Moving Out 

As time moves on we find that our circumstances change, families may begin to grow and the need for a bigger (or smaller) property may be required. There are a couple of ways in which Residents can obtain a property move such as;

Transfer – To do so you need to be registered on Lambeth Council’s Housing Transfer list. If you have not already completed one of these forms you can collect the form from the CETRA Housing Office directly. The application will give you access to Lambeth Council’s Home Connections website in which you can bid on all of the available properties within Lambeth each week and all of CETRA’s properties are also advertised here as and when they become available. Properties are advertised on the Home Connections website Every Wednesday-Sunday and are generally only ever advertised once, so once the Sunday deadline comes the chance to bid for that property will have gone. Please be advised that any properties advertised on Home Connections are within the borough of Lambeth, there is no properties advertised in different Council Boroughs. If a Resident bids for a property, is shortlisted and ultimately accepts an offer of accommodation they will need to notify CETRA immediately. As per the Tenancy Conditions Tenants are required to provide 4 weeks notice which is accepted from the next available Sunday and the notice officially expires 4 Sundays later. Residents moving out of a Cedars Estate property are advised that the property must be cleared completely, no items can be left in the property unless there is an agreement with CETRA beforehand, and the property left in a clean state.

Mutual Exchange – As a Social Housing Tenant you are able to swap your home with another Social Housing Tenant anywhere in the UK. Residents who are currently on an introductory tenancy or are subject to possession proceedings are not eligible to apply for a mutual exchange and if a request is received it would be refused outright. Both Residents wishing to conduct a mutual exchange must ensure that they have visited each other’s property and are happy to accept the property as is. Once a Resident has found somebody to swap with they must put their request in writing to the CETRA Housing Officer making sure to include details of the other persons Housing Officer. From there the CETRA Housing Officer will make contact with the opposing Housing Officer to advise of the Mutual Exchange request and provide a reference request form for the potential incoming Tenant. At the same time the CETRA Housing Officer would give the Resident a form for them and the potential incoming Tenant to complete and return to the Housing Office. Whilst CETRA are waiting for the reference request from the opposing Housing Officer arrangements will be made to visit the Tenant’s property to carry out a pre-mutual exchange inspection. This is to ascertain that there are no issues with certain components such as light switches, plug sockets, doors etc and also gives us a chance to record anything that isn’t council standard such as a shower pump or spotlights to notify the incoming Tenant as we would not be responsible to repair or replace these in the future. Once the property inspection is complete and the reference request received from the opposing Housing Officer the CETRA Housing Officer will sit down with the CETRA Manager to determine whether the Mutual Exchange can be accepted or not. If the Mutual Exchange is not accepted both applicants would be written to advising of the reason why. If the Mutual Exchange is accepted both applicants would be written to advising of the decision and also given further information in regard to a sign up. At this point both applicants would need to arrange a date for moving and advise their Housing Officer so arrangements can be made to arrange a tenancy sign up. The out-going Tenant would need to sign a document called a ‘Deed of Assignment’ which is a legal document confirming they wish to transfer their tenancy over to the incoming Tenant and vice-versa. The incoming Tenant to CETRA would then complete a sign up with the CETRA Housing Officer and officially become a Cedars Estate Resident.