Newham
Welcome to the Newham page on the East London Lettings Company website
Welcome to the London Borough of Newham’s information page. We have collected together all the information we think you may find useful in finding yourself a home.
To Apply to Join the Newham Council Housing Register Click Here
Newham New Allocations Policy
Newham has a new allocations policy which means some applicants will find their priority has changed and this will affect your ranking when you bid.
All applicants who are affected by a particular change have been written to but if you want to see all the changes, you can do so by going to
Changes to the Allocations Policy – Apply for council housing – Newham Council.
Our new policy has been introduced so that we have a fairer allocation scheme and to help those residents most in need.
Important Information:
There is a current lack of supply of available properties for bidding. You may not see any properties on which you are eligible to bid, but this does not automatically mean that there is a problem with your registration or choice based lettings account. Please continue to check every week to see if there are eligible properties on which you can bid.
Contact Us
If you cannot find the information that you need you can visit our website at www.newham.gov.uk/housingregister
Kiosks and free Computer Access
Free internet access sessions can be booked in advance at all the libraries.
There are also free touch screen bidding kiosks are available in the East Ham Service Centres.
You can call us with your bid on 0845 650 4125 (at local rate) or you can text us on 0778 148 6526 (messages are charged at the standard rate).
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Customer Service Centres
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Libraries
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Housing Supply
Demand for social housing is extremely high in Newham and there are currently thousands of households on our housing register. The majority of people who apply will never be housed.
- Councils have a duty to ensure that their housing allocation policies give reasonable preference to households whose housing circumstances match those prescribed by part 6 of the Housing Act 1996, as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002. As the supply of local affordable rented housing is exceeded many times over by the level of demand, only a small proportion of households registering for housing are likely to be housed.
Customers whose circumstances are not recognized in law as requiring reasonable preference fall into the Homeseeker (H) category. Homeseeker registrants are unlikely to be housed through the service unless they require and are eligible for special types of housing – namely ‘Sheltered’ Housing. Whilst in the Homeseeker category, registrants will not accrue any waiting time.
Bids are otherwise generally ranked according to priority and then how long customers have been in their category group. The exception to this are applicants with unavoidable special circumstances – such as tenants whose current homes are due to be demolished or those who have an urgent need to move. Additional priority is also given to those classified as SOVP in the Priority Homeseeker and Transfer group. Members of the armed forces with a local connection have even greater priority. When you registered, we would have sent you a letter detailing your registration group.
Further details are available on the Newham website click here to open a new window and go to this site.
Empty Properties
Please phone the Contact Centre on 0208 430 2000 and inform them of the details of your query. You should have the full address of the property.
Allocations Policy - who is prioritised when shortlisting
Bids will be ranked as follows:
1st members of the armed forces.
2nd Additional preference group such as emergency.
3rd urgent decants.
4th under-occupation transfers and transfer from adapted properties.
5th less urgent decants.
6th Priority homeseeker or transfer assessed as severely overcrowded and also have an additional reasonable preference (SOVP).
7th Priority homeseeker and transfer.
8th priority homeseeker and transfer with reduced priority.
9th homeseeker assessed as needing sheltered housing.
Bids for sheltered properties are exempt from priority for workers.
Only those assessed as needing Accessible Housing Register standard A/B category properties can bid for those properties. These are properties identified as being suitable for wheelchair users.
The ranked lists of bids will be sent to our allocations team and staff will make eligibility checks, arrange property viewings and make offers of tenancies. If an offer is refused by the bidder ranked top of the list, the property will then be offered to bidder ranked second on the list and so on until the property is let.
Direct Offers
The vast majority of Newham’s empty properties are advertised on this site, however, there are still some groups of housing applicants to whom we still make ‘direct’ offers e.g. emergencies, decants and under occupation transfers (Newham Council Tenants who have more bedrooms than they need). These groups are also allowed to bid with enhanced priority for a certain amount of time. Applicants in the special scheme group such as children leaving care are made direct offers and cannot bid.
Because these groups are relatively small, sometimes we do not have another case lined up to offer the property to, should the offer be refused. The consequence of this is lost rent revenue for the council and properties standing empty for longer.
Therefore in an effort to combat these problems, properties that may be offered for emergency and under occupation cases (direct offer) are also advertised. If an applicant bids for these properties their bids are ranked below the direct offer case.
These properties will still be subject to ‘multiple viewings’, so that should the direct offer applicant refuse, then the property will be offered to the next ranked case in line with our allocations policy. Please remember if you see the word "Direct" in the feedback table it means the property was offered to someone in the direct offer group. For more information on Newham allocations you can go to Newham's website housing policy document by clicking here - (as this goes off the ELLC site a new browser window will open)
Looking for work?
Workplace is a recruitment agency committed to supporting local people looking for work, and helping employers to find the right staff. Their free service is on offer to Newham residents and employers across London.
Workplace was developed to make sure local people benefit from local regeneration. We are a one-stop-shop where Newham residents can receive advice about their employment options or guidance about business start-up, and where employers across London can place their vacancies to recruit quality staff.
For more information click here to open a new window and go to the Work Place website.
Newham Council Housing Services
For current council tenant’s services and repairs Newham Council Housing Services provides and manages the council properties. Any requirement of this kind should be made to Newham Council Housing Services - click here to open a new window and visit their website.
How The Council Collects And Processes Your Personal Information
Data Protection Information
The Data Controller is the London Borough of Newham and we are responsible for the collection and processing of your personal information. Processing includes the organisation, retrieval, consultation, use and deletion or destruction of information and its disclosure to other agencies. The information you provide will be processed mainly in connection with the administration of Housing and Public Protection.
Your personal information may however, be processed by other Council services where appropriate to facilitate the provision of services in respect of any of the Council’s activities including (but not limited to) benefits, to verify data accuracy, housing, environmental health and care services. There may be a need to share with external partners and organisations e.g. housing associations or other councils where you have applied for a property they are the landlord of, health and other local authorities or information may be used in the prevention and detection of fraud and crime. A full list of what information we control and process and for what purposes is set out in the Council’s data protection notifications filed annually with the Information Commissioner.
All information collected will be processed and held securely under the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998. For further information on data protection, the Council’s use of information sharing, please contact the Information Governance Team on 020 8430 3737 or information.governance@newham.gov.uk