Devon Home Choice
How to bid for homes
You can tell us which homes you would like to be considered for. This is called bidding.
Bidding does not mean that you will part with any money. You can only bid for homes if your application has been accepted onto the Devon Home Choice register. You can only bid for homes where you match what the advert asks for. For example, if the advert states the home has 1 bedroom, you will not be able to bid for it if you need more than 1 bedroom.
Homes are advertised from 12:00am on Wednesday to 11:59pm the following Monday. You can bid for up to 3 homes during this time. No homes are advertised (except shared ownership properties) and no bids can be placed on a Tuesday.
Please note that automatic bids are placed for those applicants who are unable to bid for themselves just before the deadline for bids each week (e.g. 11.59 p.m. on a Monday). You may find that your position in the queue for a home is affected by these automatic bids.
In this section find out about:
- When you are able to bid for homes (see below)
- What size of homes you be able to bid for (click here for more information)
- Bidding for homes in other parts of Devon (click here for more information)
- How to bid (click here for more information)
When am I able to bid for homes?
You can only bid for homes once your application has been accepted onto the Devon Home Choice register.
You can continue to bid for homes until you have:
- Been contacted by a landlord or local authority about a home you are being considered for, and you have
- Confirmed that you are interested in the home being offered and would like to view it.
Once you provide this confirmation you will not be able to bid for other homes.
If you refuse this offer or the landlord withdraws the offer (for more information see 'How the successful applicant is selected' ), you can start to bid for homes again.
What size of homes you will be able to bid for
You are only able to bid for homes that match your household needs. For example, if you only need 2 bedrooms you will not usually be able to bid for 3 or 4 bedroom homes.
The following will usually be assessed as requiring a bedroom:
- People living together as a couple
- Other adults, aged 16 years old or over
- 2 children (under 16 years old) of the same gender
- A boy & girl who are both under 8 years old
Any exceptions to these rules will be clearly set out in the advert for a home.
Bidding for homes in other parts of Devon
A key aim of Devon Home Choice is to provide people seeking housing with choice and the ability to move within Devon. For example to access work or move closer to support networks.
In order to ensure that moves between local authorities do not adversely impact on 1 or more local authority areas we will regularly monitor the number of people moving into and out of each local authority area.
In particular we will monitor the number of people moving into a local authority area who do not have a local connection to that area and the number of people who move out of that local authority area and do not have a local connection to their new local authority area. Where the balance of these figures accounts for 2% or more of the homes let within that area, homes in that local authority area may be labelled so as to provide preference to applicants with a local connection to that particular local authority.
If no applicants with a local connection to the local authority bid for a home, applicants from other areas will be considered.
When the number of people moving out of the local authority area is again the same as the number of people moving into the area, properties in that local authority area will again be advertised without being labelled as preference to applicants with a local connection.
The aim of Devon Home Choice is to gradually increase the limits on cross border mobility. This will ensure that people can move within Devon to take up work or support an older relative etc. A timetable will be developed for the review of the cross border limit. This will be informed by careful monitoring of moves between local authorities.
How to bid
You can bid:
- On this website (see below)
- By telephone (click for more information)
- In person at Council offices
In order to bid on the website you will need your: personal reference number, memorable date and password.
1. Type www.devonhomechoice.com in the address bar of your internet browser
2. Click the Login/My Account button.
- Enter your personal reference number which you will have received by post.
- Enter your memorable date. This needs to be entered as follows: dd/mm/yyyy. For example if your memorable date is 9 May 1970 you would enter 09/05/1970.
- Click Login. This will refresh the page and require you to enter your password.
- Enter your password
- Click Login
3. Click the Property Search option to look for current available homes.
4. A list of homes matching your search request will be displayed. If you are eligible to bid for a home the Apply Now button will be displayed.
5. If you are eligible and want to bid for the home click the Apply Now button. Before you confirm your bid, you can find out what position you would be in the queue for a home. Your position could change as other people bid. If you are not eligible to bid for a home then the reason for this will be displayed.
The number to call to place a bid is 0300 011 0125.
The cost of calling this number is the same as calling standard landlines, even from a mobile phone. If you are calling from a mobile phone the number will be included in any inclusive call minutes that you have.
In order to bid using the telephone system you will need the reference numbers of the home(s) you want to bid for, as well as your personal reference number and memorable date.
1. Dial 0300 011 0125
2. An automated voice will give you instructions on how to bid. Follow these instructions exactly and your bid(s) will be
registered with us.
3. You will need to use the numbers on the telephone keypad and the hash key (#). For example you will be asked to: “Please enter your personal reference number, followed by the hash key.” If your personal reference number is 1245
you would enter:
4. Before you confirm your bid, you can find out what position you would be in the queue for a home.