Apply for Council housing
In the districts of Babergh and Mid Suffolk, you will need to apply to join Gateway to Homechoice's housing register.
If you are accepted onto the housing register, you will then be able to apply for Council or social (housing association) housing via Gateway to Homechoice's website.
Their website allows you to view all homes available through us, and through each housing association, in one place. You will be able to 'bid' on properties.
Applicants from within the districts are prioritised for properties within the districts. You will also be able to apply for homes from other partners on Gateway to Homechoice - but you will not be prioritised for those properties.
For more information about how housing need is assessed, please read the Allocations Policy.
Firstly, you need to apply to join Gateway to Homechoice's housing register.
The online form will take you around 30 minutes to complete. Once you have started the online form, you will be given a login reference number that's unique to you.. Please make a note of this.
You are able to save your progress at any point and return to it later (even if you not using your own computer).
You will need to complete the form within two weeks. If you don't, you will have to start again.
When you are filling out the form, you will need to provide:
- Names, dates of birth, and current addresses of everyone who will live in the house
- Your telephone number, and an email address (if you have them)
- Your National Insurance number - and your partner's National Insurance number, if you have one
- Your full address history for the last six years. There must be no gaps - and dates must not overlap
- Your employment and income details
If you do not have access to the internet, please call us on 0300 1234000 (Option 3). We can help you complete the online form, or navigate the bidding process.
Once you have registered, we will write to you within 28 days. We will ask you to provide certain evidence, so that we can review your application.
We will need you to provide us with supporting documents and evidence, so that we can carry out a full assessment.
You can download the supporting evidence checklist.
As part of this evidence, you will need to complete the verification housing history form and the verification declaration.
When you complete the housing history form, you will need to provide a full address history for every member of your household. This history will need to cover the last six years (and for the past ten years, if there has been any property ownership).
It must also include:
- the name and address of your landlord(s)
- moving in and moving out dates
- reasons for moving out
The verification declaration must be signed and dated by hand. Please print, sign and then return the declaration to us.
If you do not have access to a printer, please contact us - a paper copy can be posted to you.
Additional forms
You will also need to complete the following forms, if they are relevant to you:
- Medical & Welfare Form
- Financial Form - if having affordability issues
- Person From Abroad Form
Send us your documents
Please send us all relevant documents in one email. For larger households, please use consecutive messages.
Send your documents to CBLverification@baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk
Please contact us if you need help sending us your documents.
When you email us your documents, you will receive an acknowledgement email straightaway.
We do not keep previously sent documents on file, unless they have been uploaded to your online account.
Therefore, it is important that you gather all relevant documents and send them altogether, at once. You don't need to resend any clearly readable documents that have already been uploaded to your online application.
From the date we receive your full clearly readable set of Section 1 documents, we aim to assess your application so that - if eligible - you can place bids within six to eight weeks.
Your application will be closed automatically if we do not receive a full set of clearly readable and relevant documents altogether within 28 days from the date of your Gateway to Homechoice application.
Additional bedroom entitlement / banding priority can be requested at any time but will only be considered once evidence in Section 2 documents have been received. We strongly advise sending Section 1 and 2 documents at the same time where possible.
Please allow a further six to eight weeks for documents in Step 2 to be assessed (from the date we receive them) if sending after your basic assessment documents in Section 1.
The following applications will NOT be accepted:
- If you have been housed in the last 12 months via Gateway to Homechoice or Mutual Exchange
- If you have a previous application under another Gateway to Homechoice number (you will need to re-apply using your original number)
- If you are a joint social housing tenant and are only applying in your own name (unless fleeing violence)
- If your application should be for Birmingham, Cornwall, Kent, Yorkshire, Doncaster, Reading, Rochdale or Bristol where, for example, they also have Homechoice schemes but are not part of our sub-region. Please check you are applying to the correct Local Authority.
Once all documents have been received and your application has been approved, we will inform you of:
- Your banding
- Your login number
- Information about how to bid for a home
For more information, please read our frequently asked questions.