Welcome to Southampton Homesearch
Welcome to Southampton Homesearch (formally know as Southampton Home Bid) which will open for registration on the 20th January 2025.
The Southampton City Council Housing policy (Link) describes how social housing is available through our scheme.
Applying to join the Housing Register
Before you can apply to join the Southampton City Council Housing Register you will need to create an online customer account, and you will need an email address in order to do this. Once you have created an account you will receive a confirmation email, and you will then be able to complete an application form.
Once you have a customer account you will be able to :
- Submit an application to the Housing Register
- See the status of your application
- Receive email messages and actions from Housing Allocations
- Respond to actions asking you to submit your documents by uploading them from your device.
- Receive all your correspondence from Housing Allocations and refer to them at any time
- See all types of properties that are advertised
- Bid on properties once you have received notification of your banding assessment
If you do not have an email address
Setting up an email address is quick and easy to do. The most popular providers are gmail.com, hotmail.com and yahoo.com.
In the address bar at the top of your browser, type the address of the email provider you want to use, then do the following:
- Visit the email providers website and select the option for 'create account' and provide the necessary personal details
- Create a password- it needs to be something you will remember, but shouldn't be easy for others to guess
- Make a note of any security questions you answer as these may help you reset your password if you forget it
- Agree to the terms and conditions of the provider
Once you have completed the process, you are ready to use your email address to send and receive emails.
( link to how to create email/video)
What happens next
Once you have confirmed and submitted your application, the status of your application will be updated on your ' My account Home Page'
You will receive actions on your online customer account asking you to submit any documents.
Once your application has been assessed, you will be notified by email, this will prompt you to log into your account.
Your assessment will explain your reasonable preference band and the reason for that, your effective date and bedroom entitlement.
Any information we hold will be kept securely by Southampton City Council in line with GDPR ( link)
Apply for housing
Important Information:
The application to join the housing register is now open. You will need to complete this even if you already have a current application on Homebid. Please be aware that this is to register for the opening of Southampton Homesearch which is replacing Homebid. Southampton Homesearch is expected to open in April 2025. If you have not registered before this date you will not be able to bid. To ensure that you do not miss out on bidding for accommodation please register before this date. Homebid will no longer be available once the new system is open in April 2025.
Applying for Southampton Home Search
Before you apply to join the housing register you must check if you meet the criteria as set out in our Allocations Policy 2024.
To meet the criteria, you must:
- have a housing need,
- be over the age of 18,
- not owners of a residential property in the UK or abroad,
- have a local connection to Southampton,
- be able to manage a tenancy and suitable to be a tenant.
We will not be able to house everyone who applies, and the waiting times for accommodation are considerable. You should consider all other housing options such as looking for private rented accommodation as this is the quickest and most effective option in solving your housing need.
If you have not used this website before, click below to get started