I am serving personnel: I am not seeking or due to leave
Non-military housing options and advice available to serving personnel who are not seeking or due to leave service
Introduction
Serving personnel and their families are encouraged to consider their civilian housing options as early as possible even if they aren’t looking to move into non-military housing during their time in service. Understanding the opportunities and challenges of civilian housing is key to planning post-service accommodation needs. This includes understanding your rights and responsibilities regarding your service accommodation. These can be found in the service leavers guide referenced below.
Non-military housing options for serving personnel
There are two types of non-military housing that serving personnel and their families might be able to access:
- Private Sector Housing
- Social Housing
Private sector housing
Approximately 80% of civilians in England live in private housing, of which there are two types, private rental and private ownership.
Private rental
If you rent a private property, you do not own that property but instead you sign a rental agreement with the landlord (property owner or property management company) to become a tenant. This will entitle you to stay in that property for an agreed period of time provided you continue to meet the conditions of the agreement. This will include making regular, typically monthly, rental payments to a landlord. You will also likely be required to pay an upfront amount as a deposit. This is typically a multiple of the monthly rental amount but will differ from property to property.
Please click here for more information about renting a private property
Private ownership
Buying a home is often the largest purchase you will make in your lifetime and for most people this will require a specific property purchasing loan called a mortgage. Given the significance it is really important you have the right information, at the right time, to ensure you make informed decisions.
Please click here for more information about buying and owning your own home
The cost of private sector housing
The price you pay to privately rent a home or to buy your own home is set by the market and differs significantly not only from region to region, and from location to location but within locations too. You will often find yourself in competition with others who would also like to live in that property.
It is important to understand that the cost of private sector housing does not simply reflect the purchase or rental price and will almost certainly be far greater than that paid for service accommodation. In addition to the property itself you will also have to meet numerous other housing costs, such as council tax, broadband, repairs and maintenance, insurance, utilities and furniture, which is not necessarily the case when living in service accommodation.
Accessing the private sector housing market
Local estate agents are the main source of information for available private housing in a particular area, most of which will have websites.
There are also a number of nationwide websites that bring together information from individual estate agents around the country. These enable you to search for properties in an area or by type from multiple individual estate agents. These can be accessed using standard on-line search engines.
It typically takes between 3-6 months to purchase a home in England once the desired property has been identified.
Specific schemes or support for serving personnel
Surplus Service Family Accommodation
Surplus Service Family Accommodation (SFA) may be allocated to serving personnel recently who are retired or redundant from service, to assist with the transition to civilian life or for the purpose of house hunting, for a maximum period of 12 months at market rates. Please see JSP 464 Vol 1 Part 1 Annex B to Chapter 9, para 20 in the attached link Tri-service accommodation regulations (TSARs) (JSP 464) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Forces Help to Buy
The scheme enables full time regular serving personnel who have completed 12 months service and Phase One Training to borrow up to 50% of their salary, up to a maximum of £25,000 interest free towards the purchase of a property.
Please click here for more information
New build discounts for serving personnel
Some house builders offer criteria based discounts to service personnel for the purchase of new build properties. If you are thinking about buying a new build property, please ask the housebuilder for the details of any discount scheme they might offer.
Adaptations to private accommodation for wounded, injured and sick personnel transitioning out of service
Adaptations to private accommodation may be provided for wounded, injured and sick (WIS) service personnel who are in the process of, or will be transitioning out of service. Please see JSP 464 Vol 1 Part 1, appendix 1 to annex C of Chapter 3 in the attached link Tri-service accommodation regulations (TSARs) (JSP 464) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Independent financial support
If you are considering purchasing a property you may wish to contact the Services Insurance and Investment Advisory Panel. SIIAP are individuals and firms who are insurance and independent financial advisers that specialise in providing services to members of the armed forces community.
Social housing
Social housing is:
- low cost rental accommodation for those whose needs cannot be met by the private rented sector or commercial property market, e.g. homes to rent at below the market rate
- housing to buy through low-cost home ownership schemes
Social housing - rented social housing
Rented social housing is provided by local authorities and housing associations. It is commonly known as “council housing”.
Most rented social housing is allocated by local authorities although you can apply directly to housing associations in some instances.
Please use this post-code provider to obtain details of your local authority to apply for rented social housing.
Types of rented social housing
There are two types of rental social housing: social rent and affordable rent. The latter is sometimes known as intermediate rent.
- Social rent is set using a government formula that is linked to both local income levels and the local housing market. Typically, social rent is approximately 50% of the rate paid for private rental housing in that area
- Affordable or intermediate rent rate is set at a maximum of 80% of the local market rate
Securing rented social housing
The ability to secure rented social housing depends upon your circumstances and the location of where you wish to live, as the stock or availability of such accommodation will differ from local authority to local authority.
Allocation of rented social housing
Each local authority has flexibility as to how it applies the law in allocating rented social housing to reflect local circumstances. As a general rule of thumb, you are unlikely to secure rented social housing and in some cases, you will not be allowed to join waiting lists for that local authority if you:
- Have savings/assets of £50,000 or more
- Have an annual household income greater than £50,000
- Own or part own a property
Priorities for serving personnel
Being serving personnel does improve your chances of securing rented social housing in two ways:
- Local authorities are required to give preference to serving personnel who are suffering from a serious injury, illness or disability which is wholly or partly attributable to their service.
- Local authorities can include a local connection test in their criteria for allocating rented social housing. This means that you can only apply for rented social housing for the area where you live or to which you have a connection. This requirement does not apply to serving members of the Regular Armed Forces and to veterans for up to five years after leaving service. This permits you to apply to any local authority in the country for rented social housing.
Please note that being serving personnel or a veteran does not guarantee that you will secure rented social housing.
Other referral schemes
If you have been unable to secure rented social housing or you find yourself on a long waiting list you may wish to try one of the specific referral schemes outlined below. However, it is important to note that both schemes have limited availability both in locality and property type and neither guarantee housing.
MoD referral scheme
A scheme specifically to assist service leavers, providing information, guidance and support to explore housing options. The scheme is administered by Defence Transition Services and Veterans Welfare Service:
- Applications must be made within 6 months before or after discharge date
- Open to service leavers, their families and their separated partners
Veterans’ Nomination Scheme
A scheme specifically to assist veterans to obtain rented social housing. It is aimed at:
- Single people and couples without children who would not normally be able to get rented social housing, and for
- Service leavers who are making the transition to civilian life
Please note that you cannot self-refer to this scheme. Instead you must be referred by a third party such as a local authority or a charity if you are already receiving support from them. Veterans Welfare Service or Defence Transition Services may refer you to this scheme if appropriate for you.
Social housing - Low cost home ownership schemes
There are a number of government schemes to support individuals and families to purchase their own homes. These are available to all citizens that meet the qualifying criteria.
Please click here if you live in England
Please click here if you live in Wales