Rent Choice gives you the option of looking for a home of your choice in the private rented sector with financial help from the Council. We could help you with the advance rent and a deposit bond to secure a home with a private landlord.
As not many housing association homes become available, the private rented sector offers you another option. It can give you a greater choice of area and property type. With many landlords looking for long term tenants, it can also offer you a settled home.
Eligibility
To be eligible you must meet all of the below criteria:
- be homeless or are likely to become homeless
- have a local connection with Surrey Heath
Rent Choice is available to both single people and families.
How the scheme works
The advance rent is paid to your landlord up front.
The deposit bond is held by the Council for the landlord to claim against at the end of the tenancy should it be needed.
Up to the full amount of the deposit bond can be claimed by the landlord for damage to property and for rent arrears. If any deposit money has to be paid out to the landlord, that money must be repaid by you to the Council. You will sign an agreement at the start of the tenancy agreeing to repay any money paid following a successful claim against the deposit bond by the landlord.
How to apply
For more information or to apply for the Rent Choice scheme, please contact the Housing Team.
Next steps
If you qualify for Rent Choice a financial assessment will be carried out. We can only help you to move into a property that we believe you are able to afford.
Once you have received a provisional Rent Choice decision from your Case Officer you can start looking for an affordable property.
When you find a property we will need further details from the landlord such as a valid gas safety certificate, EPC, inventory and tenancy agreement.
Once everything is agreed, and we’ve received the required documents from the landlord you will sign a legal agreement to repay the money that the Council has agreed to pay out in the event of a successful claim against the deposit bond.
Any rent in advance payment will then be made direct to the landlord. If we have agreed a deposit bond we will also send this to the landlord.
Please do not pay any admin or holding fees to a landlord until you have spoken to your Case Officer as we need to do our own checks and we may not be able to provide help if you have already moved or signed a tenancy,
We will complete a property inspection approximately six weeks after you have moved into the property to check you have settled in well.
The deposit bond will be renewed each 12 months if agreed by all parties.
Further support
We are happy to talk to landlords on your behalf to confirm the help we will be giving you and how we can support you and the landlord to make the tenancy successful.
We can also refer you to our in-house Floating Support Team if you need help setting up utilities, submitting benefit claims or budgeting skills after you have moved in.