Who can use the service
Who can use the service?
To be able to join the Birmingham City Council's housing register you must complete an online application form.
You must be aged 16 years or over and have the right to live in the UK.
Your application will only be accepted if you are eligible and qualify to join the register.
To find out more about the Allocation Scheme and if you are likely to be eligible and qualify you can read the summary of the new Scheme or the full scheme document.
Who cannot use the service?
There are some people who will not be eligible or do not qualify to join Birmingham City Council's Housing Register.
Who is not eligible for housing?
Everyone who applies is asked about their legal status. The law states that the Council is not allowed to offer a home to certain people. This includes anyone subject to immigration control within the meaning of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 (unless he or she comes within a class prescribed in regulations made by the Secretary of State) or who fall within a class of persons from abroad prescribed as being not eligible.
Who will not qualify for housing?
Not everyone will qualify to join the Council’s housing register. Reasons for not qualifying include:
Unacceptable behaviour or actions
Unacceptable behaviour can include (but is not limited to):
• The applicant or a member of the household having been evicted from a tenancy due to a breach of any tenancy condition
• The applicant or a member of the household having a possession order made against them for arrears of rent regardless of tenure
• The applicant or a member of the household having left owing rent at a former property
• The applicant or a member of the household having been served with a legal Notice of Seeking Possession because of behaviour or conduct. Either linked to a property
or in the locality
• Some perpetrators of domestic violence
• The applicant or a member of the household having been convicted of using a property for immoral or illegal purposes
• The applicant or a member of the household having an unspent criminal conviction committed in, or in the locality of a property
• The applicant or a member of the household having obtained public funds or services fraudulently
• The applicant or a member of the household having displayed: threatening, violent or otherwise abusive behaviour towards an employee of the Council or
a related organisation.
No assessed housing need:
When someone applies for housing, they are asked about their housing circumstances and an assessment will be completed to determine their housing need, or priority.
Applicants who do not have an identified housing need (or priority) will not normally qualify for social housing.
Asset/income threshold
Household income and assets will be taken into consideration. Applicants at or above the income or assets threshold will not normally qualify for social housing.
Applicants who own their homes in the UK or abroad, or with savings over the threshold (consistent with the Government’s upper limit for savings set out in the common rules of the DWP Benefit and Pension Rates), are also unlikely to qualify for social housing, unless there is an exceptional need.
No local connection to Birmingham:
With the exception of Armed Forces personnel, any applicant will be required to have a local connection to Birmingham in order to qualify for social housing.
A local connection will be established if:
• The applicant has lived, through choice, in Birmingham for the last twelve months, unless they have been relocated to Birmingham by another Council, in which case they
must have lived in the city for 2 years
• The applicant has on-going caring responsibilities for someone living in Birmingham
• The applicant works, or has an offer of work in Birmingham
• The applicant is training or in higher education in Birmingham and this will last for longer than six months • The applicant is aged 18, 19 or 20 and was looked after,
housed or fostered by the Council between the ages of 16 and 18
• The applicant is a former Council care leaver aged 21 years of age or over, who is not a relevant student and who is vulnerable as a result of having been looked after,
accommodated or fostered.
Incapable in law of holding a legal tenancy
If the applicant is unable by law to hold a tenancy they will not normally qualify for social housing unless:
• They are in the care of the Council, or a care leaver
• They are a child in need as a result of a statutory assessment
• They are owed a full statutory homeless duty following a statutory assessment
• They have an adult or adults who will act as a trustee(s) for them and hold a legal tenancy until the legal incapacity to hold a tenancy ends.
Refusing offers of social housing
If an applicant refuses 2 suitable offers of social housing they will be disqualified from applying for social housing for 12 months, after which time a new application can be made.
Exceptional circumstances
The Council recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances where it becomes necessary to reconsider the qualification criteria in the
case of individual applicants who would not normally qualify. The Council may reconsider the qualification of these individuals in extreme
exceptional circumstances, for example where there is a threat to life and no other housing options are available.