Housing options

At present there is a housing emergency in Edinburgh, creating a high demand for social housing and long waiting times. If you are looking to rent a new home in Edinburgh there are different options available to you.

Social Housing

Prospect is a Registered Social Landlord providing affordable social housing within Wester Hailes. You can apply for one of our homes via EdIndex. 16 other Social Landlords including the City of Edinburgh Council also use this website to advertise their properties. You can find out more about applying for one of our homes on our How To Apply page.

There is an extremely high demand for social housing in Edinburgh which means that waiting times can be long. Even with priority you can still expect to wait around 3 years before receiving a housing offer. Without priority you might wait significantly longer. Depending on your circumstances, there are other options that you might want to consider.

Mid Market Rent

Mid Market rental properties are homes available to rent to households on low-middle incomes. The rental values for these properties are set lower than private rent but higher than local council or housing association rent. Eligibility for these properties is income based, and can differ between different housing associations and private companies.

Prospect does not have any homes that are in the mid market rent category. You can find out more about Mid Market Rent on the Key To Choice website.

Exchanging Your Home

If you are already a social housing tenant and would like to move, you could look for another tenant to swap with. Tenants looking for a mutual exchange used to be able to use the House Exchange service to find other households wanting to exchange. This site has now closed and there is no direct replacement scheme at the moment. House Exchange has left links to a couple of alternative sites on their home page. There are also several pages on social media platforms such as Facebook where you can look for someone else wanting to swap homes. Always be careful about sharing personal details on social media sites and take someone else with you if you are meeting with a potential swap.

Social Housing outside of Edinburgh

Edinburgh has a housing emergency which means there is a huge pressure on waiting times even for applicants with priority. You might want to consider moving outside of Edinburgh to a different local authority nearby. Your starting point would be to contact relevant local authorities for any area you have identified.

Downsizing

If you are an existing Prospect tenant and you would like a smaller home, we can help you downsize. Most people need different sizes of homes during their lives. If your home is starting to feel too big, we can give you advice and help with each step. We also offer a £500 downsizing payment to help with your move. Contact your housing officer if you would like to find out more.