Apply for council housing (go on the Housing Register)

Please note: housing register form unavailable due to important maintenance

We are currently in the process of carrying out some maintenance to the Council’s online housing register applications forms.

During this time, access to these forms will be unavailable.  We expect that the process will be completed within the next few days and access to the forms will be available again from Tuesday 01 December 2020. 

If you would like some more information about this, please telephone the Customer Services Team on 0208-496-3000, or email Housing-registration@walthamforest.gov.uk. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our customers during this time.

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Social housing in Waltham Forest is extremely limited. There are not enough available homes to house everyone who applies. This means that only residents who have the highest priority will be considered for a council home.

We strongly suggest you try other ways to find a home. We've put information on this site to help you. Please see our affordable homes to rent or buy webpage for details on:

• affordable home ownership schemes
• affordable rent schemes
• affordable rents for key workers
• self-help guides to finding a home

The Housing Register

Before you can look for a council home, you need to be on the Housing Register. You can apply if you’re over 18 and have lived in the borough for the past two years.

The register uses your circumstances to rank your level housing need. These levels are:

• 'additional preference' category - most council homes are let to people in this highest category of housing need
• 'reasonable preference' category - less than one in ten homes are let to people in this category
• 'no preference' category - if you're in this lowest category, you won't be housed

You can see the rules about who gets priority for housing by downloading our allocations policy (PDF 721KB)

Sheltered Housing

To apply for sheltered housing, you will need to join the Housing Register. You can apply if you're over 50 and have lived in the borough for the past two years.

You can provide medical information online

You can now supply medical information (Disability Health Questionnaire) to support your housing application for you and members of your household. You will need to complete the change in your circumstances form online.

You must have a valid and active housing register application.

Changes to the Housing Allocation Scheme

Last December we asked you for your views on our proposed changes to our housing allocation scheme, which sets out how we allocate social rented housing. Thanks very much to all of you who responded.

Our proposals were adopted by Cabinet on 23 April 2020,  and we are now progressing the work that needs to be carried out in order to implement the new scheme later this year.

If you are a housing applicant or a transfer applicant, you will be contacted directly over the next few months with information about how the changes might affect you, and what you need to do.