People looking for social housing in Dumfries and Galloway will now benefit from greater choice and easier access, thanks to the launch of Loreburn Housing Association’s new choice-based lettings system.

Loreburn Lettings offers customers a greater say in where they want to live. Applicants fill in one simple form to join the register, and are then able to ‘bid’ on any available properties that they are interested in, which will be advertised at www.loreburnlettings.org.uk on a Tuesday and Thursday.

At the end of the bidding period on each home, Loreburn will assess all bids and offer the property to the bidder with the greatest housing need. In the event that there is more than one applicant with the same score, the property will be allocated to the applicant who has been waiting the longest.

It is hoped that the new system will also boost interest in rural properties, increase tenancy sustainability, and reduce the time that properties lie empty in between tenancies.

Over 800 applicants have already registered with Loreburn Lettings, and the Loreburn team are on hand to offer support to all customers who need assistance to register on the system or bid for properties.

Joanne Gordon, customer engagement manager at Loreburn Housing Association, said: “We are always striving to find innovative ways to improve services for our customers. Loreburn Lettings will be a faster, fairer, more cost effective system that allows customers more choice, which ultimately helps create better communities. It represents our commitment to offering a positive customer experience and a shift towards customer empowerment by placing housing applicants at the centre of the application process.”

The system was procured from Home Connections, a company with vast experience of choice based lettings and a portfolio of customers across the UK.

Ninesh Muthiah, chief executive at Home Connections said: “Our system is one of the most automated and efficient in the country, and I am confident it will establish a model of excellence for others to follow.”