Welcome to homehunt^® East Lothian.

East Lothian Housing Association and Homes for Life Housing Partnership are working together to give you as much choice as possible when it comes to applying for rented housing in East Lothian. All registrations are processed by East Lothian Housing Association and when Homes for Life Housing Partnership has a property to allocate anyone registered with East Lothian Housing Association can apply for it.

It is quick and easy to register with East Lothian Housing Association and our specially designed information pack will also let you know how you can apply for priority.

We don't hold "waiting lists" any more. All East Lothian Housing Association and Homes for Life Housing Partnership properties will be advertised and all you have to do is let us know which you'd like to be considered for, at the time you want to move. The information pack has more details.

The first step is to get yourself registered and you can do this online, over the phone or in person at East Lothian Housing Association's office in Haddington.

Happy homehunting!

Martin Pollhammer
Chief Executive
East Lothian Housing Association


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Registering

You need to register with East Lothian Housing Association before you can apply for a house - but registration is a very quick and easy process.

All we need is your name, address and date of birth, and the names and dates of birth of everyone who will move with you, and we ask you to sign a few simple statements to confirm that you are eligible for housing under our scheme.

Registration is completed 'whilst you wait' at East Lothian Housing Association's Haddington office (or you can apply by post or telephone to East Lothian Housing Association, or online, although these methods will take longer as we will post out a short form for you to sign and return).

As a registered homehunter, you will receive a guide to homehunt^® Registration Pack. This includes information about how to apply for advertised houses, and forms to register for Priority Passes (which is explained further in the Guide to homehunt^® booklet).


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Applying

Once registered you can apply for any property that is advertised, whether the landlord is East Lothian Housing Association or Homes for Life Housing Partnership, (as long as the property is suitable - e.g. it would not result in overcrowding, or there are no restrictions on who can apply stated in the advertisement - for example, sheltered housing is normally reserved for those of retirement age and above).

When you see an advert for a property you are interested in, you should apply for it by telling us your registration number and the property's address. You can do this in person or by phone or post to East Lothian Housing Association's Haddington office. Alternatively, you can also apply online. You must apply before the closing date and time specified in the advert. If you have a Priority Pass, it will be recognised automatically.

You can apply for as many advertised properties as you wish at any one time. However, if you qualify for more than one offer at the same time, we will assume that the property you apply for first is your first choice, and so on, in the order you chose to apply. If you qualify for an offer on one house, we will disregard any later applications you have made, so the order in which you apply could be very important to you.

Similarly, if there is nothing you like advertised, or perhaps it is not a convenient time to move, there is no need to apply. All we ask is that you confirm once a year that you wish to remain Registered with us for housing.


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Downloadable homehunt^® Guide

You can find all the information stated above and more by viewing or downloading the following file: East Lothian HA and Homes for Life.pdf

To view this file, you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader version 5 or above, it is freely available for use and can be downloaded from http://www.adobe.com

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Data Protection:

East Lothian Housing Association will hold the information you provide, together with any that is obtained by the Association or Homes for Life Housing Partnership from a third party, in accordance with our Allocations Policy and Openness and Confidentiality Policy. The Association and Partnership will use this information solely for the purpose of operating our homehunt^® service and for administrative and statistical purposes. The Association and Partnership will not disclose any information without your written consent unless it is required to do so by law or by its regulators.

By returning a form to East Lothian Housing Association you consent to our processing sensitive personal data about you from one or more of the following classes of data: Racial or ethnic origin, Physical condition, Mental health or mental condition, Sexual life, Commission or alleged commission of an offence, Proceedings for any offence committed or alleged to have been committed or the sentence in court proceedings. We shall process sensitive personal data for the purpose of making a decision about whether to offer you a place to stay and throughout any subsequent tenancy with East Lothian Housing Association or Homes for Life Housing Partnership.