Who gets priority

This content applies to England only.

Housing laws vary between England and Scotland. This page applies to England only. Get advice relating to Scotland

Council waiting lists don't work on a 'first come, first served' basis. There are certain groups of people who must always be given priority. The law calls this 'reasonable preference'.

Remember: If you need accommodation immediately, you may beed to make a homelessness application. Use our emergency housing rights checker to find out whether the council has a duty to help you.

Information from the council

Ask the council for information about how it decides who gets priority. Most councils produce a leaflet that explains how things work. Your chances of getting a place and how long you'll have to wait probably depend on:

• how much council or housing association housing there is in your area
• how much priority you've been awarded
• how many other applicants have more priority than you.

Most councils use a points system or a banding system. Most councils will give extra priority to those people who have lived in their area for a certain length of time. The law says that certain groups should get priority, but priority can also be taken away in some circumstances.

If you are homeless or about to lose your home

If you are homeless or facing eviction, the council may have a legal responsibility to help you. If you are entitled to help in this way, the council must also give you extra priority on the waiting list for a permanent home. How much priority you get may depend on the reasons why you had to leave your last home and whether you are classed as being in priority need. Use our emergency housing rights checker to find out more about your rights.

If you are living in very poor conditions

You may be entitled to reasonable preference if your home:

• is in serious disrepair
• is officially overcrowded
• is unsanitary (ie it doesn't have proper drainage and sewerage)
• lacks basic washing and cooking facilities.

The council will need to visit your home to inspect it and assess how bad the conditions are before it decides how much priority you should get. There is usually a scale of priority for poor conditions - if the council decides that your home is in such bad condition that it is dangerous or potentially damaging to your health, you will get a lot more points than if it is inconvenient or unpleasant but not a major health risk.

If you have a medical condition

You may also get reasonable preference if anyone in your household:

• has health problems that are made worse by where you live
• has mobility problems that make it difficult to get around your home
• suffers from mental health problems, which is being made worse by your accommodation.

If you include medical reasons in your application, you should give as much information as possible about your health problems and how they are affected by where you are living. Explain the difficulties the medical condition causes in as much detail as you can. The council will normally ask a doctor, health visitor or other expert to assess your medical problems and may use an independent person who does not know you. They may also contact your GP and you should include details of any other health worker or social worker who can support your application.

If you were seriously injured in the armed forced

The Government is encouraging many local councils to give extra priority to you if you need specially adapted accommodation because of a serious injury, medical condition, or disability which you received while you were serving in the armed forces.

If you need to live in the area to avoid hardship

You should also be given reasonable preference on the waiting list if you can show that there are special social or welfare reasons why you need to live in a particular area. This might be the case if, for example:

• you or someone in your household is studying at a special school in the area
• you need to be able to access support networks in the area (for example, if you're leaving care and need to be close to people who can support you)
• you need to be close to a relative so that you can look after her/him (or s/he can look after you).

Having friends or family in the area won't necessarily be enough to give you extra points, although the council may consider it.

If you are at risk of violence or threats

If you fit into any of the groups outlined above, you should also get extra points if:

• you are at risk of domestic abuse in your current home
• you've been a witness or victim of crime and are at risk of intimidation
• you have been harassed, threatened or attacked in the area because of your race or sexuality.

If you've been involved in unacceptable behaviour

If the council believes that you, or any member of your household, have been involved in behaviour that is serious enough to make you unsuitable to be a council tenant, they can take away any priority you have been given. This includes any 'reasonable preference' you have been given for the reasons outlined above. The most common reasons why this might happen are if:

• someone in your household has been involved in antisocial behaviour, or
• you have a history of serious rent arrears.

When it makes a decision about this, the council will use the same criteria as it uses when assessing whether or not you are eligible. If the council tells you that your priority has been taken away, get advice. An adviser can look into your situation and may be able to help you show the council that what happened was not your fault or was outside of your control.

When the council can reduce or take away priority

The council can only do this in certain situations, such as if:

• you've behaved antisocially since you first made your application (see above)
• you have moved and the conditions in your new accommodation are better
• you have moved to settled accommodation and are no longer homeless
• you have recovered from an illness which gave you extra priority
• you can afford to buy or rent accommodation for yourself.

If the council wants to take away points for any other reason and you don't think it's fair, get advice.

What if I don't think I've been given enough priority?

You may be able to challenge the council's decision in a number of ways. It's worth getting advice first, however, as an adviser may be able to help you put together your case. For example, you may need to arrange for a medical report to show how your health problems are affected by your current housing situation.