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Sutton

In Sutton, there are 2,674 households on the local authority waiting list, which is South London’s lowest total. Official data shows this total has increased gradually from 979 households in 2012 following the introduction of the Localism Act 2011, which added further criteria to be able to be eligible for social housing.

This total gives Sutton the seventh lowest waiting list in London, slightly above neighbouring Kingston upon Thames at sixth lowest with 2,667 households.

Sutton’s waiting times generally reflect the wider pan-London trend where outer boroughs tend to see lower wait times. For one-bedroom properties, Sutton has the lowest waiting time in the capital at 184 days. The same ranking can be given for properties with two bedrooms where the average waiting time is 359 days.

For larger properties with three bedrooms, Sutton’s wait times increase to 511 days, the second lowest wait, with Bromley first at 343 days. For properties with four or more bedrooms Sutton’s waiting time is 411 days, the second lowest in London after Bromley at 345 days.

Sutton’s lower waiting times demonstrate the disparity in experience of housing need and social housing allocations between different London boroughs. For example, where a household in Sutton requiring a one-bedroom property waits 184 days, or around six months, a household in Lewisham faces a waiting time of 2,208 days – that’s more than six years. Similarly, a property with four or more bedrooms in Sutton has a waiting time of 411 days, but a household in nearby Wandsworth would expect to wait 2,190 days, or six years.

Sutton has the seventh smallest total social housing stock in London with 12,028 homes managed by the local authority and private registered providers. This total has increased since 2010 when the borough had 10,900 social homes.

Sutton Council’s housing allocations policy operates a seven-band system assigning a level of priority to households with differing levels of reasonable preference. Band A is for urgent housing needs due to medical priority and functional rehousing needs such as under occupation, repairs decants or for households to move-on from supported housing. Band B is for households with a statutory homelessness duty while Band C and Band C+ households will have unsatisfactory housing conditions, overcrowding or social and welfare needs. Band D is for households threatened with homelessness or living in insecure accommodation.

Sutton also has two specific bands TNN and OPEX. Households under the TNN will be existing tenants wishing to transfer to other premises but with no reasonable preference, while households in the OPEX band are for older people over 55 seeking to be considered for older person’s housing but lacking reasonable preference.

Sources:

*A note on data sources. In order to provide comparisons of different local authorities total waiting lists, due to some boroughs not providing up to date information on the number of people on their social housing register we have used the most recent data (2022-23) published by MHCLG. Where boroughs provided us with more recent data, we have noted this.