There are 18,000 council or housing association homes for rent in Hillingdon, making up about 16% of housing in the borough. Up to 450 social housing allocations are granted each year in what the council refer to as general needs homes and in sheltered and extra care housing.
There is currently 3,896 households on the Housing Register in Hillingdon. Housing need is determined by assessing the current housing circumstances of applicants. A priority 'band' is then allocated to each applicant according to the urgency of their housing need.
We receive many enquiries from people looking to rent a home in the borough. Like other boroughs, we have a shortage of homes compared with the number of people who need them. Therefore, we encourage you to continue searching for privately rented accommodation in order to obtain suitable housing.
In this section
Priority banding
The housing register is split into four different bands, depending on the level of priority awarded under the policy. summarised below:
- Band A
This is the highest priority band and is awarded to households with an emergency and very severe housing need. - Band B
This is the second highest band and is awarded to households with an urgent need to move. - Band C
This is the third highest band and is awarded to households with an identified need to move. - Band D
This is the lowest band and is awarded to applicants who do not satisfy the 10-year continuous residence rule.
More detail can be found in the
Housing allocation policy (PDF, 537 KB).
Housing register wait times
Shown below is the average and the longest amount of time that those in the highest bands on the housing register currently wait before an allocation is made. Those in lower bands will usually wait for longer.
| | Band A | Band B | Band C | Band D | |
|---|
| Type/size | Longest | Average | Longest | Average | Longest | Average | Longest | Average | Number of lets |
|---|
| Sheltered accommodation | - | - | 3 years | 19 months | 5 years | 18 months | 4 weeks | 3 weeks | 36 |
| Studio - general needs | - | - | 33 months | 33 months | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| 1 bedroom - general needs | 27 months | 10 months | 13 years | 28 months | 14 months | 10 months | 15 months | 6 months | 47 |
| 2 bedroom flat or maisonette | 4 years | 16 months | 5 years | 3 years | - | - | - | - | 17 |
| 2 bedroom house | 32 months | 18 months | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9 |
| 3 bedroom flat or maisonette | 19 months | 19 months | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| 3 bedroom house | 6 years | 4 years | 4 years | 4 years | - | - | 9 weeks | 9 weeks | 11 |
| 4 bedroom house | 6 years | 4 years | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3 |
The council is working hard to boost supply by running a Housing Buy-Back Scheme by buying or leasing private homes that have become vacant, and by offering a range of incentives to tenants living in homes that have become too large for them to downsize and free them up for larger families.
Are you eligible for social housing?
You must meet certain criteria to be eligible to join the Housing Register.
Find out if you are eligible
Apply for social housing
Hillingdon administers a choice-based lettings process through the Locata IT system. This allows tenants to register interest in and place "bids" on properties that are advertised on the platform.
Find out how to start your application for social housing
If you're not eligible or do not qualify for the waiting list, there may be other housing options available.
Are you facing immediate homelessness?
If you are faced with homelessness within the next 56-days, you can find out what services are available for support on the homeless section of our website.
Find out how to get help with homelessness