Questions about Midland Heart Homes

To apply for one of our homes you'll need to demonstrate that you / joint applicant have a housing need and you must be unable to afford to buy your home or rent from a private landlord. We check your affordability based on your income and savings.

You can find out more about our allocations policy and what we consider as housing need here

This will depend on your household need and family circumstances. We always try to make sure homes are let to best meet your need.

We let our homes in line with the bedroom standard which has been set by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Extra bedrooms may be given to those with additional needs, for example those with medical needs, live in carers and/or foster children.

Depending on the property, we may restrict who can apply to live there. These can include when we have:

• A local lettings plan (LLP) – these are put in place to help us to create a balanced community where people want to live and more importantly, stay
• Age restrictions – some of our homes are restricted to certain age groups for example, over 55s

We list homes on our new lettings portal Midland Heart homes and/or on the relevant council website. You’ll need to create an account and apply online.

Homes are advertised on our website for 7 days once the advert has gone live. The advert will state when it is due to close.  You can bid at any time during these 7 days however, you must complete and submit your application before the advert closes.

Each advert will tell you about the property and whether there are any restrictions or preference groups that we will give priority to.

Sometimes we may offer a home directly to an existing tenant without advertising. And this may be because:

• They need an adaptation to their current home but it’s not possible
• We need to sell or refurbish a tenant's home

Preference groups are used when advertising our homes to help us to create and maintain balanced and sustainable communities. We select certain preference groups for each empty home and this means that we will give priority to either:

• Certain age groups (for example, over 55s)
• Households with spare bedrooms or those who need more bedrooms*
• Those who need adapted homes
• Those who are homeless or in housing need
• Those that have a local connection to the area (local connection does not apply to victims of domestic abuse where you have a letter from a supporting agency confirming you need to move)
• Workers, volunteers or carers

You and other interested people will be given priority if you can answer ‘Yes’ to the preference group question/s on the advert and upload all the evidence requested.

If you don’t meet the preference group conditions (and sometimes there may be more than one group and so you will need to answer yes to both of these) then your application won’t be submitted.

We will advertise a lot of our homes (40%)  to the preference group for those in housing need which means that as long as you meet our eligibility criteria for social housing then you can apply for a suitably sized home with us.

*Please note, this preference group only applies to current council/housing association tenants who have spare bedrooms or who are overcrowded. This does not apply to people who have been given temporary housing by the council or to anyone living in a supported housing tenancy.

We’ve kept the process really simple, so when the advert closes the person who meetings the following criteria will be given the chance to accept the home:

• has bid for the home
• whose registration status has been active for the longest time (see My Midland Heart homes account section for more information around this)
• has included all of the information and evidence needed;

We expect you to check for available homes regularly to keep your active registration status date. If you do not check at least once every six months, then your registration date will reset to when you next log on.

We will check all applicant’s income details to show they are not able to purchase a home or rent in the private market and will ask for proof of a housing need and that any advertising preference is met before confirming any offer.

There may be some exceptions to this, such as if:

• The person can’t prove that they meet the preference group or demonstrate they have a housing need
• The person doesn’t respond to us or follow our lettings process

To make best use of the housing which is available, there will be some limits to the choices that applicants can make. The guidance below describes the type of housing applicants may be offered:

• Bedsits and one bedroom flats will be offered to a single person or a sharing couple.
• Two bedroom flats may be offered to parent(s) with a child or two people sharing the accommodation who would not normally be expected to share a bedroom, or households with adult children
• Houses may be offered to households with dependent children living with them. The number of bedrooms and bed spaces will depend on each application. Houses will not normally be offered to households where there are no children under 16
• Bungalows are usually offered to applicants aged over 60 or those who require level access accommodation for health or mobility reasons
• If you do not receive child benefit for children you want to live with you then please check our policy around this

Your registration status date will be the date when you create an account with us on Midland Heart Homes. The registration status date will be used to determine where on the shortlist you will be placed. We will allocate the home to the applicant who has placed a bid, supplied all of the required evidence, has a housing need defined in our Allocations Policy and who has been on the list for the longest time.

This registration status date will remain the same unless any of the following circumstances apply:

• You do not log into your account at least once every six months.  In which case your registration status date will reset to the date when you next log into your account and search for a home
• You change your email address.  You cannot update your email address on Midland Heart Homes and so please make sure you use an email account that you plan on using until you are rehoused. You will need to create a new account if you wish to use a new email address and your registration status date will start when your new account is created.
• You move into one of our homes. As your housing need will have been met by moving into one of our homes then your registration status date will change to the start date of your new tenancy. You will need to log into your account at least once every six months for this date to remain active.

As part of your application we’ll need you to prove your identity and the identity of anyone who is living with you now. You’ll also need to prove the identity of anyone else who will be living with you when you move into your new home.

You'll need to upload one of the following documents for yourself and each member of your household: 

• Current UK/EU/EEA passport 
• Photo driving/provisional licence 
• Birth certificate
• Biometric Residence Permit

We'll also need to see proof of income. You'll need to upload one of the following documents for the main and any joint applicant:

• Payslips dated within the last 3 months
• Bank statement dated within the last 3 months
• Benefit entitlement letters dated within the last 3 months
• Universal Credit statements dated within the last 3 months

You will be notified shortly after the advert closes if you have been successful or not. This is based on your position on the shortlist only.

The first applicant will be told they are in first position and that they will be contacted if they have uploaded the correct documents.

Everyone else will get a message telling them that there is an applicant ahead of them being considered for the home they’ve just placed a bid on and to continue bidding for other homes.

There is no need to contact us as we will contact you if you have been shortlisted. If you do not hear from us then you have been unsuccessful and should carry on bidding for other homes we advertise.

Due to the number of properties we advertise and the large number of people bidding for each home, we are unable to update you on the status of your bid for housing or where on the list you are.

We may exclude some people due to:

• Legal reasons
• Housing related debt or fraud
• A history of anti-social behaviour and/or crime, including domestic abuse
• Tenancy breaches and/or history of not looking after their home
• The person not being ready for independent living
• The tenancy being unsustainable due to affordability reasons
• The person being too young. We’ll accept under 18s if they’ve been nominated by their local council. All other 16 and 17 year olds will be referred to our young person’s services

If you have additional needs that your current home doesn’t meet then you can apply to transfer to another home. If you haven’t got additional needs but still want to move, you can look for a mutual exchange.

Additional needs usually mean:

• You’re under occupying or your home is overcrowded
• Your home isn’t affordable for you anymore
• You live too far away from work or education to commute (over an hour travel time)
• You need to move to another area to be closer to give or receive care
• You have medical needs that mean you can no longer get in or out of your home or you can no longer manage stairs

You can search for properties currently being advertised on Midland Heart Homes by typing an area (or postcode) into the search box under 'Find your new home'. You can then widen your search area by up to 40 miles from that area.

When you see a property that you're interested in you'll see the option to 'Apply now' but only if you're already logged in to your account.

If you can't see any properties using this method, this means there are currently no properties advertised in the area you are looking for, for your household size.

We won’t send you too many marketing emails, but if you don’t want to receive them you can opt out by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ button at the bottom of the email.

On the login screen, click on ‘Forgot password’ and follow the instructions to reset it.