Housing options

You may find our guide to finding accommodation helpful. The guide contains advice and information to help you find suitable accommodation within our area, and a brief overview of the various housing options that are available.

Privately renting

You can rent accommodation from a private landlord or letting agent by looking online or in local papers. You will usually need to pay a month’s rent in advance, and a month to six weeks’ rent as a deposit.

You may be entitled to a rent deposit loan or deposit bond to help you move into suitable and affordable privately rented accommodation.

Rent deposit loan

The rent deposit loan is an interest free loan to cover the first month’s rent and deposit to help you move into a privately rented property. The loan can be repaid in either weekly or monthly instalments over a maximum of three years.

You can apply if:

• you are homeless or threatened with homelessness;
• you have a local connection to Tunbridge Wells;
• you are considered to be in priority need in accordance with the homelessness legislation.

Deposit bond

The deposit bond is an alternative to giving a landlord a cash deposit and it is set up between the council, the landlord and the tenant. You’ll need to make an application for the bond, and if it is accepted, we will enter into an undertaking to guarantee a deposit of up to six weeks rent. At the end of the tenancy, if there are rent arrears or damage to the property other than wear and tear, the landlord can make a claim for these costs up to the value of the bond, and tenants will be responsible for paying these costs back to us.

You can apply if:

• you are homeless or threatened with homelessness;
• you have a local connection to Tunbridge Wells.

To obtain tenancy advice or find out more about these schemes and whether you qualify, please contact us. You will need to provide the documents listed on the application form before your application is assessed, and send them to us by email housingadvice@tunbridgewells.gov.uk.

Affordability calculator

The affordability calculator can help you find a privately rented property that you can afford.

Local housing allowance

If you are claiming a welfare benefit, you may be entitled to claim local housing allowance (LHA) to pay your rent. If you’re under 35 years old, you are only entitled to claim single room rate. The table below provides more information. Most of the Tunbridge Wells borough is in the High Weald area for LHA, but there are a few parts in the Ashford area so both sets of LHA are shown.

Supported housing

This type of housing might be right for you if you have certain support needs.

There are a few organisations which provide supported housing projects in our area:

• The Bridge Trust - for people aged 18 to 59 years old;
• Colebrook Road – for people aged 18-to 64 years old.

For young people, these organisations may be able to assist you:

• YMCA (Ryder House) – for young people aged 16 to 24 years old;
• SAHA – aged between 18 and 25 years old, male or female, can be pregnant or with one child up to the age of three.

There are other organisations that offer supported accommodation for those with specific mental health needs, speak to your mental health team.

To be referred to these providers, please contact us.

Social housing

We no longer own any housing stock, and social housing is provided by registered providers formerly known as housing associations.

To apply for social housing you will need to register with us. To be eligible, you will need to have a housing need and meet the criteria in the housing register allocations scheme. Please see our housing register page for more information.