Oxford City Council

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Step 3 - Offer

What happens when bidding closes?

All bids received will be put in priority order to produce a list of eligible applicants for each property advertised.

Before an offer is made any outstanding eligibility checks, (e.g. rent checks, household circumstance checks)will be carried out.You may be visited as part of this process. If your circumstances are not as described in your application, this may result in your being overlooked, or in some circumstances your application may have to be reassessed.

If your name is at the top of the priority list you will normally be invited to view the property unless there are reasons why we are unable to do this, for example, you have rent arrears or the Council is taking legal action against you for breaching a tenancy condition. If we are unable to offer the property to the applicant at the top of the list we will move to the next applicant and so on.

Some Landlords may choose to ask more than one applicant to view a property at the same time, but the property will always be offered to the applicant with highest priority who attends the viewing.

If you decide to refuse the property it will be offered to the next person on the priority list. We ask all applicants to bid on property that they would accept if offered, as your refusal may affect other applicants.

If you are offered a property you will not be short listed for other properties until you have decided to either accept or refuse the offer.

If you are at the top of more than one list, you are likely to be offered the property which will be ready to let first. We will make every effort to discuss this with you first, within the time limits set for efficient management of the stock.

If you accept the property you will be advised when you can move in. The Landlord will arrange an appointement to sign the tenancy agreement and collect the keys. This may be only a short time before the tenancy begins.