Our lettings policy

Queens Cross Housing Association has approximately 4,500 rented homes in the Northwest of Glasgow and our vision is to provide ‘excellent housing in vibrant communities’.

Our housing stock is made up of a variety of property types including traditional tenement, multi-storey and new build housing. We are proud to operate in a multi-cultural area and aim to provide good quality rented accommodation to those in housing need. We are committed to building balanced and sustainable communities where people enjoy living.

The aims and objectives of our allocation policy are:

to let good quality homes at affordable rents to those in the greatest housing need
to provide a choice of housing to meet a diverse range of housing needs and where appropriate assist with housing support
to promote, maintain and support sustainable communities through our allocation system
to make the best use of our housing stock in line with good practice (e.g. minimising under-occupation)
to work with Glasgow City Council to address the needs of people affected by homelessness
to provide applicants with comprehensive information and advice about our allocation services and housing options
to embed equality issues into allocation services
to review our allocation policy regularly and consulting with our tenants, housing applicants and other stakeholders if policy changes are being considered

You can view our full Allocation Policy here.

Priority Bands

Providers of social housing, such as councils and housing associations, are required to allocate their properties to the applicants in the greatest need for housing. This is set out in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014.

When we receive your housing application, we will carefully consider your circumstances and we will award a priority band based on your level of housing need. If your circumstances change, we will review your priority band to make sure that it reflects your current situation. You may move into a higher or lower priority band following a change of circumstances.

We have four priority bands:

Platinum priority will be awarded to:

Current Queens Cross Housing Association tenants who need to move urgently for their own safety (i.e, when they are experiencing domestic abuse, hate crime or serious harassment). Supporting evidence from Police Scotland or another recognised agency would be required before this band would be awarded.
Applicants in receipt of our Wellbeing services where it has been recognised that they would benefit from moving due to their specific support needs.
Current Queens Cross Housing Association tenants who require to be rehoused due to regeneration activity.
Applicants who have an exceptional housing need which is so unusual that it is not covered by our allocation policy

Gold priority will be awarded to:

Applicants who are homeless and have been referred to us by Glasgow City Council
Applicants who are leaving care and have been referred to us by the Social Work department
Applicants with complex medical conditions or disabilities where their property does not meet their needs
Social landlord tenants who are under-occupying their property by two or more bedrooms and want to downsize
Applicants who are overcrowded by two or more bedrooms
Applicants whose property has been assessed as being Below a Tolerable Standard by a Local Authority

Silver priority will be awarded to:

Current Queens Cross Housing Association tenants who have experienced a relationship breakdown
Applicants leaving active service with the Armed Forces
Applicants who live in unsuitable housing due to a medical condition/disability but are not housebound and their life is not at risk due to their current housing
Social landlord tenants who are under-occupying their property by one bedroom and want to downsize
Applicants who are overcrowded by one bedroom
Applicants who need to move to access medical treatment, for employment purposes, due to financial hardship or to be near relatives for support
Private rented tenants or homeowners who are at risk of losing their home
Private rented tenants whose property is in a poor condition
Applicants who are experiencing relationship strain in their household
Vulnerable tenants who are experiencing serious and persistent Anti-Social Behaviour and who have reported the issue to relevant parties
Applicants who are sofa-surfing or living in temporary accommodation.

Bronze priority will be awarded to:

Applicants who are assessed with none of the above housing needs but consider that they are unsuitably housed

Please note that the above is a summary of our priority bands. More detailed information about how we determine an applicant's priority can be found in our Allocation Policy.

Priority awards will be reviewed regularly and may be reduced if you refuse offers of suitable housing that meet your needs.

Bedroom Entitlement

The majority of our properties have one bedroom, therefore only in exceptional circumstances would a two-bedroom property be allocated to a single person or couple. Due to a lack of larger accommodation, we will seek to select applicants whose household size makes the best use of the property.

The number of bedrooms we will allocate depends on the size of the household. We will calculate this on the following basis:

1 bedroom for each adult and their partner or spouse
1 bedroom for each 2 children (under the age of 10)
1 bedroom for each 2 children (under the age of 12) of the same gender
1 bedroom for any remaining member of the household and their partner or spouse

Applicants who require more bedrooms than we would normally allocate can tell us this on their application form. We will consider each situation on its own merit.

When an applicant is pregnant, we will ask them to provide a copy of the MATB1 form (also known as the maternity certificate) that is issued by a doctor or midwife after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Once that has been received, we will include the baby when calculating how many bedrooms the applicant requires.

Refusing offers

Priority awards will be reviewed regularly and may be reduced if you refuse offers of suitable housing that meet your needs. Please read property advert details carefully and only bid for properties that you are likely to accept if offered, as refusing offers may result in your priority band being downgraded. Applicants with a platinum priority band will normally be made one offer of a suitable property before their band is changed. Applicants with gold or silver priority will normally be made two offers of a property that meets their needs before their band is downgraded.