Housing

Housing Advice 

Here you will find details of how to contact the local Registered Social Landlords (RSL's) that have properties in Chester, and organisations giving independent housing advice.

Looking for a home?

Here you will find details of how to contact the local Registered Social Landlords (RSL's) that have properties in Chester, and organisations giving independent housing advice.

• renting from a private landlord
• buying either part (shared ownership) or all of a property
• renting from a registered social landlord

Renting from a private landlord

The advantages of renting privately are:

• you can usually move in quickly
• the accommodation is usually furnished
• it's flexible if you're looking for short-term accommodation if you're a student or working on temporary contract for instance.

The disadvantages are:

• you usually only get a short-term tenancy agreement which gives you no right to stay in a place as long as you want
• the average rent is higher than for a social rented property
• most landlords want a deposit of several hundred pounds before you move in.

There are many private landlords in Chester, ranging from letting agencies to individual owners. We don't have a list of landlords, but you can find private rented accommodation by:

• looking in newspapers and magazines

• checking internet sites like http://www.fish4.co.uk/iad/homes (external link) or http://www.netrent.co.uk/netrent_home/ (external link) 
• looking in local shop windows or supermarket notice boards
• contacting local estate agents many now run letting agencies
• talking to your accommodation service if you are a student
• signing up with a lettings agency a company that makes money by putting people in touch with landlords. They usually charge a fee for the service, but you only have to pay if they find you somewhere to live.

Chester City Council also runs a voluntary Accreditation of private properties. These properties have to meet a higher standard than ordinary properties and have been inspected by the City Council.

Home Ownership

Getting onto the first rung of the housing ladder can be a very difficult process. There are a number of options open to you:

• full purchase of a property at market price
• shared ownership
• Low cost discount for sale

 

Shared Ownership

Chester City Council negotiates with developers a percentage of affordable properties on all new sites, some of these are shared ownership schemes with Registered Social Landlords. Shared ownership is a scheme whereby you purchase a percentage of the property (usually 30% or 50%) using a mortgage and pay rent on the remainder to a Registered Social Landlord. There are a number of Registered Social Landlords in this area who operate shared ownership schemes. You will need to fill in an application form for each of them.

Arena Housing Association (external link) 
Cheshire Area Office,
Higher House,
Northwich Road,
Brookvale
Runcorn.
WA7 6PE
Tel No: 01928 790345/01244-404800

Chester and District Housing Trust (external link) 
Centurion House,
Northgate Street,
Chester.
CH1 2HQ
Tel No: 0808 100 7701/01244-305503

Muir Group Housing Association (external link) 
Oakmere House,
Meres Edge,
Chester Road,
Helsby WA6 0DJ
Tel No: 01928 728000/01244-346678 / 01244-313613

Northern Counties Housing Association
Tel:  0161-244 7160

Alternatively, there is a scheme called "Homebuy" for purchasing a property on the open market or for a new build property.

More details are given in the link below: Cheshire Homebuy Scheme (external link) 

Low Cost Discount for sale

In some new developments the Council has negotiated a percentage of affordable housing that are Low Cost Discount for Sale properties. These properties are for outright sale (you own 100%) at a discounted price to the open market properties. For details of any of these schemes contact: Helen White  01244 402265 housing@chester.gov.uk

Renting from a Registered Social Landlord

There are a number of registered Social Landlords who rent properties within Chester District. (list of names and addresses above)

You will need to contact them for an application form. They have different types of properties in a variety of locations and some have more properties than others. A variety of factors e.g. number in household, condition of current home etc will determine your priority on their lists. At present you will need to fill in a separate application form for each RSL's list. This may change in the future but for now you may need to fill in at least three application forms.

If you want any advice or help with this, give the private sector housing team a ring on 402423.

Independent Housing Advice

• Care & Repair (help older or disabled residents stay in their homes)  - 0845 1422064
• Chester Aid To the Homeless (external link)  (C.A.T.H.) - 01244 314834
• Chester Lodging & Support Project (CLASP) 01244-318728
• Citizens Advice Bureau (C.A.B.) - 08701-264119
• D.I.A.L. (external link)  (Disability Information and Advice Line) -   01244-345655
• Shelter (external link)  - 01244-340539