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Who Can Use the Service

Anyone who has been accepted onto Basingstoke's Housing Register is able to use the service. To apply to join the Housing Register you must be eligible for assistance, over 16 years of age and fall within the qualifying criteria listed below:

• Are eligible to be considered for social housing and
• Are a qualifying person and
• Have a local connection with the Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council area.

An applicant will normally be a qualifying person and therefore qualify to join the housing register and for an allocation under the council's allocations scheme, if they:

• Are in housing need 
• Have a household (applicant and partner) income of less than £50,000 per annum (prior to any deductions, inclusive of benefits but excluding Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payments and/or capital and savings of less than £30,000 (exceptions maybe made for people with more than this amount of savings and assets and will be made in respect of any lump sum received by a member of the armed forces as compensation for an injury or disability) 

Have a local connection to the borough of Basingstoke and Deane by meeting one of the following criteria:

• The applicant has been continuously resident in the borough for two years prior to the date of their application to the housing register.
• The applicant is employed in the borough and the work is of a permanent contractual nature amounting to a minimum of 16 hours per week and local employment has been held continuously for at least 2 years prior to the date of application. (Where an applicant's sole local connection was by virtue of employment and that employment is lost, they will no longer qualify to be on the housing register.)
• The applicant has an urgent and critical need to move on medical grounds and meets the criteria as described in section 12 of the allocations policy. In such cases the local connection criteria will be 12 months residence instead of 2 years.
• The applicant is a current victim of high risk domestic abuse and has no local connection to any council's area other than the area of risk where from which they have fled. Applicants meeting this criteria are not subject to the two years continuous residence qualification.
• The applicant has a need to move to offer or receive care and/or support to/from close adult family members where no other support is available in the locality. A close family member would normally be recognised as parents, siblings, adult children and grandparents and they would also have to have been continuously resident in the borough for 2 years. Care and support in this context will be defined as similar to that provided in an Adult Services commissioned care and support package as described in the Carers Recognition Act 1995, National Assistance Act 1948 (section 29,) Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 and the Mental Health Act 1983. This will be practical and/or emotional support and assistance with managing the home and undertaking any duties that the person cannot perform independently, on a regular basis.
• The applicant is a tenant of social housing in England and is employed or has been offered employment within the borough of Basingstoke and Deane AND a failure to move would cause hardship (as defined in the housing need criteria from page 10 of this document onwards.) A copy of a signed contract of employment will be required to verify this as well as documents confirming the hardship issues. Employment in this context will mean a contract of more than 12 months, working more than 16 hours per week and will not include voluntary work.
• The applicant is serving in the armed forces
• The applicant is a former member of, the armed forces, and is not currently residing in the district (but had previously resided in the borough for 2 years, prior to being posted in the armed forces.)
• The applicant is a former member of the armed forces who is applying for social housing within 5 years of discharge.
• The applicant is a bereaved spouse or civil partner of a member of the armed forces or a seriously injured reservist who is either currently employed or resident in the borough.
• The applicant is a care leaver placed outside the borough of Basingstoke and Deane, by Hampshire County Council.
• The applicants are accepted homeless and a full rehousing duty has been accepted by Basingstoke and Deane under Section 193 of the Housing Act 1996 and have been placed outside the borough by the council.

You will need to complete an on-line application form, which you can access by clicking here. If you need any help completing the application form please contact us.  
 
***At anytime during your application and before you are offered a property you will be asked to provide further documents to support your application. We will tell you what documents to provide and when to provide them.***

All documents provided must be up to date and valid. For a full list of acceptable documents please contact us.

Who cannot use the service?

You cannot use this service if you have not completed an application form and been accepted onto the housing register.

There are also some people who will not by law be eligible to join the housing register. These are:

• Certain people who are subject to Immigration Control under the 1996 Asylum and Immigration Act
• Certain people from abroad who are not subject to immigration control but who are not habitually resident in the UK, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland
• People (including members of their household) who have been guilty of unacceptable behaviour that makes them unsuitable to be a tenant.

Please contact us for more detailed information.