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 listed as ‘coming soon’ for 5 days so that you can take a look, prepare your documents and information and ask any questions before applying. Bidding can open anytime between 9AM and 12PM on the date stated.

After that, we’ll advertise them for at least five days.

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 customer 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 customers’ 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 who have a local connection to the area
• 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.

We’ve kept the process really simple, so the first person to apply and include all of the information and evidence needed will be given the chance to accept the home.

We will check all applicants income details to show they are not able to purchase a home or rent in the private market and 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

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

For most of the homes we advertise, you'll now get an immediate response notifying you if you've been successful or not. This is based on your position on the shortlist only.

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

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

For some homes this automatic notification will not be sent and we will be in contact with applicants as we work through our shortlist, and customers will be notified when the property is let.

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 on our website.

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