Policy Statement
Housing NSW will make up to two reasonable offers of housing to a client, except in some circumstances where tenants are being relocated for management purposes see Relocating Tenants for Management Purposes (EST0038A) for more information. Housing NSW will remove a client who does not accept reasonable offers of housing from the Housing Register. See Removing a client from the Housing Register in this policy for more information.
An offer is reasonable if it will meet the client’s known accommodation and locational needs based on the merits of the information provided by the client. Housing NSW's policy for assessing a client’s accommodation and locational needs is set out in Matching Clients and Properties.
Housing is a scarce resource and is allocated on a needs basis. This policy ensures that a fair system is in place when allocating properties and that Housing NSW is able to find tenants for its properties in the shortest possible time so that properties are not left vacant.
Application to Aboriginal Housing Office Clients
This policy applies to clients of the Aboriginal Housing Office who are offered housing in a property managed by Housing NSW.
Policy Detail
This policy applies to offers of housing made by Housing NSW to clients registered for:
The offer process begins once a client is selected from the Housing Register as a suitable match for an available property. Housing NSW will make offers of housing that meet the requirements of the Matching Clients and Properties. Housing NSW considers these offers to be reasonable offers.
Housing NSW will remove a client’s application from the Housing Register if the client rejects two reasonable offers of housing, repeatedly fails to respond to our attempts to contact them to make an offer of housing or refuses to sign a fixed term tenancy agreement.
Housing NSW can withdraw an offer after it has been made. Housing NSW will withdraw an offer if:
- It becomes clear that the offer was not reasonable, or
- The property is needed to house a client with more urgent needs.
NSW Housing and Human Services Accord
Under some Accord partnerships, partner agencies are required to be notified to when an offer is made to confirm that the property is suitable, and support will be available for the client once the property has been accepted.
For further information refer to: NSW Housing Human Services Accord.
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The offer process
Housing NSW will usually contact clients by phone to reconfirm their eligibility to receive an offer. If the client cannot be contacted by phone, Housing NSW will send an express post letter to the client requesting that they contact the office urgently (before close of business on the second working day after the letter was posted).
At the time of the offer the client will be advised of the type and length of lease that Housing NSW will offer based on an assessment of their current household circumstances.
After an offer has been made, Housing NSW expects clients to inspect the property and within 2 working days of receiving details of the offer tell Housing NSW whether or not they will accept the offer. Housing NSW can extend this timeframe for a short time if the client requests it and has good reasons for making the request.
If the property is still occupied, Housing NSW will arrange a time for the client to view the property and a Housing NSW representative will accompany the client to the viewing.
Sometimes the property is undergoing refurbishment, renovation or other planned maintenance. In this situation Housing NSW will tell the client about the work that is to be carried out and the expected standard or condition of the property when the work is finished.
Offer Response Form
All clients who have been made an offer must complete the Offer Response Form (DH0105). This form is an opportunity for the client to detail, in writing, their initial response to the property that they have just viewed and to provide Housing NSW with a written record that they have viewed the offered housing.
Offer accepted
If the client accepts the offer, Housing NSW will explain when the client can expect the property to be ready and what needs to happen before the client can move in. Housing NSW will usually ask the client to sign a tenancy agreement within 1 week of accepting the offer.
Housing NSW can extend this timeframe if the client requests it and has good reasons for making the request.
Outstanding debts owed to Housing NSW from a former tenancy will become part of the client’s new tenancy agreement. The client is obligated to continue repaying this debt to Housing NSW after starting the new tenancy. Failure to repay this debt could jeopardise their new tenancy. Housing NSW will explain this to the client at the time of offer.
See the policy on Sign-Ups (EST0017C) for more information about the process for signing a tenancy agreement.
Offer rejected or withdrawn
If the client does not accept the offer, Housing NSW will decide whether the client’s response is:
- A rejection of a reasonable offer which means the offer would count as one of the client’s two offers, see the Policy Statement; or
- A valid refusal of an unreasonable offer, which means the offer would be withdrawn and does not count as one of the client’s two offers.
In making this decision, Housing NSW will apply the requirements of the Matching Clients and Properties policy. As part of this process it will:
- Ask the client to provide the reason for rejection in writing using the offer response form (DH0105). This information must be provided to Housing NSW within:
- 7 days of rejecting the offer if being relocated for management purposes on portfolio management grounds,
- 14 days of rejecting the offer if being relocated for management purposes on tenancy management grounds,
- 28 days of rejecting the offer for all other applications.
- Consider all the information about the client’s needs provided by the client; and
- If a client’s circumstances have changed and no longer match the property they have been offered, Housing NSW will withdraw the offer, amend its records so that a suitable offer can be made and reallocate the property. See the policy on Matching Clients and Properties (ALL0090A).
Community housing properties subject to public housing nomination rights
These properties are managed by a community housing provider. Housing NSW is responsible for identifying clients on the Housing Register whose housing needs will be met by the policy according to the Matching Clients and Properties (ALL0090A). The offer and sign-up process is managed by the community housing provider, not Housing NSW.
If the offer is not accepted, Housing NSW is responsible for deciding if the offer was reasonable according to the principles set out in this policy and taking any further actions as required by this policy. See Nominations to Community Housing Providers (EST0140A) for more information about public housing nominations to community housing providers.
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Suspending an application
Housing NSW can temporarily suspend a client’s application if the client is in a situation where they are temporarily unable to accept an offer due to circumstances beyond their control. This means that the client will retain their place on the Housing or Transfer Register but will not receive any offers of housing. Applications can be suspended for up to 6 months. The client must continue to meet public housing eligibility criteria and if the client is registered for a Transfer, Transfer eligibility criteria, while their application is suspended.
Circumstances when Housing NSW will suspend applications include, but are not limited to, situations where the client:
- Is experiencing illness or hospitalisation
- Is overseas or on holidays
- Cannot terminate a residential tenancy agreement
- Is in prison.
Removing a client from the Housing Register
Housing NSW will remove a client’s application from the Housing Register in an offer situation for the following reasons:
- The client rejects one reasonable offer of Emergency Temporary Accommodation (ALL0070A), or
- The client has rejected two reasonable offers of housing. The offers could be public housing (excluding Emergency Temporary Accommodation), Community housing properties subject to public housing nomination rights, Aboriginal Housing Office housing – or any combination of the above, or
- The client repeatedly fails to respond to our attempts to contact them to reconfirm their eligibility before making an offer of housing or to actually make an offer of housing, or
- The client rejects a second offer of housing because of the type and length of lease offered. If the client refuses to sign the lease because they do not agree with the type or length of lease offered this will be considered a rejection of offer, or
- The client accepted an offer of housing but did not sign a tenancy agreement, or
- The client did not respond in a reasonable time to Housing NSW's phone calls or letters advising of an offer. Once the client makes contact again and demonstrates they remained eligible they will be re-instated to the register or
- The client no longer meets public housing eligibility criteria.
- The client does not acknowledge a debt owing to Housing NSW from a former tenancy and does not agree to a plan to make regular repayments prior to any offer of housing and continuing until the debt has been repaid in full.
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Assessment Criteria
The table below gives more information about the situations where Housing NSW will regard an offer as accepted, rejected or withdrawn.
|
Response to offer |
Criteria |
|
Accepted |
The client has accepted the property offered by Housing NSW and agreed to sign a tenancy agreement. |
|
|
The client has accepted a community housing property subject to public housing nomination rights. |
|
Rejected |
The client has decided not accept the property offered by Housing NSW. Housing NSW has decided that the offer made to the client was reasonable. |
|
|
The client has decided not to accept a community housing property subject to public housing nomination rights. Housing NSW has decided that the offer made to the client was reasonable. |
|
|
The client has accepted the property offered by Housing NSW but refused to sign a tenancy agreement due to the type or length of lease offered. |
|
|
Housing NSW offered a property and the client did not respond to that offer. |
|
Withdrawn |
The client decided not to accept the property that was offered. Housing NSW has decided that the client’s decision is valid because the property did not meet their needs based on information provided by the client. |
|
|
Housing NSW offered the property but now needs it to house a client with more urgent needs. |
|
|
Housing NSW matched the client to the property but did not provide the details to the client because the client’s needs or circumstances had changed. |
|
|
Housing NSW matched the client to the property but did not formally offer the property to the client because although they met public housing eligibility criteria, they did not meet Transfer eligibility (applies to existing public and Aboriginal Housing Office tenants only). |
|
|
Housing NSW matched the client to a community housing property subject to public housing nomination rights and the community housing provider decided that the match would not result in a reasonable offer. |
|
|
The client did not respond to Housing NSW’s attempts to contact them in order to make an offer but later and provided a reasonable explanation for their lack of contact. |
|
|
The client decided not to accept an offer of a bed-sitter, high rise or Senior Communities property. Housing NSW will change its records to show that the client should not be offered this type of property again. |
|
|
The client received their first offer of nomination to a community housing managed property and rejected it on the basis that they did not want to be housed by a community housing provider. Housing NSW will change its records to show that the client should not be offered this type of property again. |
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Evidence Requirements
Housing NSW will consider the merits or strength of any information provided by the client before using it as the basis of a decision. This means that providing information to Housing NSW does not automatically mean that Housing NSW will make a decision in the client’s favour.
Housing NSW will make a decision in the client’s favour only after considering the evidence provided and deciding that a decision in the client’s favour is justified.
Making a Decision about an Offer
| Situation |
Evidence |
|
Client not able to inspect the offered property within 2 working days of receiving the offer details |
Information that substantiates the client’s reasons for not being able to inspect the property within the required timeframe.
|
|
Client not able to sign a tenancy agreement within 1 week of the date they accept the offer due to:
- Serious health reasons or disability
- Family crisis or emergency
|
Information that substantiates the client’s reasons for not being able to sign the tenancy agreement within the required timeframe such as:
- Doctor’s certificate,
- letter from a support provider (Includes Accord clients Support Providers)
- Evidence of the family crisis or emergency and its impact on the client’s ability to sign the tenancy agreement.
|
|
Client’s decision to decline an offer recorded as a refusal |
The offer meets the requirements of the Matching Clients and Properties (ALL0090A) policy
And
There are no grounds for suspending the client’s Housing Register application
And
The client did not provide any new, substantiated, information to Housing NSW about their needs within 28 days of refusing the offer
Or
The offer meets the requirements of the Matching Clients and Properties (ALL0090A) policy
And
The client has declined the offer for a reason that Housing NSW considers to be personal preference because it does not directly impact on the client’s housing needs. Common examples include:
- Wanting a property made out of brick
- Wanting gas rather than electricity
- Not liking the neighbourhood
- Not liking the cladding, internal or external layout, design, or colour scheme of the property
- Wanting a bath rather than a shower
- Wanting a different suburb (where locational need for a particular suburb has not been established by Housing NSW)
- Wanting a specific street
- Wanting to live near shops, family, school, church (where locational need for this has not been established Matching Clients and Properties (ALL0090A)
- Wanting a different type of property (house townhouse, villa, unit)
- Wanting to live on a specific floor of a block of units
- Wanting a Senior Communities property only
- Wanting Housing NSW to match them to a property on the basis of the needs of their pet.
Or
and
- The client has declined the offer due to the type or length of lease offered.
|
|
Client’s decision to decline an offer recorded as a withdrawal |
Information that substantiates the property does not meet the client’s basic housing needs according to the Matching Clients and Properties (ALL0090A) policy. For example:
- Information provided to Housing NSW during the application or offer process
- Letter and other information provided by the client explaining their reasons for declining an offer and supplying relevant supporting documentation. For example:
- Medical Assessment Form
- Letter from their doctor or health care provider
- Letter from their support provider
- letter from their employer
|
|
Housing NSW decision to suspend a client’s application |
Information from the client demonstrating that they are temporarily in a situation where they are unable to accept an offer, due to circumstances beyond their control.
|
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Appealing Decisions or Actions
If a client disagrees with a decision Housing NSW has made, they should first discuss their concerns with a Client Service Officer. The next step if they still believe we made the wrong decision is to ask for a formal review of the decision. For information on how reviews work, the client can ask the Client Service Officer for a copy of the fact sheet ‘Reviewing Decisions’, or read the Appeals and Review of Decisions policy.
Legislative Requirements
Further Information
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