Homes in the City is a scheme which advertises available homes for letting. This includes homes owned by City of Wolverhampton Council, registered housing providers (housing associations) and City Homes (private sector leased properties) managed by Wolverhampton Homes.
Homes in the City is managed by Wolverhampton Homes on behalf of City of Wolverhampton Council.
Wolverhampton City Council’s stock is managed by five managing agents which are: Wolverhampton Homes an Arm’s Length Management Company, Springfield Horseshoe HC, New Park Village TMC, Dovecotes TMO and Bushbury Hill EMB.
To join you will need to complete a housing options assessment before joining the housing register. It will only take a few minutes to complete. The link to the housing register will be displayed along with other housing options available, information and advice.
Before you begin the assessment, take a moment to consider if you are ready to be a tenant - can you afford the rent and pay all the bills? Homes are not furnished so you will need lots of essential items. You will also need National Insurance numbers for everyone moving with you aged 16.
For more details read our how to apply page.
City of Wolverhampton Council operates an open housing register. However people are not eligible - please read our who can join? section for more details.
If you are finding it difficult to complete the ‘Are You Ready’ Online Course at home you can visit any Wolverhampton Homes One Stop Shop. If you are unable to visit a One Stop Shop, do you have someone who could help and support you with completing the course? If none of these options are available, please let us know.
You can read the full guide on how to take the online course on our 'Are you ready' page?
Yes you can join but you might find that you are placed in a low band and find it difficult to be successful with your bids. For example, only 19% (275) of all lets during 2016/17 were to tenants who wanted to transfer.
If you are already a council tenant, we recommend that you consider a mutual exchange as the best way to move. Find out more about mutual exchanges on the Wolverhampton Homes website.
If you are 16 or 17 years old, you may join Homes in the City but you will not qualify for housing until you are 18. Please read our who can join? section for more details.
If you are homeless now or may be at risk of being homeless in the next 28 days you will need to see the council's Housing Options Team.
Read our homeless page for more details.
If you are experiencing domestic violence there are lots of people who can help you. Visit the Wolverhampton Homes safeguarding webpage for more details.
If you have a long term medical condition this can be taken into account if you fill in a medical form.
The important thing is whether there is medical evidence that your condition is made worse by your present accommodation. If you are unwell but your housing makes no difference to your illness then you will not be awarded any medical priority.
It's a good idea to ask yourself these questions before you join:
If you have a successful bid and we make you an offer, you will need to be ready to pay your rent.
You may be able to get help with your rent by claiming Housing Benefit. You can work out how much Housing Benefit you would get by using the online benefits calculator. The amount you get depends on things like - how many people are living in your home, their ages, income, work status and disability or illness. It is paid weekly, directly to your rent account. Be aware this will change when Universal Credit replaces the main working age benefits.
If you get Housing Benefit it will be reduced if you:
If you have one bedroom more than you need, your housing benefit will be reduced by 14 per cent. So, if your rent is £90 a week, you would have to pay the shortfall of £12.60 every week.
If you have two or more bedrooms than you need, your housing benefit will be reduced by 25 per cent. So if your rent is £90 a week, you would need to pay the shortfall of £22.50 every week.
Universal Credit was introduced in Wolverhampton in 2016 for single people claiming out of work benefits for the first time and will be rolled out to everyone else in the future.
Universal Credit is a single payment, paid once a month, like a salary. It will include an amount for your rent, so you will be responsible for paying the full rent yourself. To claim, you will need a bank, building society or credit union account and an email address and access to the internet. When you sign for your tenancy, you will need to pay a month’s rent in advance so please make sure you have the money ready or start saving now.
People of pension credit age are generally not affected by under-occupation (bedroom tax) or Universal Credit. Different rules may apply to couples where one if of pension credit age and the other is of working age.
If you owe more than £60, your application will be assessed with band 4 (the lowest band). If you owe debts to the council or a registered housing provider, please contact your landlord as soon as possible and get a payment plan in place.
When you apply, we will ask you if you have arrears. If you are unsure, check before you apply. If we find that you have any debts to a council or registered housing provider that you have not told us about, your application could be considered as fraudulent.
Before we make any offers we check your tenancy history with councils and registered providers. You could miss out on an offer if you have debts outstanding.
Your application will be assessed and you will be given a priority band based on your housing circumstances.
There are five bands, ordered by housing need, simply called emergency, band one, band two, band three and band four. People in the emergency band have the highest priority and band 4 have the lowest.
Find out more on the your banding and how we allocate pages.
You will be allocated a band based on your housing circumstances. Find out more on the your banding page.
One in four homes are reserved for bidders with a local connection - this will be stated in the advert. The Allocations Policy states what counts as a local connection.
There are 42 local connection areas but you will only be awarded a local connection to one of these. When you join Homes in the City you can choose the one area you wish to claim a local connection to.
Your registration letter will tell you the property types you are eligible for. The rules for childen sharing a room are:
If you like a home we are advertising, you may want to begin 'bidding'. There is no exchange of money involved in the bidding process; it is simply a way to express your interest in a property. Find out more on our How to bid on properties page.
You are expected to bid on a regular basis. If you are not actively looking for a home and have not made a bid for a home six months, your application may be deferred.
You can see currently advertised properties on this site and on our kiosks in our shops.
Homes are advertised each week, from 6pm on Tuesdays until 9am on Mondays.
Homes are advertised on this site each week from 6pm on Tuesdays until 9am on Mondays. Look at the adverts and tell us which properties you like by ‘bidding.’ You can make up to three bids each week. Find out more on our how to bid page.
Once you have registered you will need to take our are you ready online course before your application is assessed and made live.
You can only bid for property types you are eligible for
For example a person living on their own can't bid for a family house, or a family with three children can't bid for a one bedroom flat. Some homes are also reserved for people of a particular age group or people who need an adapted property.
Once you have logged into your account, the adverts that are displayed are the ones that you are eligible for. If no adverts are displayed, it means that there are no properties available which you are eligible for, so please try again next week.
You can bid for a maximum of three properties per week. Try and use all your bids if possible.
Find out more on our How to bid on properties page.
You can bid from 6pm Tuesday to 9am the following Monday.
If you do not bid in time then you will not be considered for that home.
Yes. As long as bidding is open, you can add or delete bids. You just need to log on to your account to update your bids.
Being the first to bid makes no difference at all to your final position.
Once you have logged into your account, the adverts that are displayed are the ones that you are eligible for.
If no adverts are displayed, it means that there are no properties available which you are eligible for, so please try again next week.
Properties are let to the bidder in the highest band, the only time this might be different is if the property was advertised with a local connection or age restrictions and the bidder in the highest band did not meet those criteria. You can check this by looking back at the previous adverts in the reports section.
The other reason may be if it was advertised as an immediately available property, advertised on a first come first served basis (see below).
These are properties that have been advertised before, but not let, so are advertised on a first come first served basis. When they are available, they will be advertised separately here on the website, so you can see which ones you can choose from and also included in the main property list, where you will need to bid on them.
Find out more on the immediately available homes explained page.
We allocate the homes we manage in line with City of Wolverhampton Council's Housing Allocations Policy. Find out more on our How we allocate page.
You may be turned down, and we will contact the next bidder, for several reasons including if you:
This is where the council has made a change to its Allocations Policy for a particular area or group of homes.
When we let these homes the additional rules will be applied when we consider the bids. The difference is that a local lettings plan is temporary and a local lettings variation is long term.
The property advert will state if there is a local lettings plan or local lettings variation and you can ask for a copy of the plan or variation.
No - but you can Log On to get personal feedback on your bids on this site. Find out more on our How did your last bid do? page.
When you log on, you can see the last three months of properties that have been advertised and what is happening to each one at the current time. If a property has been allocated, you can see the successful bidder's date of registration, band level and number of needs.
Find out more on our How did your last bid do page.
We cant tell you how long it will be before you make a successful bid. Things which will affect the time it takes include:
Please note that we may not be able to help you with a property due to the shortage of homes coming available for letting each week and the high demand for them. You will need to look at the other housing options which are available.
There is a very high demand for council and registered providers' homes in Wolverhampton and far more people who want a home than there are homes available.
The number of homes becoming available for letting is reducing; only 1,420 lettings were made in 2016/17 and we were only able to help around 14% that are registered for housing, so many applicants have no realistic prospects of receiving an offer of a home.
City of Wolverhampton Council is legally obliged to take account of people in the greatest housing need which means people with lower needs will usually have to wait longer.
Remember you can bid for a home anywhere within the City of Wolverhampton and if you flexible about which area you would like to live in, it can improve your chances.
Things you can do include:
Applications can be closed for a number of different reasons.
If your application has been closed for less than six months you can request that it is reopened by using filling in our update form - find out more on our update your application page.
If your application has been closed for more than six months you will need to reapply by starting a new application.
Yes - you will be able to look round during an "accompanied viewing" before you make your mind up. Do not visit any property that we are advertising as there could be someone living there. If you visit a home without permission your bid may be removed.
If the property is ready to let, you will need to move in straight away so make sure you're ready.
Find out more on our viewings page.
Group viewings are organised to speed up the lettings process so new tenants can be identified more quickly.
They are organised once the advertising cycle closes. Bidders of a property are invited to the group viewing so that they can look round and see if the property is right for them. If your bid is successful and the property is ready to let, you will need to move in straight away so make sure you're ready.
Please note: an invitation to a group viewing is not an offer of a property.
Find out more on our viewings page.
We will contact you to arrange an appointment for a viewing. The advert gives you a rough guide about when the property will be ready for letting and viewings will usually take place near that date.
Sometimes work is still going on to prepare the home for letting but it will be safe for you to view. Our lettings officer will contact you as soon as the property is ready to be viewed. If the property is ready to let, you will need to move in straight away after you have accepted the offer, so make sure you're ready.
Find out more on our viewings page.
If you refuse three properties in a 12 month period your application will be deferred for three months. This means that you will not be able to bid or be offered any properties during this time. Your priority may also be reviewed and reduced.
If you are priority homeless and in the emergency band and you refuse a new home, you must contact the Housing Options team within 21 days to discuss why the property is not suitable for you. If you fail to do this you may lose your priority.
We make sure homes to be let are clean, safe, secure and in reasonable repair but they are empty, so you will need to buy furniture, carpets and curtains and some may need to be decorated. Find out more about the Wolverhampton Homes Lettable Standard. (Other housing providers will have their own lettable standards.)
We know that not everybody has access to the internet or is comfortable using a computer. If this is the case you can help a friend or family member to join or make bids on Homes in the City. It is important that you have their permission and you explain everything to them during the application and bidding process.
You must update your application straight away if your circumstances change . This includes a change of address or people joining or leaving your household. Use our update form giving all the details and upload copies of any documents. Your banding level might change because of your change in circumstances, we will let you know if it does change.
You do not need to complete a new housing application unless your application has been closed for more than six months or you have been rehoused using your application.
Find out more on our update your application page.
You should let us know about your pregnancy after your three month scan. We don't need any evidence before you add the pregnancy but we will need to see evidence, in the form of the green book, if you are offered a home while you are still pregnant.
Adding a pregnancy can change your eligibility: i.e. a couple would no longer be eligible for one bedroom properties but your priority will not change until your child is born and you have updated us (i.e. band 2 for lack of a private garden).
To let us know about your pregnancy, please update your details.
To request a review you must contact us within 21 days of the date you are notified of the decision and the reason for it.
If you want additional information to be taken into account, you can provide it in writing when the review is carried out. We will normally tell you the result of the review within 56 days.
A TMO is an organisation set up by tenants and leaseholders to manage their own homes on behalf of the Council. TMOs can also be know as EMB (estate management board), TMC (tenant management co-operative) or a Housing Co-operative.
There are four TMOs in Wolverhampton
Applications can be closed for a number of different reasons. If your application has been closed for less than six months you can request that it is reopened by updating your application. If your application has been closed for more than six months you will need to reapply.
Find out more on our updating your application page.
Go to the look for a property page and click "Log On". Under the log on section there is a link for you to Request Application Number. You will need to enter your email address and your bidding number will be emailed to you.
This website tells you everything you need to know about how to join Homes in the City, how to bid, what happens once you've placed your bid and how to improve your chances of a successful bid. Please make sure you have read our Homes in the City explained pages and the frequently asked questions on this page.
If you have read all of our frequently answered questions and you have a question which is not answered here, please contact us.
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