Housing allocation scheme

Who qualifies to be included on the register?

Reasonable preference categories(5)

Our housing register lists applicants within one of three priority bands, taking into account whether their housing needs are assessed as exceptional, high, or medium. In assessing priority, we are required to consider people who fall into one or more of the reasonable preference categories, which include:

  • people who are homeless(6);
  • people owed a duty under section 190(2), 193(2), 189(B) or 195(2) Housing Act 1996 (or section 65(2) or 68(2) Housing Act 1985);
  • people occupying insanitary or overcrowded housing or otherwise living in unsatisfactory housing;
  • people who need to move on medical or welfare grounds, including grounds relating to disability; and
  • people who need to move to a particular locality within our borough to avoid hardship to themselves or others.

Additional preference

We are also required to give additional preference to the following categories of people who fall within the reasonable preference categories above and who have urgent housing needs:

  • Those who are currently serving in the Regular Armed Forces or who were serving in the Regular Armed Forces at any time in the last 5 years preceding their application to join the housing register(7);
  • Bereaved spouses or civil partners of those serving in the Regular Armed Forces where the bereaved spouse or civil partner has recently ceased, or will cease, to be entitled to reside in Ministry of Defence accommodation following the death of their services spouse or civil partner and the deal was wholly or partly attributable to their service;
  • Serving or former members of the Reserve Armed Forces(8) who are suffering from a serious injury, illness or disability which is wholly or partly attributable to their service.

Additional preference will be awarded to these households by placing them in the band that is one band higher than their assessed need.

Eligibility(9)

We cannot consider you for inclusion on the register if:

  • you are subject to immigration control within the meaning of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, unless you are in an exempt group as decided by the Government; or
  • you are not habitually resident in the Common Travel Area (a travel zone that comprises the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands) unless you are exempt from the habitual residence test; or
  • because of your rights of residence under European Union law.

If you are not eligible to join the register, we will write to you setting out the reasons for the decision. You have the right to request a review of a decision to treat you as ineligible because of your immigration status - see section 10. If you have been accepted onto the register but later become ineligible, your application will be removed, and we will write to you to let you know. This decision to treat you as ineligible is also subject to a right of review - see section 10.

Financial considerations

If you own, or part own, a property, whether you currently live there or not, you will not usually be included on the housing register. Homeowners who need to move on medical or welfare grounds or grounds relating to a disability may be considered for sheltered, adapted or other suitable accommodation in accordance with their assessed needs.

If you have household income or capital (including savings) above the thresholds described below, you will not be included on the housing register.

We will review the income, and savings thresholds annually. Any changes to these threshold levels will not be applied retrospectively to existing applications unless there has been a change in the household’s income or capital (including savings) after the change.

The current thresholds are:

  • households with no dependents with a total gross income of £40,000 or more; or
  • households with up to two dependants with a total gross income of £50,000; or
  • households with three or more dependent children with a total gross income of £60,000 or more; or
  • households with total capital of £16,000 or more.

If you are eligible to be considered for sheltered housing, the threshold for your household’s capital assets (including savings) is £85,000.

Current payments of the following are disregarded as income for the purposes of this assessment:

  • disability living allowance;
  • attendance allowance;
  • personal independence payments;
  • armed forces personal independence payments;
  • any benefit treated as attendance allowance;
  • war pensioners mobility supplement; and
  • payments in compensation for non-receipt of the above

Qualifying criteria

The demand for affordable housing in our borough far exceeds the supply. Only those applicants who meet one or more of the local connection criteria and meet one or more of the housing needs criteria will qualify to join the housing register.

To be considered for inclusion on the housing register, you must have a qualifying local connection to the borough of Tonbridge and Malling. You will be required to provide evidence of your local connection as part of your application for housing. You have a local connection if you:

  • those who are currently residing within the borough of Tonbridge and Malling and have been for a continuous period of 2 years immediately prior to the application to join the housing register being made; or
  • have immediate family members (children over the age of 18, parents, or brothers/sisters) who currently reside in our borough, have done so for 5 or more years and there is an exceptional need to move to receive or provide essential care from or to that close family member that cannot otherwise be provided; or
  • those who are currently serving in the Regular Armed Forces or who were serving the Regular

Forces at any time in the last 5 years preceding their application to join the housing register;

  • Bereaved spouses or civil partners of those serving in the regular forces where the bereaves spouse or civil partner has recently ceased, or will cease, to be entitled to reside in Ministry of Defence accommodation following the death of their services spouse or civil partner and the deal was wholly or partly attributable to their service;
  • Serving or former members of the Reserve Armed Forces who are suffering from a serious injury, illness or disability which is wholly or partly attributable to their service;
  • Ex-spouse or civil partner or adult child of a serving Regular Armed Forces member.

There may also be exceptional circumstances in which the local connection criteria are waived for example;

  • it is accepted that you are owed a main housing duty under section 193(2), in which case the local connection requirements will be those contained within the relevant homeless legislation and Code of Guidance;
  • are currently residing outside our borough but are fleeing violence or harassment (including hate crime); or
  • you are a housing association or Council tenant exercising your right to move for work related reasons
  • have no local connection to any local authority area.

Within our borough some properties and new developments have a specific local connection requirement in their planning or funding conditions. In these cases, a local connection will usually mean a connection to a specific village or parish rather than a connection to the borough as a whole and will be detailed in the relevant local lettings plan for the development (see section 5).

To be considered for inclusion on the housing register you must also have a qualifying need for affordable housing. You have a qualifying housing need if any of the criteria described in the priority bands A to C (see section 4) apply to you.

You have the right to request a review of a decision to exclude you from the register because you do not have a local connection and/or a housing need - see section 10.

Disqualification

You will not usually qualify for inclusion on the housing register where you or a member of your household has behaved in an unacceptable manner in the preceding 5 years.

Examples of unacceptable behaviour include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • where you have been evicted or otherwise lost accommodation due to anti-social behaviour; or
  • where you have been convicted of criminal offences (including offences involving anti-social behaviour or the use and/or supply of drugs) in or near your home and still pose a threat to neighbours or the wider community.

The decision to disqualify you will consider any supporting information received from your current or previous landlord, the police/police community support officers, the Council’s community safety unit, the probation service and other relevant professionals involved in your case, and we may remove you if we receive information after your application has gone live, if we received information from any of these partners about any issues.

Notes

5 - In accordance with section 166A (3) of the Housing Act 1996 (as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002 and the Localism Act 2011).

6 - Whether or not the applicant is owed a housing duty under part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 and including those who are considered to have become homeless intentionally and those not considered to be in priority need for accommodation.

7 - Regular Forces means Her Majesty’s Regular Army, the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines or the Royal Air Force.

8 - Reserve Forces means the Army Reserve, the Territorial Army, the Royal Fleet Reserve, the Royal Naval Reserve, the Royal Marines Reserve, the Royal Air Force Reserve or the Royal Auxiliary Air Force.

9 - In accordance with the Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility) (England) Regulations 2006.