We offer choice-based lettings for most of our homes, where you can bid on a home through different websites depending on the location you want to live.
If you’re looking for a home to rent, you will firstly need to register online with your Local Authority Choice Based Lettings (CBL) Scheme.
Once registered you will be placed in a band that reflects your housing needs and you will be able to bid on eligible homes in the area of your choice.
You can find your local authority's details below:
Visit Property Pool Plus to register for homes in these areas.
You can find some handy FAQ's here too, to find out more about applications and banding.
Visit Cheshire Home Choice to apply for a home in Cheshire East.
Have a look at the Help page and FAQ's here to find out more about applying for a home.
Visit West Cheshire Homes to register for homes in these areas.
You can find some handy FAQ's here too, to find out more about applications and banding.
Visit West Lancs Home Finder to apply for a home in Cheshire East.
Have a look at the handy FAQ page to find out more about applying for a home.
Visit Under One Roof to register for homes in these areas.
You can find some handy FAQ's here too, to find out more about applications and banding.
If you have been served with a notice to leave your home, or at risk of homelessness you should contact your Local Authority Homeless Team.
There are some important things you need to be aware of. Work through the list to see what you need to do:
You need to make sure you have enough money saved. You will need to provide a weeks rent in advance. Typically this can be between £90 - £140. You will also need to cover the cost of any removals, as well as any furniture you may need.
If you are on housing benefit or Universal Credit, please have a look at our benefit and budgeting calculators.
Anyone over 18 living in your home will need to provide identification. UK residents will need to provide their birth certificate, national insurance number or passport. Those from outside the UK will need to provide passports, national identify cards or home office letters. We will take copies of your documentation.
We will ask for references from all previous landlords for the past 5 years, and in some cases we may ask for up to 10 years. If this is your first tenancy, we may ask for an employer or other relevant character reference.
As part of the bidding process we will carry out a short telephone interview with you. This will take around 15 minutes, and we'll ask you to be open and honest with us about your past and current circumstances. As part of the interview, we'll carry out a credit check and financial assessment to help understand whether you have the income to meet your rent. We'll also ask you to provide identification if not already on file and will take photographs of your ID.
We will call you to arrange a viewing, and sometimes this may be at short notice. If you are not able to view, we won't be able to continue with the offer.
If you accept the home, please check your current tenancy agreement to confirm what notice would be required for your current landlord.
If you refuse a reasonable offer, this may affect your current application. You can refer to your CBL scheme rules for further information on this.
All of our homes are unfurnished and we don’t provide flooring, white goods or blinds. If you need assistance with any of these items, you may be able to apply for a furniture package from your local authority. If any carpets, blinds or curtains have been left by the outgoing tenant we are happy to gift them to you if they are of good condition and these will become your possessions at the time of sign up. We cannot guarantee that these items will not be damaged as part of any work we do to the house before you move in but we will make every effort to avoid this. There may be occasions where we have to remove these items, but again we will always try to avoid this where possible.
To create a balance within a new community, sometimes Local Lettings Plans need to be created. This is an agreement between the Local Authority and Housing Association. It works alongside the existing housing policy but will have additional criteria to decide how homes will be allocated in certain defined geographical areas. These are usually used to meet specific local issues within the defined area.
Weaver Park’s Local Lettings framework aims to make a significant contribution to the overall sustainability of the area by helping to identify suitable tenants, who will settle and contribute to the local community, ensuring tenancies are sustainable for the long term.
The purpose of the framework is to ensure our lettings create a balanced and sustainable community; encourage cohesion across the mixed tenure new development scheme and to ensure tenancies are sustainable for the long term.
Weaver Park, Hartsford on the outskirts of Northwich Cheshire, is a new build mixed tenure development of 258 private homes, the majority of which are for sale, ranging in price between £300 and £450k.
Included within the development are 78 affordable homes, 26 of which will be for shared ownership along with 52 houses to be let at affordable rent.
The 52 affordable rent houses are a mixture of two- and three-bedroom houses along with 4 two-bedroom flats, broken down as follows:
Handovers are scheduled to take place between December 2021 and Summer 2024 with the eight properties being handed over on or around 17 December 2021.
Overall, the content of this framework does not diverge from the main principles of West Cheshire Home’s Allocation Policy, and we remain committed to rehousing people in housing need.
Homes will be advertised through West Cheshire Homes; however, we intend to include a local lettings criterion to ensure the sustainment and reputation of the new development along with the economic well-being of the area.
It is intended that a local lettings policy will apply on the first let to safeguard the reputation of the development and the significant investment being made in the new homes, striking a balance between supporting sustainable, settled neighbourhoods and housing need.
Our aim through this local letting framework is to create a stable environment and feeling of safety and wellbeing, creating a safe place to live, minimising anti-social behaviour.
Specifically, this means for this this scheme that priority for applications will be given to those who:
We will give 60% preference to working household and applicants in continuing employment.
We will be giving preference to those household able to demonstrate a stable and continuing employment history. All applicants will be subject to financial assessments to ensure affordability and sustainability.
We would not allocate to any household unable to provide satisfactory tenancy references for the preceding 2 years.
We will not allocate to any household that has been served with any form of written warning for breach of tenancy in the previous 2 years
We would not allocate to any household where any member of that household has any criminal convictions (excluding driving offences), police cautions, reprimands or formal warnings recorded against them in the previous 2 years.
The properties will be advertised on West Cheshire Homes advising applicants that a Local Letting scheme is in place and applicants will be required to satisfy the criteria specified.
We will continue to give priority to suitable applicants in accordance with the appropriate banding and date order system but shall give priority to those in employment where they can demonstrate they have sufficient finance to pay the rent.
Applicants given priority for employment should be working 16 hours or more at the close of the bidding cycle and be able to provide as evidence a contract of employment, letter from employer and/ or recent wage slips.
Applicants will be required to fully occupy the property in line with current bedroom eligibility needs.
In addition, applicants must demonstrate a local connection to the Cheshire West and Chester area.
Before any offer is made, all applicants will be required to undergo a formal interview when the local letting criteria and any additional checks that may be necessary will be discussed in detail.
It is intended that this Local Lettings Policy shall apply to the first lets only. When a property on this development becomes available in the future, it will be advertised in accordance with our general Lettings Policy.
We will use the following indicators to measure the overall success of this Local Lettings Plan.
Plus Dane’s Local Lettings framework is an initiative aimed at contributing to the creation and sustainment of balanced communities, particularly in rural locations and on new developments.
The purpose of the framework is to ensure our lettings create a balanced and sustainable community; encourage cohesion within mixed tenures new development schemes and to ensure tenancies are sustainable for the long term.
Backford development on the outskirts of Chester and neighbouring Ellesmere Port, is a new build mixed tenure development of approximately 200 private homes for sale, ranging between £250 and £400k. Included within the development are 30 affordable homes, 12 of which will be for shared ownership along with 18 houses to be let at affordable rent. The 18 affordable rent houses are broken down as follows: eight 3 bed houses and ten 2 bedroom houses, all which will be available for rent through Plus Dane.
Backford Village which is on the outskirts of Chester has limited affordable homes and demand for these new homes if expected to be high.
Handovers are scheduled to take place between February 2021 and October 2022 with the first three properties being handed over on or around 5 February 2021.
To ensure the success of the scheme, Plus Dane proposes to apply a local lettings policy on the first let of the new homes in order to mitigate potential problems and safeguard the reputation of the development and significant investment being made in the new homes, striking a balance between supporting sustainable, settled neighbourhoods and housing need.
Specifically, this means for this this scheme that priority for applications will be given to those who:
We will give 60% preference to working household and applicants in continuing employment.
We will be giving preference to those household able to demonstrate a stable and continuing employment history. All applicants will be subject to financial assessments to ensure affordability and sustainability.
We would not allocate to any household unable to provide satisfactory tenancy references for the preceding 2 years.
We will not allocate to any household that has been served with any form of written warning for breach of tenancy in the previous 2 years
We would not allocate to any household where any member of that household has any criminal convictions (excluding driving offences), police cautions, reprimands or formal warnings recorded against them in the previous 2 years.
The properties will be advertised on West Cheshire Homes advising applicants that a Local Letting scheme is in place and applicants will be required to satisfy the criteria specified.
We will continue to give priority to suitable applicants in accordance with the appropriate banding and date order system but shall give priority to those in employment where they can demonstrate they have sufficient finance to pay the rent.
Applicants will be required to fully occupy the property in line with current bedroom eligibility needs.
As Backford is a rural ward, priority in the first instance will be given to applicants with a local connection to Saughall and Mollington, Capenhurst and Backford.
In the event there is insufficient demand, applications will be widened to other priority bands with local connection to Chester & neighbouring Ellesmere Port along who can provide 2 acceptable references may also be considered.
Before any offer is made, all applicants will be required to undergo a formal interview when the local letting criteria and any additional checks that may be necessary will be discussed in detail.
The planning conditions do not set out any local connection criteria, however to ensure that sustainable tenancies are created with all new lets and re-lets, it is felt this local lettings framework should be put in place.
It is intended that when a property on this scheme becomes empty in the future, it will be advertised in accordance with our general Lettings Policy.
