To apply for a council home, you must first register with the Manchester Move website.
Manchester Move advertises the homes we have available, as well as properties managed by other landlords in the city.
After you register, your application will be given to a Manchester Move landlord to manage.
If you are already a Manchester City Council tenant:
It will be us who manages your application. We will visit you to confirm your details and make sure your current home is in a good state for new tenants to move into. We will ask you to provide us with some things in order to complete your application - see below for details.
If you are not already a Manchester City Council tenant:
Any questions you have about your application will need to be put to the landlord managing it - if it's not us, we won't be able to help. There are 17 other landlords in the Manchester Move partnership that could take responsibility for your application.
Whether it's us or someone else, the landlord that is managing your application will write to you to ask you to confirm your details and provide them with some things in order to complete your application - see below for details.
What you need to provide:
- proof of your identity, e.g. a copy of your passport, birth certificate or driving licence
- proof of your address, e.g. a utility bill or bank statement
- your National Insurance Number
- if you work - copies of nine out of your last 12 pay slips OR a letter from your employer on letter-headed paper confirming how long you have worked there and how many hours a week you do. Providing this will increase your chances of being offered a home sooner
- if you receive child benefit - proof of receipt within the last three months and a copy of a letter from the child benefit team
- if you are expecting a child - a copy of your MATB1 form as proof of pregnancy. This is usually given in the 28th week by your midwife
It can take up to five weeks to process your application after you've sent in all your information.
Once everything’s been checked, if there are no problems, the landlord looking after your application will write to you to let you know your rehousing application number and Rehousing Priority Band.
If you have any queries about your application, or don't think you've been put in the right rehousing band, you need to contact the landlord in charge of your application. MCC Housing Services cannot make any changes to your Rehousing Priority Band or your application if we are not the landlord that manages your application.
Once you have your application number and rehousing band, you can use the Manchester Move website to "bid" on those homes which you are interested in moving into.
What is bidding and how do you do it?
Bidding on a property lets us know that you’re interested in moving there. How successful your bids are depends on a few different things:
- What kind of property you are after - most types of home are in high demand and some become available rarely if at all, or can only be offered to people in certain circumstances.
- Where you are happy to live - certain areas are very popular, so they get a lot of people bidding for homes there and rarely have vacancies.
- How long you have been waiting
- Your Rehousing Priority Band
You are more likely to be offered a home if you are flexible about what kind of property and which areas you will consider.
Properties like high rise flats are in less demand – though even these come up much less than they used to. Family homes – especially houses - are in the highest demand.
Register now
Use the button below to go to the Manchester Move website and register. You must complete a short questionnaire first which will tell you what your best chance of moving to a Manchester home most quickly is.
