Our homes are primarily allocated to people with a housing need. We operate under the Manchester City Council allocations policy. This allows us to make rehousing offers that fit with local community needs, for example, we can offer priority in these areas to working households and people with community connections.
Manchester City Council operate a Choice Based Lettings system called Manchester Move. Choice-based Lettings give people who are applying for a home with a council or housing association, choice about the home they wish to live in.
Choice-based Lettings homes are advertised as-and-when they become available, and a deadline is set for interested applicants to express an interest in the home. This is known as ‘bidding’.
The bids for each home are then looked at and the applicant who is assessed to be in the greatest housing need, is usually given first refusal of the property. Jigsaw Homes North participate in choice based lettings.
In defining overcrowding, we consider it reasonable that the following people require their own bedroom.
- Couple in a relationship and living together
- Single parent
- Adult aged 18 years or over
- Person with supported / documented medical grounds for their own room
- Child over 10 years of age not to share with the opposite sex
- More than two children sharing a bedroom
- Members of separate households living in one property
- Children of the same sex with an age difference of 10 years and over.
We manage the following types of homes:
- Mainly two and three-bed houses for families, with some four, five and six-bed houses
- Studio apartments and one or two-bed apartments for singles or couples
- Independent Living and Extra Care Living accommodation for older people
All of our properties come with fitted kitchens, bathrooms and intruder alarms. Some have gardens and warden call systems. All of our properties are unfurnished.
When one of our homes becomes empty, we carry out refurbishment works to ensure it meets our agreed Relet Standard. Most, if not all works are completed when the property is empty, including replacement of kitchens and bathrooms where necessary.
Before a let is completed, we carry out checks to anyone that has been offered a home from us. This will help ensure that they are eligible and suitable for this particular home. These checks also help us verify the information collected at the registration stage. Checks can include:
- obtaining references from previous landlords.
- Identifying any support needs.
- credit checks.
- medical record checks (if there is a medical reason for needing to move).
