People in Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury who are on the housing list can re-register from today to carry on bidding on properties after April 1.

Councils including Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury are changing IT provider for the database it uses for its choice-based letting scheme, Home-Link, because a contract with another IT supplier is coming to an end.

The new register comes into effect from April 1.

The West Suffolk councils have already emailed all 2,500 people on its housing register to tell them about changes that are coming into effect.

People have to give an email address when they register, and where those emails show as undelivered, letters have been sent to the postal address they registered with instead. The changes are also being highlighted via the media and social media.

Sara Mildmay-White, cabinet member for housing at West Suffolk councils, said: “If people want to ensure that they are able to continue viewing and bidding on properties from 1 April without any delay or disruption, then they need to act now.

“If they re-register in February, we can process their application in time ready for the 1 April switchover.

“Of course they can still register after the end of this month but we won’t be able to guarantee that their application will have been dealt with in time for 1 April meaning they may experience a gap in being able to view and bid on properties.”

As this is a new IT provider the council can’t simply transfer the data held from one provider to another.

Anyone who hasn’t re-registered and their application hasn’t been verified by April 1 may lose their place on the housing register and may not be able to bid for properties.

The change in IT supplier does not alter how priority banding is decided because the Home-Link scheme itself remains the same.

People will still be assessed in line with the existing housing policy. It is only if there has been a change in their circumstances that their banding may change up or down.

People can re-register here.

More information can be found here.