Housing Advice Service

How our Housing Advice Service can help you:

• The type of advice we provide
• Exploring your Housing Options
• What we can do if you have nowhere to live
• Fareham Borough Council's Afford Scheme
• Fareham Borough Council's Housing Waiting List
• You may also find the following links useful 

Fareham Borough Council provides a free service to help you with housing related problems.  You can contact us by telephone on 01329 236100.  Alternatively, if you prefer to see someone in person, you can call in to see one of our Homelessness Prevention Officers who operate a Drop-in Service, based at the Council’s Civic Offices in Fareham.  The service is open Monday – Thursday 9.30am - 4.00pm 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.

The type of advice 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 (355Kb)
• Assistance with paying your rent/Housing Benefits
• Getting repairs done by your landlord
• Finding Shared Ownership Accommodation
• Landlord responsibilities/Tenant rights
• Mortgage Rescue Scheme
• Harassment/Illegal evictions
• Domestic Abuse - Advice and Guidance
• Homelessness
• Money advice
• Resolving problems with your Landlord
• Asylum Seekers in need of assistance

Once your problem has been fully discussed and in order to help you resolve your situation, the advisor could, with your permission:

• Contact your landlord/Mortgage Lender
• 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
• Provide you with the information needed to help you resolve your housing situation
• Signpost you to other local services that may be able to help

If it is difficult for you to attend the Council's offices, our Visiting Officer can arrange to visit you at home.  Please call the Housing Options Team to arrange a suitable appointment. 

Exploring your Housing Options

There are a range of housing options available to households which we are happy to discuss with you.

The type of support and assistance you may be able to obtain will depend very much on your individual circumstances; therefore it is important that you seek advice about your situation as early as possible. 

In some circumstances the Council may be able to provide direct assistance to help you to obtain accommodation.  This will be discussed with you once your case has been investigated and all other realistic housing options have been explored. 

What we can do if you have nowhere to live

If you are at risk of becoming homeless, you need to contact a Homelessness Prevention Officer as soon as possible.  You can contact the office by telephone on 01329 236100.  If your situation cannot be resolved over the phone you will be invited to attend our Drop-in service.

You will initially be seen by a Homelessness Prevention Officer who will discuss your situation and offer practical and realistic advice.  If a solution to your situation cannot be identified, you will be referred to see a Homelessness Officer who will formalise your application for assistance and assess what duty the Council owes you under relevant legislation.  

We cannot always 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 other services that may be able to help.

There is some further information on homelessness here.

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 2010, there were 2373 Council properties of which 650 are sheltered and restricted to applicants over 60 years of age. This leaves 1723 general purpose council homes. At this time, there were 1884 applicants on the waiting list requesting these homes. In the period April 2009 to March 2010, Fareham Borough Council nominated 233 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: customerservices@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

• firststopcareadvice.org.uk (this is an external hyperlink) for housing options for older people and contact details of local providers of accommodation
• www.direct.gov.uk/mortgagehelp(this is an external hyperlink) which provides comprehensive advice relating to mortgages and mortgage difficulties