Prioritising applications

Once we have accepted you onto the Housing Register, we assess your housing needs based on a banding system.

The banding scheme is explained in the housing allocation scheme (PDF) [697KB] .

Housing needs vary, for example, you may:

• live somewhere that has a serious effect on the your health
• are an under-occupying household and want to downsize
• you need to move so your current council property can be repaired or modernised

Waiting times vary depending on a number of different factors:

• priority banding
• the number of bedrooms you need 
• how selective you are over the type of property you want to live in
• how selective you are over where in the borough you want to live in

We use a priority bands scheme to classify an applicant's circumstances and their connection to Guildford.

The priority bands range from A - E. Band A is the highest priority.

The higher an applicant's priority banding, the better chance they have of moving quickly. When an application is awarded a high priority banding, it does not necessarily mean that an applicant will be rehoused immediately.

You must have a substantial or long lasting connection to someone in living in the area to qualify for priority bands A and B.

You'll get a decision letter from us saying:

• whether your application has been successful or not
• the priority band you've been given

If you disagree with our decision or your priority band, you can ask us to review our decision within 21 days of receiving the decision letter.

Fill in our online form to ask us to review our decision on your housing application.

Yes. This may be for a variety of reasons.

These could be:

• you owe rent or have other housing related debts
• you are a council or housing association tenant and legal action has been taken against you because you have breached the terms of your tenancy agreement
• you have resources to solve your own housing problems
• you have not provided the required documents to support your application by the date given
• your circumstances have changed and this results in a reduction in your level of priority
• you have provided incorrect or misleading information
• you do not meet the criteria set out in the advert of the house