Applying For a House
How do I apply for a rented home?
You can apply for a rented home with OTHA by completing a housing application form. The form allows you to apply to Cloch Housing Association and Larkfield Housing Association at the same time. When you return your form to any of these associations, it will be passed on to any of the landlords that have properties in the areas you have chosen. Each will then apply their own policy for allocating houses and let you know the outcome of your application.
Both the application form and an information booklet can be downloaded from the important documents page of this website.
As well as keeping a list of people who have applied to OTHA for housing, we also let houses to people who have been referred to OTHA by other agencies and to transfer applicants.
We accept referrals of homeless people from the Homeless Service of Inverclyde Council. This is under the statutory guidelines laid down by Section 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001. This may account for up to 20% of lets in the current year.
Of the remaining lets:
25% go to tenants moving within the association;'s stock;
25% go to applicants with community care needs referred by Inverclyde Council's Social Work Services;
Up to 5% of lets go to other referral agencies such as Womens Aid and Positive Action In Housing
The remaining lets are offered to applicants who have made a direct application to OTHA by filling in our housing application form.
Points are awarded for the following points categories:
Overcrowding/Under occupation We assess how many rooms your household needs against how many you have. We award: 12 points for each room short of your requirements. A further 6 points may be awarded on a discretionary basis if the overcrowding is aggravated by another factor.
Lacking Amenities If you do not have the following amenities, points will be awarded as follows:
30 points no inside W.C.
25 points no bath or shower facilities
30 points no hot or cold water supply
20 points no use of kitchen facilities
10 points no separate kitchen facilities
Sharing Amenities If you share the above amenities, points will be awarded as follows:
6 points for sharing with family
9 points for sharing with non-family
12 points for sharing with people outwith your accommodation (e.g. in a bedsit flat)
Broken Households 10 points will be awarded in if your household is unable to live together due to the lack of suitable accommodation being available or if you are requesting alternative accommodation away from your cohabiting partner following a relationship breakdown,
Condition of dwelling If your home has evidence of dampness 5 points will be awarded. More serious defects may attract 30 points.
Caravan If you live in a caravan you will be awarded 10 points. Children in High Flats For families living in high flats, 2 points per child are awarded.
Medical Points Points will be awarded to applicants suffering a serious physical or mental health condition where a change of accommodation will alleviate the condition or reduce its effect or significantly improve the quality of life.
50 points if re-housing is essential
25 points if re-housing is urgent
10 points if re-housing is advisable
You must complete a medical points application form to be considered for an award of points. A medical form should be sent to you, if you state medical grounds for wishing to move on your form. Alternatively, you can request one from the office at any time. The Association may request further information from your doctor or consultant who may make a charge for providing a report.
Victim of Hate Crime 50 points are awarded to applicants, subject to supporting evidence from an official source, e.g. Police, Social Work Department.
Non Security of Tenure 10 points will be awarded to applicants with no security of tenure, e.g. Tenants of private landlords, applicants living care of another household, applicants whose accommodation is being repossessed etc.
Support Needs Where for medical or social reasons the applicant needs to move to give or receive adequate support 12 points will be awarded.
Urgent Re-housing If you require urgent re-housing as a result of a serious problem, which may include harassment, domestic abuse or crime, the Association can consider your circumstances. You will need to discuss your situation in detail with a member of the HS Team. The Housing Services Manager will decide if discretionary points will be awarded. Discretionary points will normally only be awarded to tenants for a 'like for like' transfer i.e. to a property of similar size, type and area. We can offer advice about other options if this will help.
What happens next?
Once your points are assessed, your form is checked and you are informed by letter of the points total. We aim to do this within 21 days of your application. We will send you a statement of your application and the choices you have made. This will provide details of your points award and how your application is placed on the list.
Access to Advice
OTHA offers applicants the chance to discuss their application in detail with staff at an applicant surgery. Appointments are available 4:00pm-6:00pm each Tuesday and 10:00am-12:00pm each Friday. This gives an opportunity to discuss your choices for rehousing, check the details you have provided and to look at widening your options to give you the best chance of getting a new home.