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Housing Advice Service

How our Housing Advice Service can help you:

Fareham Borough Council provides a free service to help you with housing related problems. You can call in to see a Homelessness Prevention Officer who operate a Drop-In Service which is available 9.30am - 4.00pm Monday to Thursday and 9.30am - 3.30pm on Friday.

 

In most cases we can advise directly, but occasionally we may direct you to other services that will give you more appropriate assistance.

What advice do we provide?

Our Homelessness Prevention Officers are available to assist you with confidential and impartial advice, which is available to all.

 

If you are looking for accommodation, we are able to advise you on a range of issues such as:

  • Finding Accommodation
  • Housing & Welfare Benefits
  • Getting repairs done by your landlord
  • Understanding your Legal Rights
  • Finding Shared Ownership Accommodation
  • Landlord/Tenant rights
  • Rent/Mortgage arrears
  • Transfers
  • Exchanges
  • Harassment/Illegal evictions
  • Homelessness
  • Money advice

Once your problem has been fully discussed, the advisor could, with your permission:

  • Contact your landlord
  • Liaise with other Council Departments
  • Help you to try and find alternative accommodation
  • Advise on Welfare Benefits
  • Advise on repossessions
  • Help you apply to go on the Housing Waiting List
  • Give you details of local Estate Agents
  • Give you details of local Housing Associations

If it is difficult for you to attend the council's offices, we may be able to visit you at home, if this is more suitable

What we can do if you have nowhere to live

If you are at risk of becoming homeless you will be seen by a Homelessness Prevention Officer and where necessary referred to see a Homelessness Officer who will assess what duty the Council owes you under relevant legislation. If you have absolutely nowhere to go for that night, we will see you as quickly as possible. We cannot house every homeless person who presents to us and what assistance we can give will depend on your own personal circumstances and how these fit under the Housing Act 1996 Part VII as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002. Even if we cannot provide accommodation for you, we will give you appropriate advice and can put you in touch with hostels who may be able to help. There is some further information on homelessness here.

Housing Options

There are a range of housing options available to households which we are happy to discuss with you. We may be able to help you gain private rented accommodation or suggest other areas of the country where you may find it easier to gain a Council or Housing Association property. We will provide you with information and assistance to help you find your own home.

Fareham Borough Council Housing Waiting List

The Council holds a Housing Waiting List that has details of everyone who has applied for housing in the Borough of Fareham. A banding system is used to decide each applicants need for housing.

 

Council and Housing Association properties are advertised on a weekly basis and as an applicant you can express your interest in the appropriate vacancies. The property is then offered to the highest placed applicant on the Housing Waiting List who expressed an interest in the vacancy. This method of allocating housing is known as Choice Based Lettings.

 

Fareham Borough Council owns about 2400 homes for rent. This number is reducing as more homes are sold through the Government's Right to Buy scheme. The Council is not able to build new homes itself; however the Council has nomination rights to some homes provided in the Borough by registered social landlords, e.g. housing associations. By joining the Housing Waiting List you will be able to apply for all types of social housing accommodation.

 

As of 1st April 2007, there were 2389 Council properties of which 629 are sheltered and restricted to applicants over 60 years of age. This leaves 1760 general purpose council homes. At this time, there were 1158 applicants on the waiting list requesting these homes. In the period April 2006 to March 2007, Fareham Borough Council nominated 121 applicants from the Housing Waiting List to Council or Housing Association properties in the Borough.

 

For further information please contact the Strategic Housing Division on 01329 236100 or e mail: csd@fareham.gov.uk

You may also find the following links useful:

shelternet.org.uk (this is an external hyperlink) for general on line housing advice

 

housingcare.org (this is an external hyperlink) for housing options for older people and contact details of local providers of accommodation.