Finding a home

 

Tower Hamlets Housing List

If you want to rent a home managed by Tower Hamlets Homes or a social landlord in Tower Hamlets – you must ‘register’ for housing.You do this by applying to join the Tower Hamlets housing list.

You can bid (apply) to rent a home if you are accepted onto the housing list.

You must register a bid for a home to be considered for it. (If you are a vulnerable resident and have applied to auto bid you will automatically be considered for the property types and areas you have chosen.)

The Council advertise homes that become available to let each week including the homes of partner social landlords in the following places:

• East End Life
• Tower Hamlets Homeseekers website
• Housing offices  
• One stop shops
• Partner landlord offices
• Homeless services reception

How to bid

• Log onto the Tower Hamlets Homeseekers website
• Use the automated telephone line on 0845 270 2400
  (available in Bengali, Somali, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Urdu as well as English)
• Autobid (only available for vulnerable residents)

For more information about the Housing List or other housing options, please go to the council’s web site, contact the council’s letting service on 020 7364 2826 or email:lettings@towerhamlets.gov.uk

Other ways to find a home

Seaside & Country Homes

Seaside & Country homes is a housing mobility scheme for London’s social housing tenants who are aged 60 and above.  The scheme has a portfolio of one and two bedroom flats and bungalows across the South and East of England, mostly in seaside towns or in rural countryside areas. Applicants can be considered for housing in up to nine areas.

Renting Privately

Theses are helpful tips to guide tenants into considering renting in the private rented sector.Please use this information to discuss what this option of rehousing entails.

If you are looking for somewhere to live long term, you need to think about what kind of accommodation you want. This will depend on what you can afford and what is available in your area. You may not be able to find exactly what you would like. If you are on benefits, some landlords may not be willing to rent to you. You need to be realistic.  Consider:

a)  how much you can afford to pay each week

b)  what facilities you want (e.g. central heating, telephone, garden)

c)  what size property you need, (e.g. bedsit or a two bedroom flat)

d)  the location, (e.g. somewhere close to public transport, shops, friends etc.)

e)  who you want to live with, e.g. whether you want to be a lodger in your landlord’s   
     home, live on your own, or have flatmates.

Finding privately rented accommodations via local newspapers/magazines

These often have a daily or weekly section on rented accommodation and flat shares.  Copies will be available in libraries.

Personal contacts

Ask friends, family and colleagues.

Shop windows/notice boards

Try notice boards in community centres, libraries or bookshops, as well as newsagents.  If possible, check the date the advert was put up, otherwise the place may have already been rented out.

Letting Agencies

You can get details of local letting agencies from advice centres and the Yellow Pages.  They may also have websites advertising accommodation. Letting agencies may charge you for some services. You cannot get any help to pay for agency fees. Some agencies ask for a week’s rent for finding the accommodation. Others do not charge tenants, but charge the landlord. Before accepting, or handing over any money, ask the agency if it charges for:

a)  finding a place.

b)  tenancy agreements and inventories.

c)  collecting the rent.

d)  renewing your tenancy agreement when the initial contract ends.

e)  administration costs, such as phone calls and postage.

Don’t pay agency fees before you have seen a property you like, as there is no guarantee that the agency will find you a home. It is illegal for a letting agency to charge you a fee unless you accept accommodation from them. They cannot charge you for taking your details or giving you a list of addresses. If you are wrongly charged, you should report it to the Council – it can prosecute the agency.

Advice Centres/Day Centres

These may keep a list of local private landlords or letting agents. They may have been contacted directly by landlords with property to let, or run a lodgings scheme.

Internet

Many local papers and letting agencies advertise vacancies on the internet, which may be updated regularly. You can get free access to the internet in libraries and some advice centres.

Advertise yourself

You can put an advert in a paper or a shop, saying what type of place you want and how much you can afford to pay.