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Practical information & advice
Read our latest news posts about housing
Information
Here you’ll find links to various parts of this site where we have information and useful resources relating to housing.
There is a shortage of housing stock right across the country. This means that applicants for social housing need to meet stricter criteria which in turn, has pushed up the rents for private rentals. You should make contact as soon as you can with specialist housing providers who should be able to assist you irrespective of your criminal record. Useful links include:
- Applying to the council for housing
- Housing associations
- Private-rented housing
- Supported housing
- Homelessness – General
- Homelessness – the Homelessness Reduction Act
Under the Homelessness Reduction Act, the prison has a duty to refer you to your local council. Useful links include:
If you’re asked to disclose any unspent convictions then legally, you are required to do so. Every bank/building society will have their own lending criteria and some may refuse a mortgage to anybody with a criminal record. Useful links include:
Housing advisers in prison can give you help in either making sure you keep your existing home or planning somewhere for you to live when you’re released. Useful links include:
We’re not a housing provider or a specialist housing advice service. There are specific services and organisations that we would suggest you make use of. Useful links include:
You’ll need to make sure you have appropriate insurance and you should be aware that you’ll need to disclose any unspent convictions. Useful links include:
Advice
Here you’ll find some of the common advice we give on housing. This is based on what we’ve learnt as a charity, as well as the real-life experiences of people with convictions. More specific advice is available in the information sections above.
- Make sure you contact and use specialist housing organisations. They should be able to help you regardless of your criminal record.
Frequently asked questions
Here you’ll find some specific questions that we regularly get about housing and the answers we generally provide. More detailed FAQ’s may be included in the information pages above.
The schemes may be run either by the Council or a local charitable organisation. They all have different rules, and they may or may not be helpful for people with an offending history. Some Councils also have money in their Homelessness Prevention Fund to help with deposits, and some Probation services have money set aside for this at the moment.
The best places to find out if there is a scheme in your area are the Crisis website or your local Council and Probation service.
Firstly, check that you have a letter from the Council giving you a reason for deciding that you have made yourself intentionally homeless. You can ask the Council to review its decision, as long as you do so (in writing) within 21 days.
To be seen as intentionally homeless, you must have deliberately done something or failed to do something, which led to you losing your home, and been able to stay where you were living. If you think the Council’s decision was wrong because none of these points apply to you, its important to get advice before you ask for an appeal.
Secondly, ask them if you are going to be offered any immediate (emergency) accommodation for upto 28 days, if you were told when you asked for help that you will be considered as intentionally homeless. Even if you are classed as intentionally homeless, you are entitled to this emergency accommodation, and then to receive advice aimed at helping you to find somewhere to stay after that. See our section on the Homelessness Reduction Act.
If the Council or Housing Association finds out about the criminal conviction, you could be evicted if you have just got a conviction for:
- anti-social behaviour
- drug dealing or growing drugs on the premises
- running a brothel or another illegal activity in the house, or allowing someone else to do this
- being violent towards your partner or to a housing or other official
Eviction should be the last resort – the Council or Housing Association should try to get you to agree that you don’t commit the same crime again. This could be by getting you to agree to an Acceptable Behaviour Agreement, or by getting an Anti-Social Behaviour Order, or by downgrading the tenancy so that you can be evicted more easily if you do not follow the rules.
Depending on what is in your tenancy agreement, if the landlord finds out about the criminal conviction, you could be evicted if you have just got a conviction for:
- anti-social behaviour
- drug dealing or growing drugs on the premises
- running a brothel or another illegal activity in the house, or allowing someone else to do this
If you are applying for insurance, you only have to disclose convictions if you are asked, or if there is a clause in the contract saying that you must do so.
For Councils and Housing Associations, you must disclose any unspent convictions when you apply for a home, if you are asked. They can go to court and ask for you to be evicted if they discover that you gave false information when you applied for a tenancy with them.
For private landlords, it is usually a good idea to be open with landlords or agents when you apply for a home with them, because they too can go to court and ask for you to be evicted if they discover that you gave false information at the outset. Another problem is that if you do have unspent criminal convictions, the landlord’s insurance may not be valid if this is not disclosed. The landlord may try to recover the money from you if a claim they made has been refused because of your conviction, if they can prove that you lied to them.
For mortgage lenders (banks, Building Societies etc), you must disclose information about convictions if they ask you. If they ask, you are bound by a ‘legal declaration of truth’, and must to answer all questions accurately and truthfully (although you don’t have to disclose spent convictions). If you were found to be lying by not disclosing an unspent conviction when you got a mortgage from them, it could lead to a further conviction. Also, if the mortgage lender finds out about it later, this could invalidate the mortgage agreement, and possibly any insurance as well.
Housing Act 1996 – Section 210 – “Suitability of accommodation”
For the purposes of this Part, accommodation secured from a private landlord as defined at section 217(1) shall not be regarded as suitable where one or more of the following apply – ..
(e) the local housing authority are of the view the landlord is not a fit and proper person to act in the capacity of landlord, having considered if the person has – ..
(i) committed any offence involving fraud or other dishonesty, or violence or illegal drugs, or any offence listed in Schedule 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (offences attracting notification requirements);
- continue to work
- go to school
- look after family or get support from family
- get to medical appointments or facilities
The Council should not expect you to move if its likely that there would be a major negative effect on your life and that of your immediate family. However, the reality is that quite a lot of families are now being asked to move away from areas where temporary or longer term accommodation is very hard to get hold of. It’s possible to challenge a decision to move you, but get advice before you decide to do this.
Useful links
Here you’ll find links to useful organisations and websites related to housing that we refer to in our information and advice. Contact details for the organisations listed below can be found here.
Read personal stories
The personal stories below have been posted on theRecord, our online magazine.
Discuss this with others
Read and share your experiences of this on our online forum.
Key sections include:
- Social housing – Applying for social housing and applying for housing whilst in prison
- Private housing – Disclosing a criminal record to a letting agent
Help us with our policy work on this
Read more about the policy work we’re doing on encouraging fair treatment by housing providers and Stopping misleading questions asked by employers, insurers, housing providers and others.