Council housing information in easy read

About council housing

A council house is accommodation that the council owns and rents. 

There are rules around who can have a council house.

Find out about these rules on our allocations policy.

Apply to join the housing register

You need to apply to join the housing register before you can view or apply to move into council or housing association properties.

After we have looked at your application, we will send you a letter to tell you the decision.

If you have been accepted for a council house, we will give you a “banding”. This is based on your housing needs and/or your medical needs.

We have 4 bands:

• Band A
• Band B
• Band C
• Band D

We will then send you a letter with your:

• registration number
• priority date – this is the date you were accepted
• priority band – this is based upon your circumstances
• the reason you got the banding
• assessed bedroom size – this is the size of property you can bid on 

It may also include information about your health, how you move around, and what support you need

Choose a home

Homemove is the council’s housing system.

You can choose homes you like. To do this, you place a bid.

A bid tells us which home you're interested in.