Housing Services in Bexley
Housing Options Service
On this page...
Our Housing Options Service (HOS) helps homeless people and provides
advice on preventing homelessness and other housing related matters.
This includes information on the different types of housing which
is available in the social sector (mainly housing association properties)
or the private sector (home ownership, shared ownership and private
renting etc).
We are based at Bexley Civic Offices
and interpreters are available on request
for people whose first language is not English.
You can find out more about our services on this page.
We welcome your comments
We hope that you will find
this page helpful. Please let us know if you have any comments
on this web page or on our service in general.
Customer Charter
Our staff are dedicated to providing a high standard service
to their customers. We promise:
- To
provide a courteous and helpful service.
- To try to make sure that every sector of the community
has equal access to our services.
- To respond to service enquiries as soon as possible and
always within 1 week.
- If a written response is required a reply will be sent
as soon as possible and always within 10 working days.
- To return all telephone messages within 1 working day.
- To tell you the name of the person you are speaking to
or the name of the person who will be dealing with your enquiry.
- To keep you informed of progress and, unless otherwise
advised, you will receive a monthly progress report until your
complaint or enquiry has been completed.
If you are dissatisfied with the service you can complain and
we will provide you with details of the way we will handle your
complaint.
If you think that the offer of a permanent home that we have made to you is unreasonable you have a right of review on our decision not to make you a further offer. You should contact us and we will send you details of how the review will be carried out. Reviews have to be completed within 8 weeks although they can be extended in special circumstances with the agreement of both parties.
Housing Options Service
The Housing Act 1996 and associated Code of Guidance says who should
be helped and what type of help needs to be provided. The Council does
not have to give every homeless person a home but as a minimum it has
to provide advice and assistance to enable people to find their own
housing.
Types of housing we provide
Where we have a duty to provide housing we do this in a number
of ways. Some people we can help with permanent housing (usually supplied by a
housing association) and others we help with temporary housing. Most of our temporary
housing is self contained and is either supplied by housing associations or private
landlords. We also have two good quality hostels within Bexley which are run by
a housing association. As a last resort we may have to use bed and breakfast but
we will then try to move people to self contained housing as soon as we can.
We publish two booklets with further details of how we can help:
Homelessness Review & Strategy
The Council has carried out a comprehensive review of homelessness
in Bexley and produced a five-year Strategy. The Strategy has an Action Plan which
shows how the Council and its partners intend to improve the service to homeless
people over the next few years. The cost of the Action Plan will now feed into
the Council's budget process and a decision will be made early in 2004 on how
much of the Strategy can be implemented.
The Strategy will be reviewed regularly as trends in homelessness in
Bexley and the needs of homeless people change. The Council welcomes any
comments that will help in this ongoing review. The Review
and the Strategy appear as separate documents below.
Tenancy Relations Service
This service deals with landlord and tenant disputes.
As well as helping tenants who are facing harassment or illegal eviction
we also assist landlords
to meet their legal duties. The service aims to increase the amount
of good quality private rented housing in the borough and help reduce
the number of illegal evictions that take place each year.
Most private tenancies nowadays are assured shorthold tenancies of a minimum 6 months although there will be some assured tenancies. Landlords offering shorthold tenancies do not have to show any grounds when they want their properties back. They have to give 2 months notice and if the tenant does not leave must then apply for a possession order in the County Court followed by a bailiff's warrant if the tenant still won't leave. Landlords offering assured tenancies have to show one or more of 17 grounds for wanting the property back. The grounds are specified and some are mandatory (ie the Court has to grant a possession order) and some are discretionary. The landlord would need to serve notice and the notice must be in a particular form and is commonly called a notice of seeking possession. If a landlord attempts to get a tenant out of his/her property, for instance through threats, harassment or violence a criminal offence would be committed and the landlord may be subject to a fine and/or a term of imprisonment. Where there is evidence of illegal eviction and the landlord refuses to allow the tenant back the Council will consider prosecuting the landlord and will take action through the Magistrates Court.
Tenants who do not have exclusive use of a property or where there is a resident landlord have fewer rights than an assured shorthold tenant. Tenants who share living space with their landlord hold excluded tenancies and have the least level of protection. The landlord is required to give notice but at the end of the notice period can evict the occupier peaceably without a court order. However it is always advisable for a landlord to obtain a possession order as she/he may run the risk of committing an offence under the Criminal Law Act 1977.
Housing rights advice for people who experience relationship breakdown
We can
advise people who experience a relationship breakdown whether they are
married or in a common law relationship of their rights under
housing, matrimonial and children legislation. Women who are escaping
from a violent relationship can be helped by being housed in temporary
accommodation provided by us or by the Bexley Women's Aid (BWA) organisation.
People who are driven away from their homes can also be given advice
on the legal options that are available to remove the violent partner
from
the 'matrimonial' home and, in the long term, obtain the right to return
and live in the property.
Safelet Scheme
This scheme provides single homeless people with advice and support to help
them find a safe place to live. Safelet acts like an accommodation agency
and gives landlords who join the project advice on all aspects of letting.
The scheme is jointly administered by the Housing Options Service
and Hyde Housing Association with the help of the Association of
Bexley Churches Homelessness Project which funds the scheme's Deposit
Guarantee Bond which compensates landlords for any damage that tenants
may cause to their homes.
Mortgage Arrears
The Council gets a number of approaches each year from people who are in mortgage arrears and are at risk of losing their homes. Our Housing Options Service can help by:
- Carrying out a household budget check
- Suggesting how debts should be prioritised (lots of people are put under pressure to pay their credit card bills before their mortgage)
- Mediating with mortgages to get a agreement to pay off the arrears
- Representation in the County Court
Financial Advice Service
We can help owner occupiers and tenants who are in financial
difficulties and in danger of losing their homes. We are able to help
people with:
- Ensuring
they pay 'priority debts' such as rent and mortgage payments;
- Measures which can sometimes be taken to restructure mortgage repayments;
and
- Claiming all the welfare benefits that they are entitled to receive.
Advice can
also be provided to building societies, banks and local firms of solicitors
who may not understand the welfare benefits system.
Welfare Benefits Advice
We can provide:
- General advice about eligibility for benefits
- Contact
with the Benefits Agency and Housing Benefit
Section to resolve difficulties which homeless people encounter
when applying for welfare benefits
- Free telephone facilities to contact the Benefits Agency and other
organisations.
- Help with the completion of claim forms.
General Advice
In addition to the above specific advise the Housing Options Service based at the Civic Offices, Bexleyheath is able to provide a range of advice to both tenants and landlords on housing related matters including rent, housing and welfare benefits, types of tenancy and tenancy agreements, repairs and tenancy relations.
For advice on a range of issues including housing please see go to Bexley Community Legal Service Partnership.
Low Cost Home Ownership Service
We work with housing associations which develop low cost home ownership schemes. These schemes are designed to assist people who wish to own a home but cannot afford to buy a property on the open market.
Shared Ownership
With shared ownership schemes, you buy a share of a property and pay rent on the remainder. Later if your financial circumstances allow, further shares can be brought until finally you own the property outright. The South East London Housing Partnership (SELHP), which comprises the boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lewisham and Southwark, now has a joint waiting list for shared ownership.
Tower Homes is responsible for administering the waiting list and generally marketing this form of housing in the sub-region. You can now register and apply on-line for shared ownership schemes at www.housingoptions.co.uk.
Alternatively you can phone the enquiry line on 0845 230 8099.
Tower Homes details are as follows:
Enquiries and Application Team
Tower Homes Ltd
70 Court Road, Eltham, SE9 5NP
Telephone number 020 8294 5000
Fax 020 8294 0507
The SELHP priorities for shared ownership are:
- Existing Council and housing association tenants resident within the sub region.
- Households registered for rehousing with one of the 5 local authorities and recognized as being in housing need e.g. due to overcrowding, medical reasons and harassment.
- Key workers that are outside the current definition used by the Government for Key Worker Living i.e. other occupational groups that are recognized as providing key services and having a recruitment and staff retention problem.
- Existing shared owners who are currently overcrowded or under- occupying.
- Key workers that already qualify for the Key Worker Living programme.
- All other households that are registered for housing with one of the 5 local authorities in the sub region.
Key worker low cost home ownership
Tower Homes also hold the key worker low cost home ownership waiting list and applicants are able to register and apply on-line at www.keyworkerliving.co.uk.
Tower Homes
FREEPOST (SE7025)
London
SE9 5BR
Telephone number 020 8294 5000
Help for Asylum Seekers
Support for most asylum seekers is now provided by the National Asylum Support Service which is part of the Home Office. However the Social Services Department of the Council retains the responsibility for providing support to unaccompanied minors (under the age of 18 years) and asylum seekers with physical impairments, hearing or visual impairments, learning impairments. Mental health issues or chronic ill health. For more information visit the Immigration and Nationality website or the Refugee Council.
Advice to other Departments and outside organisations
Often poor housing can have an adverse impact on peoples' health and social
wellbeing. On occasions, therefore, people raise their accommodation difficulties
with professionals such as GP's, District Nurses, Health Visitors and Social Workers
who may have limited knowledge of the housing services which are available in
Bexley, or are unsure precisely which part of the Council's housing service to
contact for assistance. We act as a focal point for all enquiries from professionals
who wish to access information on behalf of their clients. |
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Getting help if you think you might be made homeless:
