Frequently asked questions

How do I apply for a Livin home or bungalow?

We advertise all of our available homes on our Find A Home page, simply visit this page for more information.

Before you can place a bid on one of our homes, you must first have an active account with the relevant Choice Based Lettings Scheme. Almost all our homes are located in County Durham and therefore are allocated through the Durham Key Options scheme. Durham Key Options (DKO) is a partnership between Durham County Council and landlords across County Durham.

We have a small number of homes which are located outside Durham, these are all advertised through Tees Valley HomeFinder, Hartlepool HomeSearch and Darlington HomeSearch; They are similar to Durham Key Options but we do not process applications registered for these schemes. If you wish to register an application for homes advertised in this area, please apply directly.

Once your application is approved, you will then be able to bid on homes that meet your needs. You can access the application form directly by visiting the relevant Choice Based Lettings system.

How long will it take for my application to be processed?

We aim to start processing your application within 10 working days. If we require any further information after this point, we will contact you to ask for this. Once we have received all the required information we will notify you of our decision within 20 days, and if accepted we will activate your account. You can also check your application status online by logging into the DKO portal.

How can I get involved with Livin and help to shape services?

To find out more about the different ways you can get involved, please visit our getting involved section.

Can I apply to buy my home under Right to Buy?

Tenants who have been with Livin since before the transfer from Sedgefield Council in 2009 may have the “Preserved Right to Buy” their property. Full details of the scheme are available on the Government Right to Buy website. If you are thinking of applying, please contact us.

Can I apply to buy my home under Right to Acquire?

If you have been a tenant for 3 or more years you may have the right to buy your property under the Right to Acquire scheme. Full details of the scheme are available on the Government Right to Acquire website. If you are thinking of applying, please contact us.

More FAQ's

Planet A

We aim to make a positive contribution to creating environmentally sustainable futures for generations to come, with tenants thriving in low energy homes and greener places.

Here’s how we are doing…

Performance

Number Of Properties Achieving SAP Band C - 7,710

Average SAP Score Of All Properties - 72.38

Key Stats

1,260 Homes Received Energy Efficiency Works

Over 1,400m2 Open Space Used For Re Wilding Including Wild Flower Meadow Planning And Tree Planting

46 New Trees Planted Across Our Communities Working With Partners

The year in review

Following our successful bid with a consortium of partners in the Northeast and Yorkshire for £1.1m of Government funding, we have completed 100 installations of energy efficiency improvements to homes. In total, the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, combined with our own investment of £1.65 million, will enable us to improve energy efficiency to 349 homes between 2023-2025.

Through energy efficiency improvements carried out, we have increased the average energy efficiency to 72.38 which is in the top quartile performance of social housing providers.

Using the data held on our homes we have targeted our energy efficiency improvement work to the homes where this will be of most benefit. In total we carried out energy efficiency to 1,260 homes but over 500 tenants partially or fully omitted from the energy efficiency works.

The total energy saved by completing energy efficiency improvement works to homes is more than 3 million KW hours. The works have also reduced the carbon emissions by 888 tonnes.

We listened (Customer Voice - satisfaction surveys)

You told us that we needed to improve communication in terms of how we keep you engaged and informed during the planning and delivery of energy efficiency works.

We acted

We now hold customer engagement events for when you are due to receive energy efficiency improvements in your home, to keep you updated prior to works starting and to better understand any specific needs you have.

Since implementation, we have held four customer engagement events with a total of over 40 tenants attending. Satisfaction that we keep you informed has increased by 6% following these changes.

We listened (Energy efficiency works event)

You told us that you were concerned that you would lose valuable storage space when we planned to install equipment for solar PV panels in your cupboards.

We acted

We changed the specification and developed a way of installing the equipment to the outside of your homes to ensure that you benefited from the energy efficiency works without losing your storage space.