Other Housing Options
Housing across the Tees Valley area is in short supply, which means that we can't help everyone who applies for housing with us as quickly as we would like to be able to, so you may want to look at other housing options that could provide a quicker route to meeting the needs of your houshold in the short term.
This section gives you information about some alternative housing options that will be available to you when you register with us.
Renting from Registered Social Landlords (or RSLs)
RSLs (or Housing Associations) provide homes for rent first of all and are run on a not for profit basis, they may also offer other housing options like low cost home ownership for first time buyers. There are many RSLs that have property across the Tees Valley and the type of housing that they provide can be very different. For example, some may provide adapted housing or homes suitable for elderly people only.
Most of the non-partner RSLs across the Tees Valley can advertise around 50% of their available properties using this site, although they may not use the same policy for allocating homes as the Compass partners do. The advert will tell you which RSL owns the property and who can apply for it.
Help to Buy Scheme
The Government offers a range of Help to Buy products to help first time buyers to get onto the property ladder, as well as help for current owner occupiers. For further information on this, please visit the Help2Buy website.
Renting from Private Landlords
Private renting may be the perfect solution if you need to move quickly or are only looking for a home for a shorter period of time. We will advertise some private properties through this scheme which are offered on fixed shorthold tenancies, usually for 6 months at a time. A private landlord can end this type of tenancy after the fixed term has come to an end or they can choose to extend it if both the tenant and landlord agree to this.
You can look for private rented properties by going direct to estate agents or letting agents, and checking the local newspaper for adverts, but please be aware, some letting agencies may charge you for finding you a property and other services like drawing up a tenancy agreement for you.
Please check your tenancy agreement carefully and make sure that you understand what your responsbilities are for things like repairs and maintenance. If a private landlord refuses to carry out repairs, please contact either your local council or the citizens advice bureau.
Private rented housing is generally more expensive than renting from a social landlord. Housing Benefit or Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is available to help you meet the cost, but may not cover the full amount of rent being charged by the landlord. You may also have to pay a deposit or bond before you can take a private tenancy. If you are finding it hard to get together the deposit, you should contact your local council to see if they can offer any help with this, but be aware that all councils do not offer this service.