Lettings

The Association has very few properties available for letting at any one time. However, when a vacancy arises, our priorities for allocating empty properties are as follows:

This includes tenants who need to move so building work can be carried out to their present accommodation and other urgent transfer cases.

We are required, as a condition of our funding, to offer at least 50% of 1-bed and 75% of family homes to people nominated by the local council.

As the Association’s aim is to preserve our local communities, children of tenants, key workers and others with a local connection and in housing need may be considered for independent accommodation. We currently aim to let three homes per year under this scheme.

The Association also has nomination agreements with two referral agencies: Centrepoint and St Mungo's. Both organisations manage properties we own (Centrepoint at Greek Street, Berwick Street and Salters City Foyer and St Mungo's at Hampstead Road). We aim to offer one home per year to each of these organisations.

Because of the housing crisis in London and the number of homeless households living in poor temporary accommodation (B&B, etc.) a high proportion of our homes will be let to homeless people.

All applications for housing are assessed on their merits - with the exception of tenants who we have to move in order to carry out improvement works to their homes. We aim to give priority to those applicants with a local connection and in housing need. The following factors are taken into account in assessing housing need:

• Current housing conditions, such as overcrowding;
• Health factors;
• Other options available;
• The length of time spent in poor housing;
• Social (such as family links or support needs) and economic factors.

Applicants are visited. Their case is then considered at allocations meetings. To ensure that our equal opportunities policy is carried out we monitor the age, sex, ethnicity and disability of those who are housed to make sure that applications are treated strictly on the basis of need and in terms of our published policy. We then allocate points to each case. Tenants and members of the community who believe they meet the criteria in the points system are invited to contact us about housing.

If you want to move home, one way of doing this is to find someone to swap with. This is called a mutual exchange. This could be another Soho Housing Association tenant, a tenant of another housing association or a council tenant. You can advertise that you are looking for an exchange, or look for someone to exchange with, at our office, in newsagents, in LOOT, in other council or housing association offices - or if you are one of our residents with access to the internet, using a free service called HOMESWAPPER. You can register and read more information in the section below.

Exchanges of accommodation arranged between tenants are normally approved so long as the properties are not overcrowded and both tenants have a good rent payment record. The Association will wish to be satisfied that any other landlord involved has given consent to the exchange.

If you arrange an exchange with another housing association or local authority tenant, the Association cannot refuse permission, providing the following conditions are met:

Requirements

• You contact your Housing Officer to request permission.
• There is no breach of tenancy agreement.
• The property will not be overcrowded or under-occupied.
• If the property has been specifically designed for an elderly or disabled person, it will continue to be used for that purpose.
• There is no outstanding court possession order or court proceedings in connection with the property.

We have to give you a reply within 42 days or the exchange can go ahead anyway. Your rent account should be clear when you leave your property.

If you find someone to swap with, you will assign your tenancy to the incoming tenant and they will assign their tenancy at the other address to you. You will take over the terms of the tenancy agreement of the new property. For example, if you are currently an assured tenant and you swap with a council tenant, you will take over their secure tenancy and they will become an assured tenant with our association.

If you have any queries about mutual exchanges, or want to find out if there are people registered for a mutual exchange at our office, please contact a Customer Service Officer.

HOMESWAPPER is a scheme designed to help match up applicants who are looking to swap homes.

An applicant who is registered has all details of their current home (including bed-size, floor-level and area) input on a computerized system, together with what they are looking for. The computerized system then looks for the best possible matches. It is then up to the applicant to contact the other member and arrange to view the home.

The more people who become registered the more choice there will be an the more effective a tool the system will be.

If you are interested in registering, click on the link below.