Bidding (Expressing interest in a property)
High demand for social housing
There's incredibly high demand for housing in Derby and there are not enough properties for everyone on the housing register. There are always more people wanting to be housed than homes will ever be available.
It can be difficult for us to say when you will be offered a home, most people may never receive an offer.
We understand how important it is to be near friends, family, and support services. Limiting the areas, you want to live, or landlords you want housing with, will affect our ability to help you even if you have a high priority for housing.
Bidding
Once your application is complete, you can start bidding on properties. You’ll only be able to bid on properties in your housing band that meet your needs, for example, if you only have a need for one bedroom, and are in the Priority Band you’ll only be able to bid on one-bedroom properties advertised to that band.
Properties are advertised for 6 days, you can bid on a property at any time during this period. How quickly you apply will not affect your chances of being considered for the property.
The property will be offered to bidder with the highest number of needs. If multiple bidders have the same number of needs, the applicant that’s been on the housing register the longest, will be considered for the property first.
You can only have three bids active at one time. Once the advert for a property you’ve bid on has ended, you can reuse that bid. If you try to bid on more than three properties at one time, one of your previous bids will be withdrawn.
How to place a bid
- Login to your account using your email address and password
- Click ‘Available properties’ at the top of the screen
- Select ‘place bid’
- Choose which property you want to bid on from the list of available properties
- Click on the arrow next to ‘not interested’ and change it to 1, 2 or 3
- Click ‘confirm’
If you decide you don’t want to live in a property before bidding has ended, you can withdraw your bid. Once withdrawn, you can reuse this bid.
How to withdraw a bid:
- Login to your account using your email address and password.
- Click ‘My Applications’ at the top of the screen.
- Select 'Bid history’
- Click the drop down list next to ‘Preference’ and change it to not interested
- Click OK on the ‘Previously selected preference will be removed’ message
- Click ‘confirm’
If a Derby Homefinder landlord offers you a property, they will phone you and then send you an ‘offer letter’ to confirm this.
If you’re not successful, you won't be contacted and you won't be able to find out where you came on the shortlist.
Important: you have only three working days from the date on the offer letter to contact the landlord to accept or turn down their offer. If you don’t, we will assume you are no longer interested in the property and the offer will be withdrawn and will be considered an unreasonable refusal, and in some cases, we may close your application.
If you make two, ‘unreasonable refusals’ your Homefinder application will be closed, and you will not be able to reapply for six months.
What we consider an ‘unreasonable refusal’
- you have a pet and you have bid for a property where pets are not allowed
- you do not want to live in an area, and you have bid for a property there
- you want your own garden and have bid for a property with no garden or a communal garden
- you do not want to live in that type of property, and you have bid for that property type
- you are unable, not ready or cannot afford to move
To request a review on the decision made regarding an unreasonable refusal, contact [email protected].
- Only bid on properties you want to live in
- Research the area before you bid
- Check Homefinder regularly for new properties
- Consider all areas of Derby
- Consider flats as well as houses