For average wait times, see our HomeChoice website.

Your wait for housing will be dependent on your banding, priority housing date, and the type and size of property you are bidding for. Some properties are in very high demand (two bedroom houses), whereas others may not be in such high demand but there are less properties available (four bedroom houses).

HomeChoice shows the banding and priority housing date of households that have successfully bid for properties. It also shows your queue position when bidding for properties. Both will help you determine the likely wait for a property.

The autobid system places bids at midnight on Thursdays. If you have checked your queue position before this time it may change after the automatic bids have been placed.

• You can change your telephone number or email address by logging in to your HomeChoice account.
• If you have a new baby, email a copy of the baby’s birth certificate to the Crawley Homechoice team.
• If your health or medical issues have changed, email details and copies of any documents (such as a doctor’s letter) to the Crawley Homechoice team.
• For any other changes email details to the Crawley Homechoice team.

When you are entering your memorable date, make sure that you enter it in the dd/mm/year format. So enter 5 March 2020 as 05/03/2020.

You can find your banding, priority housing date and reference number:

• On your acceptance letter 
• By logging on to your HomeChoice account.

If you are bidding on the Homechoice website or by phone, we will tell you which properties you can bid on. 

Properties only become available when an existing tenant moves out. We cannot control or predict which properties will become available and when. If you have not found any eligible properties to bid on recently, please continue to check each week. 

You may not have had the highest level of priority for the property you bid for. There are other reasons why you may not have been successful such as:

• Are you in rent arrears with the council or another landlord? Rent arrears affect your banding and whether we can offer you a property. You need to pay them off as soon as possible.
• Were you eligible for the property? For example, you cannot bid on a three bedroom house if we assessed you as needing a two bedroom property.
• Are your contact details up-to-date? We need an up-to-date phone number so that we can contact you to offer you a property.
• Was there any extra criteria? Sometimes there is extra criteria in the property advert. For example, a property may only be available for transfer applicants or applicants in band B. 
• Some properties are only suitable for families or the over 60's.
• Has your income, household size or address changed? If so, this may affect your banding or your eligibility to be on the housing register.

You can login to your HomeChoice account to find out why you were not successful with your bid.

We determine your banding by assessing your current housing situation and personal circumstances. If your circumstances change we will re-assess your application. This could mean you get a higher banding. You can find more information about this in section 3.2 of the Housing Allocation Scheme . 

Adding people, such as a new baby, to your application is unlikely to change your banding. Although, it may affect the size of property you are eligible to bid on (see section 4 of the Housing Allocation Scheme ).

You can request a review if you believe that our original decision was not correct.
If you wish to request a review, you must:

• put it in writing
• provide your reasons for the request
• provide documentation to support your review

You should not request a review because you are unhappy with the decision. 

A panel of at least two senior officers (who were not involved in making the original decision) will review your application. The panel aim to complete reviews within 28 days. This can take longer if they need to carry out further investigations. This may include contacting:

• your GP, landlord, employer or bank
• the Inland Revenue
• the Department of Work and Pensions
• Social Services. 

You can find details of how to request a review in your original decision letter.

We will contact you each year to check whether you want to remain on the Housing Register. Until then you do not need to do anything. When we contact you we will tell you how to renew your application.

It is unlikely that you will get a property with the right adaptations for your needs. When you accept a property, we can adapt it to make it suitable for your needs. 
An occupational therapist and/or a surveyor may visit the property to assess:

• if it is suitable for your needs, or 
• if it can be adapted to meet your needs. 

If it isn’t, then it will not count as an offer and you will need to continue to bid on properties. 

You see the position of your bid in the queue as the bidding data is live. If people place bids after you it will change your bid position. If you bid by autobid your position in the queue may still change. Your position in the queue is set by your priority banding and housing date. 

Your chances of success are not affected by the time that you place your bid in the bidding cycle. 

You can only bid on properties that you are eligible for. If the property is bigger than your assessed need, you will not be able to bid on it.  Sometimes there is extra criteria in the property advert. For example, a property may only be available for transfer applicants or applicants in band B.

If you are homeless or facing homelessness you need to complete our online form as soon as possible.

Registered providers are non-government organisations that own and manage social housing stock. They are regulated by the Regulator for Social Housing, not the council.