Applying for Housing to Rent
last updated
29/06/2009 16:41
We manage over 2000 homes for rent or low cost ownership in over 60 different communities across the Highlands.
We let our houses to people who are registered on the Highland Housing Register. (Further information on how to apply is contained as downloads on this page). This single housing list is operated by the six main providers of affordable rented housing in the Highlands (Albyn Housing Society, Cairn, Lochaber, Lochalsh and Skye, and Pentland Housing Associations, and The Highland Council). It means that people who want to apply need only fill in one application form. Previously applicants had to complete a separate application for each landlord.
You can get an application form from our office or from any of the other Highland Housing Register landlords. You can also download it from the right hand side of this page. Anyone who is age 16 or over may apply for housing by completing a form (though there may restrictions on us accepting your application if you have come to Britain from abroad).
Five other housing associations who have properties in the Highlands (Trust, Hanover, Link, Margaret Blackwood and Key Housing Associations) may also ask for applicants from the Highland Housing Register for some of their vacancies. Much of this housing stock is for particular client groups, such as the elderly, or people with learning or physical disabilities.
We award points for your application based on your current housing circumstances and needs. When a house becomes available, we will generally allocate it to the person with the highest points who needs to live in the area and size of home available.
The length of time you have to wait will depend not only on your points, but also on the availability of suitable houses in the area you have chosen to live in, and the number of other applicants on the list and their circumstances relative to yours.
Demand for our houses is highest in the areas immediately around the Moray Firth, especially Inverness and the Black Isle. However, we also try to make sure that smaller and rural communities also have a fair share of housing provision too. We have an active development programme in all areas and in some cases make special community lettings arrangements to ensure we meet the broader needs identified for those communities.
Transfers and Exchanges
If you are already a tenant of Albyn or any of the other participating Highland housing Register landlords, you can apply for a transfer to another property. Your application will be processed in the same way as other applicants. We aim to let around 20% of our vacancies to transfer applicants each year.
We will also consider requests for exchanges between tenants of our own, or with a tenant of another housing organisation. We will not unreasonably refuse permission, but you must get permission first. There may be particular criteria or conditions that have to be met first. You can advertise locally for exchanges, or use the Homeswapper website.
If you wish to apply for a transfer, please complete the Highland Housing Register application form also available to download from this page.
Are you Homeless?
If you are homeless or threatened with homelessness, you should contact your nearest Highland Council housing office straight away. They can give you advice and make sure that all options have been taken into account and that you have the right level of priority for housing. You can also get impartial and confidential advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau or from Shelterline.
Meeting Community Needs
The Highland Housing Register allocations policy (available as a download on this page) includes community needs points that take community needs into account alongside applicants’ individual personal and housing needs. The purpose of these points is to make better use of our allocations to help community sustainability in all areas of the Highlands. Points are awarded to an applicant who can show a clear need to live within a general housing zone.
Some of our smallest rural communities also face particular pressures in getting access to good affordable housing for the people we need to live there. In more urban areas, it can also be important to make sure applicants make a positive choice to live in an area, and that we use our allocations to help to prevent or reduce decline of an area.
And so in exceptional cases, we may also use a Community Lettings Initiative to award additional community development points to applicants who meet particular criteria for that community. This may be used to help small communities to keep or attract young families or people with particular employment skills in an area, for example. In more urban areas, it may be used to tackle an identified deprivation or social imbalances.
The criteria must have been identified though a Community Planning process or a Community Needs Assessment first. This will identify what the overall needs for that community are, and how our housing allocations could help to meet them other than through the usual allocations process. The outcomes of the Community Lettings Initiative will be monitored each year, and the need for it to continue will be reviewed no less than every three years.
Tenancy Support
We aim to help tenants keep successful tenancies and we work in close partnership with a wide range of other organisations to develop joint support plans and get access to specialist help where needed. Our Housing and Communities staff have also developed special expertise to provide a high standard of advice and assistance to our customers.
Low Cost Home Ownerships
If you are interested in our low cost home ownership options, please click here
You can download a housing application form and guidance notes from here. If you would like help with filling it in, or would like to talk to somebody for more advice, please contact our allocations team on 0845-130-1017 (lo-call rate).
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t 01349 852978
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