Welcome to homehunt^® NES.

Choosing your new home is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. We aim to help you choose the property you want, and so we advertise our properties, rather than have a traditional waiting list.

We take account of a household’s need for a house too, and we have a Priority Pass system to help us do this. As some of our properties are more popular than others, we’ve built some basic rules into the system to make sure we operate fairly.

This leaflet is intended to explain how our system works, and how to apply for the properties we advertise. You can get more information by visiting or telephoning any of our local offices, or by writing to us.

Please note that this system works in the same way for new applicants and existing tenants who want to transfer.

Happy homehunting!

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Registering

You need to register with us 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 any of our offices (or you can apply by post, telephone, 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 homehunt^® NES Pack. This includes information about how to apply for advertised houses, and Priority Passes (which are explained later on in this leaflet).

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Applying

Once registered you can apply for any property that is advertised, 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 55 years and above for Tenants First and 60 years and above for Castlehill Housing Association.

Please note; to be eligible for Sheltered housing and Very Sheltered housing you must require the housing support services they offer. Housing support is a term used to refer to a range of services, which are provided in a variety of ways with the aim to help people to continue to live in their own home. Sheltered housing applicants will require the housing support services provided by scheme based staff who ensure the general welfare of tenants, identify need, and provide security. Very Sheltered applicants will require the housing support services and enhanced facilities designed to meet the needs of more frail elderly people, such as access to daily meals and 24 hour support service.

Please note if you are applying for Sheltered or Very Sheltered housing you must complete the Medical Priority Pass application form.

If you are applying for Castlehill Housing Association’s shared ownership properties you must meet the eligibility criteria of age 55 years or over (or disabled) and have insufficient funds to purchase a property outright.

If statutorily homeless, your Priority Pass will only be applicable for properties in your local council area.

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 at any of our offices, or by phone, by post, or online – but you must do this 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 choose 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 (although if you have a Gold Priority Pass you risk losing it – see losing Priority Passes). All we ask is that you confirm once a year that you wish to remain registered with us for housing, when we contact you about this.

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Downloadable homehunt Guide

You can find all the information stated above and more by viewing or downloading the following file: homehunt_nes.pdf 1.27MB

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:

Data Protection: Castlehill Housing Association and Tenants First Housing Co-operative (the partnering landlords) are the data controllers, whose registered offices are 4 Carden Place, Aberdeen, AB10 1UT and 23 Albert Street, Aberdeen, AB25 1XX respectively.

The information you provide on this form and other additional related information you may provide together with any that is obtained from a third party will be held and used in accordance with our Allocations and Data Protection Policies. The partnering landlords will use this information solely for the purpose of operating the homehunt^® NES service and for administrative and statistical purposes. The partnering landlords will not disclose any information without your written consent unless it is required to do so by law or its regulators.

By returning this form you consent to our processing data about you that is defined by the Data Protection Act as sensitive. Examples include information about health, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sexual life, committed or alleged offences including court proceedings and sentences, trade union details and political opinions. This data will only be processed where absolutely necessary.

Please inform us of any change to your personal information. We will then update them to keep your records up to date and accurate.

You have the right to see and receive a copy of any personal information (for which we may charge a small fee) that is held by the partnering landlords and to have any inaccuracies corrected.