced from a number of external factors beyond their control, such as; • If a property is a new build and there are delays with the development • If there are major work on the property • If the notice on the property has been extended • They are making further enquiries/checks on the property • They are in the process of verifying and making checks on the applicant at the top of the shortlist. However, this does not prevent you bidding on other properties in the meantime, and we recommend that you keep checking your feedback regularly for updates on progress of the shortlist.
We recommend that you submit your supporting information and form at the same time. This is to avoid any delays in processing your application. Once you have given us, all of your supporting evidence, Homesearch will assess your application within 28 days. Applications are not necessarily assessed on the severity of the condition, but on how the property and/or area is having a detrimental impact on your health and wellbeing. As well as stating this on your medical or welfare application, your supporting information from professionals should support this. If it does not, this may result in delays processing your medical/welfare application or your application not being awarded any further priority. Medical/welfare applications are reviewed on your current address, which means if you move, your application will be re-assessed on these circumstances/the new home and your medical/welfare will be removed.
The decision email/letter we send you will explain how you can appeal against the decision. You must request this within 21 days of our decision. If you do submit any further information, we will review this information to check whether we can award any further priority. If we are unable to, your appeal will be passed to the Monmouthshire Homesearch Sub Operational Panel representatives to review. For impartiality reasons, these Panel representatives of will not have been involved with the original decision. Once this has been submitted, your appeal will be heard within 28 days, and you will receive the outcome in writing.
If we have not awarded you any further priority, there could be a number of reasons, but we will try and explain this on the decision letter/email; Some of the reasons could be (this list is not exhaustive); • You are already in a band that recognises your need e.g. for issues relating to over crowding • Your property has been adapted and/or fully or partly meets you or your households needs • We have already reviewed a medical/welfare application within the last 12 months and there is no new change in your circumstances • The professional supporting information does no corroborate the information on your medical/welfare form or that it does not confirm/describe the impact the property is having on your health and or well-being • You have move address and your new property is meeting your needs. • We have no supporting professional statements/information, or the information submitted only confirms your condition • We will accept photo proofs, however, the information you have provided is unclear or poor quality.