Re-classification of our 45+ homes

Currently over a thousand of our council homes are designated to be let to people who are aged 45 or more.

These properties are more difficult to let because of the age restriction and there are almost a hundred of these properties currently empty, many of which have been empty for a long time.

Restricting people on our housing register access to being able to live in almost a fifth of all our homes is also seen to be unfair.

In order to try to reduce the number of empty homes we have and to remove this barrier to people on our housing register being eligible to live in these properties simply by virtue of their age, the council’s cabinet recently agreed to remove this age restriction and enable these homes to be let to all eligible housing register applicants, regardless of their age.

We recognise that this change may be seen as potentially disruptive to blocks of flats with existing communities of older people. We plan to remove the age restriction for future lettings gradually and in four tranches starting in June 2024. We will monitor and assess the effect of this change closely each time a new tranche is de-classified.

While the make-up of these tranches may change, we will provide details on our website  of which schemes/blocks will be affected and when.

Please be assured that this change only affects future lettings of these properties: existing tenancies are not affected at all.