If you apply to us as Homeless or you think you may become homeless soon we will always do our best to prevent you from actually becoming Homeless.

As soon as you think this is something you need help with you should contact us.

You can follow the links in the Homelessness section for more information.

If, for example, you have received a Notice to Quit from your landlord bring it in to show us as soon as possible so that we can advise you best how to proceed - we may be able to prevent the Notice from being taken any further, and so keep you in your home.

We have a lot of ways of preventing Homelessness. These include:

Housing Advice. We can give you sound and detailed advice on how to deal with Private Sector Tenancy problems.

We fund the Bournemouth Housing Advice Service (BHAS) which includes, amongst others, the national organisation Shelter; we may feel that a referral to them will be helpful and they can take up the case on your behalf, free of charge (they have a local Office on Poole Hill here in Bournemouth, Tel: 0808 800 0380 or click:.

 www.shelter.org.uk

Rent Deposit Loan or Guarantee. Bournemouth has a flourishing Private Rented Sector and  we fund a Rent  Deposit Scheme to help clients access private rented homes who couldn't otherwise afford the Deposit (usually a month's rent in advance, on top of the first month's rent). It must be stressed that this money is discretionary and is a loan not a grant - you will be expected to make arrangements to repay.  

Nomination Agreements. We have arrangements with public and private sector Housing providers to nominate our applicants to be their tenants (very often at nil cost to the Council). These arrangements include Housing for some special needs groups (such as those with a Mental Health problem) and accommodation where Support is also provided.

The main thing to remember is to act early, and give us as much accurate information as you can, so that we have more chance of helping you.

We frequently need to investigate complex cases, and to verify what you are telling us, so the more time we have the better.

WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR COMMENTS ABOUT THE HOMELESS PREVENTION SERVICE:

If you have received advice from the Homeless Prevention Team we would welcome your comments about the service your received by completing a Customer Satisfaction Feedback Form.