Housing Associations

Choice Based Lettings

The three largest housing associations in East Lothian (ELHA, Homes for Life and Castle Rock/Edinvar) use online systems to allocate their properties. All have general needs and amenity houses and Castle Rock/Edinvar has sheltered houses as well. 

You can apply with ELHA at These Homes.

You can apply with Homes for Life and Castle Rock at Scotland House Search.

Registered applicants bid for the properties they are interested in. There is a regular bidding cycle. On the closing date all bids are ranked as follows

1. Applicants who make 'best use' of the property - normally this is the right household size but for some properties it might also include people with disabilities or of a particular age - these will be stated in the advert.
2. People with a Priority Pass, in the order of Gold (or Gold Plus if the provider uses a Gold Plus pass), Silver, then Bronze.
3. If more than one applicant has the same level of priority pass, or there are no applicants with priority passes, first refusal goes to the customer with the longest registration.

Associations operating Points Schemes

Under the Points Scheme system, each association assesses your circumstances against criteria and awards points. The higher the points, the greater your housing priority.

• Viewpoint Housing Association has a small housing development for the elderly in Prestonpans. The development is linked to their alarm system.
• Bield Housing Association has a number of amenity or sheltered housing units, only  suitable for elderly people.
• Margaret Blackwood Housing Association owns a development of 24 houses in Musselburgh, 11 of which are designed for wheelchair users.

For contact details for these associations, see Housing Associations in East Lothian.

The council's "nomination" agreements

We may ‘nominate’ tenants from its own housing list to certain Housing Association vacancies. As a result of the increased use of Choice Based systems, we operate two types of nominations agreement. One is for choice-based associations and the other for those who operate a more traditional approach to allocating housing. However whatever the allocations approach of the association:

• The council and the housing association must agree the percentage of their vacancies which are subject to nomination
• The council and the association agree any special requirements - e.g. a percentage of allocations to applicants who are homeless and in priority need
• The council and the association agree about ways to resolve disputes over nominations

The nomination agreement only gives the council the right to suggest names of applicants - it cannot tell the association to whom it should allocate its homes.