Offers and refusals
Offers of accommodation will be made by the relevant landlord. As all offers are based on the preferences indicated by you on your housing application form, it is important, for example, not to select an area of the borough where you don’t really want to live or a landlord you do not want to be rehoused by. You may amend your preferences at any stage of the application process, either on-line or by contacting the Common Housing Register Assessment Team.
You are entitled to refuse an offer of accommodation but will be asked to explain the reason why you did. We may in certain instances deem the refusal to be unreasonable. Upon a third unreasonable refusal, your application would be suspended and you would not be considered for housing for 12 months. In addition, upon the lifting of the suspension, your effective date of registration will be reset to the date the suspension was lifted.
If you are being rehoused as a result of being homeless or threatened with homelessness the rules relating to offers and refusals are different. If this is the case it is important that you speak with a homelessness officer from the council before refusing an offer.
In exceptional circumstances a landlord may choose to withdraw an offer of accommodation. This may be done at any stage before the tenancy agreement is signed. If this happens the landlords will write to you explaining the reasons why the offer was withdrawn. The withdrawal of the offer will not be counted as an offer of accommodation.