Barking & Dagenham

Welcome to the Barking & Dagenham page on the East London Lettings company website.

To Apply to join the Barking and Dagnham Housing Register Click Here

   The London Borough of Barking & Dagenham (LBBD) is delighted to welcome customers to its More Choice in Lettings scheme. 

We hope you find this webpage useful in answering any questions you have about Barking & Dagenham’s Housing Allocation scheme.

More Choice in Lettings (MCiL) is simple, transparent and offers housing applicants a more active role in choosing accommodation.

To be able to apply for housing under the More Choice in Lettings Scheme, you will need to be registered on Barking & Dagenham’s housing register. On completion of registration, a letter is sent to you advising of your registration number and also details of any priority they may have been awarded.

How to contact us.

You can call us on 020 8724 8325 or via email to housingadviceservice@lbbd.gov.uk. If you need to contact about a problem with bidding it is important to contact us during the bidding period 

Advertising.

The Choice Homes scheme puts you in control of where you want to live. As well as viewing and bidding on properties via the ELLC website you can download a printable newsletter

When bidding closes the bids received for each property will be ranked by priority according to our Housing Allocation Policy, applicants with the same level of priority will be ranked in ‘effective date order'.

You can bid for one property that matches your requirements each week. The bidding period runs from Thursday midnight to Monday midnight.

There is no advantage to placing your bid early, bids are ranked in priority in accordance with Barking & Dagenham’s Housing Allocation Policy, not the time you have placed your bid.

What happens if you are a successful bidder in Barking & Dagenham.

After the bidding period has ended, further eligibility checks are carried out on applicants that have finished in a high enough position to be considered for viewing. This can be in the form of a home visit to verify details that have been provided. If an applicant does not satisfy the eligibility criteria, their bid of interest will be skipped and a letter will be sent advising of this giving the reason.

Up to 3 successful bidders depending on the property type may be invited to view a property. If you are one of the successful bidders you will receive a letter advising of your final position on the list. i.e 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. The bidder who is 1st will be given first refusal. If they decline, the property will be offered to the applicant who is 2nd. If it is refused again it will be offered to the applicant who is 3rd.

Viewings are usually on the morning of the second Wednesday after the bidding closes. The time of viewing will be advised on your invitation letter.

Access to the property, prior to this date, is NOT allowed.

If you are late for the viewing time, you risk the property being offered to the next successful applicant on list.

Please bring proof of residence and photo identification when you attend the viewing.  If you wish to, you can bring one other adult with you to view the property. Unfortunately, because of the number of people viewing, we need to limit viewing to two people per successful bid.

Please do not bid for properties if you are not available to view at the prescribed time.

Barking & Dagenham issue all new Council tenants with an introductory tenancy agreement, before issuing a secure tenancy. This is normally for 12 months.

All new council tenants in Barking & Dagenham will be required to pay the first weeks rent in advance when they sign their introductory tenancy agreement.