Registering for a Council Property - Housing Allocations and the Points Scheme
When you join the housing list, we decide which allocation group you should be in. The allocation groups are:
Group A - certain council tenants who have been moved out of their homes temporarily and who are now ready to return to them.
Group B - emergencies – these may be transfers housing register applicants or homeless applicants.
Group C - 'supply transfers', including council tenants who are living in homes that are too large for them, and council tenants who need to be moved out so that works can take place to their homes.
Group D - 'mainstream' transfers – this includes most Lambeth Council tenants on the transfer list.
Group E - homeless households in priority need, and not intentionally homeless, who the council has accepted it has a legal duty to re-house.
Group F – people with a high level of housing need, nominated for housing by council departments, or by voluntary agencies under agreed quotas.
Group G – people living outside Lambeth with a high priority reason for housing in the borough.
Group H – 'mainstream' applicants, in other words, most of the people on the housing register.
The points scheme
The biggest allocation groups are Group D and Group H. 95% of people on the housing list are in one of these two groups.
If you are in Group D or Group H, we will give you points if you have the following needs:
- Homeless and not owed a housing duty by any council - 20 points.
- Homeless and owed a housing duty by a council other than Lambeth Council – 5 points.
- Insanitary, overcrowded or unsatisfactory housing conditions – 5, 10 or 15 points for each unsatisfactory condition.
- Medical or welfare grounds – 10 or 25 points.
- If you are a Lambeth Council tenant transferring from a family-sized flat or house – 5, 10 or 15 points.
- If you have lived in the Borough for the last 12 months – 25 points.
- If you are a key worker in the Borough – 5 points.
- When you are considered for properties in your own locality – an additional 10 points.
- Time spent on the housing list – 2 points per year.
- Exceptional needs (awarded at the discretion of the Director of Housing for urgent needs not otherwise catered for) – 10 or 25 points.
All your points are added together, and the higher your total points, the higher your priority for an offer.
If several people have the same number of points, we give priority to the person who has been registered on the list for the longest time.
Priority in other allocation groups
In the other allocation groups - that is Groups A, B, C, E, F and G – your priority will usually depend on how long you have been waiting in that group. There is a mechanism for exceptionally urgent cases within a group to be given a higher priority. Less urgent cases within the group may be given a lower priority. This is done by giving you a “level” (1, 2 or 3) within the allocation group.
For further information please refer to our Housing Allocation Scheme 2004 on the Housing Policies and Strategies page.