We have to ask you these questions so that the council can meet its legal duties, and to safeguard against the few dishonest applicants. Make sure you:
- read these notes as you answer the questions
- check your answers when you finish.
1 Joint applicants
Joint applicants must be aged 18 or over and people who you want to have an equal share in a tenancy with you. Joint tenancies have some advantages:
- all the joint tenants are equally responsible for the rent and other charges
- all the joint tenants are equally responsible for meeting the tenancy conditions
- all the joint tenants of a property share equal tenancy rights
- if a joint tenant dies, then the tenancy continues for the other joint tenants
Joint tenancies also have some disadvantages:
- one joint tenant can end a tenancy without the other joint tenants knowing or agreeing
- all the joint tenants are responsible individually and together for paying the rent, and for any amount that is owed
Up to four adults can become joint tenants of one property. All the people entering into a joint tenancy must qualify to join the housing register or the transfer list. In applications for a joint tenancy of a sheltered dwelling, all those who apply must qualify for sheltered housing.
The council has the discretion to refuse to give a joint tenancy.
2 Dates
Date of birth and Expected Date of Delivery (if pregnant) should be entered as day/month/year. For example, 17 July 2000 would be entered as 17 7 2000.
3 Ethnic background
We monitor our allocations to make sure there is no discrimination. To enable us to do this, please write the three-letter code for the group which best describes your ethnic background as shown below.
| Your background | What to enter on the form |
|---|---|
| Caribbean | BCR |
| African | BAR |
| Black other | BOR |
| White other | WOR |
| Your background | What to enter on the form |
|---|---|
| British | WBR |
| Irish | WIR |
| Portuguese | WPR |
| White other | WOR |
| Your background | What to enter on the form |
|---|---|
| Indian | AIR |
| Pakistani | APR |
| Bangladeshi | ABR |
| Asian other | AOR |
| Your background | What to enter on the form |
|---|---|
| Chinese | OCR |
| Vietnamese | OVR |
| Other | OOR |
| Your background | What to enter on the form |
|---|---|
| White and Black Caribbean | MWC |
| White and Black African | MWA |
| White and Asian | MWS |
| Mixed other | MWO |
4 Address
To be included in your application members of your household must normally live in one of the following:
- the UK
- the Channel Islands
- the Isle of Man
- the Republic of Ireland
There are certain exceptions:
- people subject to immigration control who have been granted refugee status
- some people subject to immigration control who have been granted leave to remain
- European Union workers
- people with an EU right to live in the UK
- people who left Montserrat after 1 November 1995 because of the volcanic activity
To be included in your application, other household members have lived with you for at least the past six months unless they are your immediate family (son, daughter, father, mother, brother, sister, partner). Children must live with you at least half the time - your home must be their main home.
5 Other addresses in the last five years
Start with the most recent address, and work backwards. Use the space on page 14 if you need more room.
6 Have you ever been a council or housing association tenant anywhere?
Give the name of the council or housing association, as well as the address of the property you rented.
7 Other adults
Adults are people aged 18 years or more living in your household. If there are more than four other adults, ask your local housing office for more pages of this form for the additional adults.
8 Immigration status
| Your immigration status | What to enter on the form |
|---|---|
| British citizen (including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) | British |
| Right to reside in the UK | Right to reside |
| Refugee (shown by a stamp in your passport or a Home Office letter) | Refugee |
| Indefinite leave to remain in the UK, not subject to any limitation or condition (shown by a stamp in your passport or a Home Office letter) | ILR |
| Leave to remain in the UK subject to a sponsorship (shown by a stamp in your passport or a Home Office letter) | Sponsored |
| Exceptional leave, humanitarian protection leave, or discretionary leave to remain in the UK, and not subject to the “without recourse to public funds” condition (shown by a stamp in your passport or a Home Office letter) | ELR |
| Registered with the Home Office as an asylum seeker (shown by a Home Office letter or form) | Asylum seeker |
| Subject of a Home Office deportation order | Deportee |
| Other | Other |
We cannot include household members in your application if they are subject to immigration control, unless they:
- have refugee status
- have indefinite, exceptional, humanitarian protection, or discretionary leave to remain, with the conditions stated above
- were the subject of a sponsorship undertaking, have been in the UK over five years and the sponsor is no longer living
9 Relationship to you (other adults)
Give their relationship to YOU, from this list:
- aunt
- brother-in-law
- brother
- cousin
- daughter
- daughter-in-law
- father
- father-in-law
- foster daughter
- foster son
- granddaughter
- grandson
- grandfather
- grandmother
- half brother
- half sister
- husband
- mother-in-law
- mother
- nephew
- niece
- partner
- sister-in-law
- sister
- son
- son-in-law
- step son
- step brother
- step daughter
- step father
- step mother
- step sister
- uncle
If none of these apply, enter "other".
10 Dependent children
Children are people living in your household who are aged less than 18 years. Only include children who live with you 50% or more of the time.
11 Relationship to you (dependent children)
Give their relationship to you, from this list:
- brother-in-law
- brother
- cousin
- daughter
- foster daughter
- foster son
- granddaughter
- grandson
- half brother
- half sister
- nephew
- niece
- sister-in-law
- sister
- son-in-law
- son
- step son
- step brother
- step daughter
- step sister
If none of these apply, enter "other".
12 Do you get child benefit?
If you have a child benefit book or letter of entitlement for the child, tick YES. If not, tick NO, and write down why you do not.
13 Other children
If you have more than eight children, ask your local housing office for more pages of this form for the additional children. If you are going to lose your home and need advice or emergency assistance, contact our Housing Services Unit on (020) 7926 4200.
14 Medical information
If you complete this section, we will ask you to fill in another detailed medical form. The council’s medical adviser will then decide whether your application should be given priority.
15 Suitability to be a council tenant
A local authority (not necessarily Lambeth Council) may have refused to accept you onto their housing list, or allowed you to join it but given you low priority, because you or a member of your household were guilty of behaviour that made you unsuitable to be a council tenant.
If this has happened to you, then you can apply to us for housing, but unless there has been a considerable lapse of time you will need to show that your circumstances or your behaviour have changed.
16 Key Workers
If you work in Lambeth in the following occupations you may get additional priority on the housing register:
- teachers - but not classroom assistants
- police officers and police community support officer
- health professionals, including nurses, midwives, health visitors, physiotherapists
- social workers - but not social work assistants
17 Your income and savings
Your financial circumstances are not a bar to you joining the transfer list. However, you will not be made an offer if the council considers you have sufficient resources to buy a property in the borough suitable for your household (either freehold, leasehold, or as a shared owner), or to rent a suitable property in the borough without the assistance of housing benefit.
18 Relationship to a Lambeth councillor or employee
Lambeth councillors and employees, and their relatives, can join the transfer list if they are council tenants, but there are special checks on them to ensure that they properly qualify for an offer. “Relatives” of a councillor or employee are:
- anyone living with them as their partner, or as a member of their household
- their natural/adoptive/step-parents
- their children
- their sisters and brothers
- their daughters and sons-in-law
- their grandparents
- their aunts and uncles
- their estranged spouses or partners, regardless of whether they live as part of the applicant’s household
19 Sheltered housing
If you select sheltered, we will ask you to fill out another short form so we can decide if it is suitable for you. To qualify, you must meet the Council’s eligibility conditons.
20 Wheelchair/mobility housing
If you select wheelchair/mobility housing, one of our occupational therapists will assess whether you need this sort of housing.