Eligibility criteria
You must meet at least one of the following to be eligible -
- has been ordinarily resident within the administrative area of the Council for not less than 6 months within the 12 months before the exchange of contracts or who has been ordinarily resident within the Administrative Council for not less than three years within the 5 years before the exchange of contracts for the relevant First Home
- has a close family association with the administrative area of the Council because of a parent, child, sibling or grandparent who has been ordinarily resident in the administrative area of the Council for not less than five years before the exchange of contracts for the relevant First Home
- is currently employed permanently within the administrative area of the Council
- are receiving specialist medical treatment within the administrative area of the Council where such treatment is significant and ongoing and requires the person to be ordinarily resident within the administrative area of the Council for a minimum of 6 months
- have been provided with accommodation within the administrative area of the Council under Section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (support for asylum seekers) before being given refugee status, this criterion does not apply where such persons have had accommodation under Section 95 of the said Act with another Local Authority after the accommodation has been provided within the administrative area of the Council or if such accommodation was in an accommodation centre
- such other local connection criteria as may be published by the Council from time to time as its "First Homes Local Connection Criteria" and which is in operation at the time of the relevant disposal of the First Home and for the avoidance of doubt any such replacement criteria in operation at the time of the relevant disposal of the First Home shall be the "Local Connection Criteria" which shall apply to that disposal
- is currently living between the postcodes HU1 to HU9
To verify your local connection, one or more of the following documentation is required per applicant when applying for a First Home -
- reservation form (provided by the developer)
- decision in principle
- bank slips (per applicant, 3 months)
- payslip (per applicant, 3 months)
- passport and drivers licence
- gifted deposit statement (if applicable)
- letter of employment
- employment ID
- military service documents (if applicable)
- utility bill
For joint applications, only one applicant needs to meet the local connection requirement, but total household income must not exceed £80,000.
Joint applicants
In the case of joint purchases in the First Homes scheme, all buyers involved must meet the first time buyer eligibility criteria, meaning that they’ve never owned a property in the UK or abroad.
Only one applicant needs to meet the local connection requirement, but total household income must not exceed £80,000.
Customer journey
Stage 1 - Pre-sale set up
- eligibility criteria
- home identified
- marketing
Stage 2 - Customer enquiry
- the qualification process identifies likely customers
Stage 3 - Customer reservation
- builder or developer submits the populated application and sends back to Hull City Council
- customer selects conveyancers
Stage 4 - Hull City Council receives application
- checks against the eligibility criteria
- We confirm customer's eligibility and issues the Authority to Proceed
Stage 5 - Authority to Proceed
- conveyancing begins following standard instruction pack
- mortgage application submitted to the lender, lender values
Stage 6 - Authority to Exchange
- mortgage offer produced
- conveyancer confirms valuation control
- conveyancer submits legal undertaking to Hull city Council that it is a compliant transaction
- we issue the Authority to Exchange
Stage 7 - Exchange of Contracts
- customer pays deposits
- conveyancer proceeds to exchange
Stage 8 - Legal completion
- customer moves in to the property
- conveyancer carries out final legal confirmations and provides them to Hull City Council
- we receive and updates record