Homechoice

8 Affordable homes available for rent are due to be delivered in Hook Norton over the coming months. These include 1, 2 and 3 bedroom homes. These will be advertised and let through HomeChoice. Applicants with a specific connection to Hook Norton will be prioritised for lettings and applicants with a connection to the neighbouring parishes of Milcome, Sibford and Wigginton will receive 2nd priority.

More information including the local connection criteria is outlined on the Hook Norton Community Land Trust website at: https://www.hooknortonclt.org.uk/our-lettings-plan.

If you meet the local connection criteria, it is important that you inform us by emailing us at housingregister@cherwell-dc.gov.uk and providing the details of your local connection. In most cases you will need to provide supporting documents to allow us to verify your connection. Your local connection details will then be recorded on your housing register application.

The letting cycle beginning on Wednesday 22th December 2023 will run for 2 weeks instead of the normal one-week cycle and will therefore end on Monday 1st January 2024. Letting cycles will return to one-week cycles as normal after this date.

Our current timescale to assess new HomeChoice applications is 3-4 weeks from the date the application is submitted online. If we need you to supply further information or documents for us to complete our assessment, we will then suspend your application to give you additonal time to provide these. To help ensure that your application is assessed as quickly as possible, please upload all required documents directly to your HomeChoice application. A checklist of required documents can be found in the 'documents' tab on the main home page.

Outstanding rent arrears from current or previous addresses may prevent an offer of housing being made through HomeChoice.

All applicants registered with HomeChoice must ensure they have a regular repayment plan in place for any rent arrears. The arrears should be cleared to ensure future offers of housing can be made.

For debt and money advice please contact your local Citizen’s Advice service.

We carry out desk based verification checks as well as unannounced home visits in order to prevent and deter fraudulent housing register applications. If you have any concerns about a potentially fraudulent housing register application, such as an applicant who has provided false or misleading information, please report this to housingregister@cherwell-dc.gov.uk or anonymously using the ‘contact us’ form on the Cherwell District Council website. Please include as much information and detail as possible for us to investigate and consider leaving your contact details as we may need to make further enquiries with you.

It is an offence under the Housing Act 1996 to give false or misleading information or to withhold information in relation to a housing register application. Applicants providing fraudulent information will also be disqualified from the housing register for a period of 5 years. Any offer of housing obtained fraudulently will be withdrawn or legal action will be taken to end any tenancy that has been obtained as a result of providing false or misleading information.