Bidding for Homes

Once you are on the priority banding and bedroom category, you can bid for homes through the Housing Portal via the available housing tab.

Choice-based lettings

We use a ‘choice-based letting’ scheme.  You can use Housing Portal if you are an existing tenant seeking a transfer within your council’s area or a home seeker applying for the first time. The scheme covers all the available council and housing association homes, including sheltered housing.
Rather than the Council allocating properties, the scheme enables tenants and new housing applicants, to bid by registering an interest for the properties they are interested in.

Available Properties

When your application is accepted, you will be able to bid for accommodation by logging in to Housing Portal. To create an account you will need your surname, date of birth and application reference number. Then you will need to create a username and password. The videos tab shows you how to do this and how to use the portal.
Once you find a property that you like and are eligible for, you can make a bid for it via the Available Housing tab.

Bidding for a property

You can only be considered for properties if you bid through Housing Portal.
Applicants with support needs and those who have difficulty with written English will be supported by the Housing Options Team, an appointed support provider or a translator. The Council can arrange for bids to be placed automatically by the system for vulnerable applicants.
You can have up to three bids at any one time.
All bids for a property are checked against the eligibility rules, for example any age restrictions or size of property. Ineligible bids are excluded from consideration. We will provide advice and support to applicants who regularly bid for properties they are not eligible for.
More information about bidding for homes can be found in section 8 of our Allocations Policy.

Getting help with bidding

You can ask for automatic bidding to be set up if you need help to bid. Contact the Housing Options Team using the contact details at the bottom of this page.

Successful bids – Being offered a property

Once bidding is closed the Council contacts those at the top of the shortlist to offer the property.
If your bid is successful and you are offered a property, we will contact you to arrange a viewing. You can decide to accept or refuse the offer.
You will be able to see feedback in your Housing Portal about the number of bids for each property and the band of the successful bidders so that applicants can assess for themselves the availability of accommodation in their preferred areas.

Refusing an offer

If your bid is successful and an offer is made, you can refuse the property.  However, if you refuse a property without good reason, we may place your application in Band D and/or remove your application from the housing register or discharge any housing duty to you.

Direct Lettings

The Council needs to retain some flexibility to deal with exceptional circumstances. At the discretion of the Head of Housing, the Council may allocate properties directly, without advertising through choice based lettings.  More details about direct lettings can be found in section 10 of our Allocations Policy.

The Bidding Cycle 2026