Applying for SFA/SSFA

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Housing Allocations Service Centre

The Housing Allocation Service Centre (HASC) is the primary point of contact with the customer for housing and the allocation of SFA at your new duty station. If your enquiry is of a general nature it will be routed to the first available person at the HASC. This is because general enquiries - such as the implications of leaving the Service or learning about your entitlement to housing - can be answered by any of the staff. But if your call is specific to a particular location - such as the need to arrange a move in or out - you will need to select the relevant area from the options offered. A downloadable map shows the geographic area covered by each area team. When calling please listen carefully to the instructions you will hear.

The HASC can be contacted in the UK through the free-phone telephone number: 0800 169 6322

From Overseas phone 01904 418000 or Mil (9) 4510 8000

They are open from 0830 to 1500 hrs and are manned by experienced DIO staff. On the last Wednesday of the month the HASC will close at 1pm for staff training.

Some of the HASC’s main responsibilities are to manage the application process in accordance with the rules and regulations laid down in Tri Service Accommodation Regulations (JSP 464) Chapter 5 and in particular to:-

Acknowledge receipt of the application form (MOD Form 1132) and allocate SFA in accordance with the applicant’s entitlement and availability
Identify any additional needs or disability requirements and liaise with appropriate welfare authorities
Manage the provision of Non-Availability Certificates (NAC) in cases where SSFA needs to be utilised
Maintain JPA records for incoming and outgoing occupants
Consider and action requests for retention of SFA
Deal with enquiries from prospective occupants on any aspect of the allocation process

Applying for Service Family Accommodation (SFA)

Applicants need to complete the MOD Form 1132 and families are now being asked to use the e-1132. The online form offers applicants additional choice and advantages over the paper version including:

provides information throughout the form to help you complete it.
validates the information to ensure you can’t submit an incomplete form.
allows you to save your form so you can complete it later.
allows you to track the progress of your application.
means your information can be directly transferred to systems, which could speed up the process.

The e-1132 is hosted on the Defence Intranet, rather than the Internet, to ensure security of data. The e-1132 can be found on the Admin tab of the Defence Intranet or be found at the following link: http://defenceintranet.diiweb.r.mil.uk/DefenceIntranet/Admin/ApplyforSFA/ (Please note that this link can only be accessed from an MOD system that has access to the Defence Intranet).

If you have trouble filling in the e-1132 yourself, contact your UWO as they can help you complete it.

Paper version of the 1132 - The paper version is to be used when there is no access to DII. To download a paper version of the 1132 please click here. Please make sure that it is filled in correctly and legibly as any incorrect or illegible forms will be sent back which will delay your allocation of SFA.

Allocation of SSFA

If, when you put in your 1132 (hopefully the electronic version), there are no quarters available you will be given the option to accept a Non Availability Certificate (NAC) which means that a hiring will be sourced for you. You may be asked whether you want to stay on the list for a quarter – THINK VERY CAREFULLY – refusing an NAC will be seen as a refusal of an offer and you will go on to the waiting list which means you may to wait some time for another offer (remember, you have to move within three months of your assignment date in order to be eligible for removals and disturbance allowance).

The Housing Allocations Service Centre (HASC) is to issue a NAC a minimum of 51 days for moves within UK and 65 days for moves in to UK from overseas. The HASC can withdraw the NAC and offer an appropriate SFA if one becomes available any time up to the 51/65 days mentioned above.

The earliest you can apply to get your SSFA is two days prior to your assignment date unless you are returning from overseas or vacating a tied SFA.

You are NOT able to source your own SSFA – you will be given two properties to view (preferably in a 24 hour period) and are to choose one of these. You will then be given notice of address 14 days prior to your required date if in the UK and 28 days prior to your required date if returning from overseas. As with SFA you will be required to sign a License to Occupy and your SSFA will be charged at grade 1 for Rent and CILOCT but you are entitled to challenge the grading on move in.

Quick Guide to occupying SFA

This guide is intended only as a brief summary of points that you should be aware of before and during the occupation of SFA. It is NOT intended to be comprehensive; should you require more detailed information you should refer to the ‘Occupants’ Handbook’ published by DIO, or JSP 464 which contains Tri Service Accommodation Regulations. Should any disparities be found, JSP 464 takes precedence in all cases.

Click here for the Quick Guide to Occupying SFA

In addition see Guide to Living in SFA on the MOD website.

What happens if you turn down your quarter offer?

It is a fact of life in the Army that no two married quarters are ever the same. This is fine if you find yourself moving from a smaller, shabbier house to a bigger, smarter one, but not when it’s the other way around. When this happens moving house on posting takes on a whole new level of stress.

So what happens if, having received your quarter offer, you’ve popped round to view your new home and, horror of horrors, you realise that its too small for your furniture, has no garden, overlooks a major main road and is miles away from the unit and you only have one car between you? Naturally your first instinct will be to reject the quarter and await another offer in the hope that it will be something better (or maybe even somewhere that you actually requested on the 1132 application!). It is at this point that you should stop and think seriously about the consequences of rejecting the quarter offer. Unfortunately, it is another fact of life that there is an increasing shortage of married quarters in many areas in the UK. Therefore, if you decide to turn down your first offer for personal reasons you will automatically go to the bottom of the housing waiting list (having also lost your eligibility to a private hiring). In areas where quarters are still plentiful, you should receive a second offer fairly quickly but, if you happen to be applying to an area that is short of quarters, you may spend weeks, even months, awaiting a second offer. The penalty for this decision may be that the serving member of the household will be required to go ahead and start the new job leaving the rest of the family behind. You may also find that you can only retain for 28 days at your previous location before the Housing Allocations Service Centre (HASC) serve you with a Notice to Vacate, thus leaving you stuck between the two locations with no quarter at all!

I should explain at this point that under the JSP 464 housing regulations, ‘personal reasons’ covers absolutely every conceivable reason you can possibly think of for refusing a quarter. Here are a few of the more common ones:

Furniture doesn’t fit
Lack of garden
Too close to a main road
No garage
Too far away from unit
Too far away from school and no transport
Flat offered when house preferred
Poor state of repair/decoration
Bedrooms too small for children to share

The only permitted reason for refusing an offer, and not having to go to the bottom of a waiting list, being when the HASC makes an offer of SFA below entitlement. Not much room for manoeuvre there then.

Of course, as families, many of us have experienced the frustration of being told that there are no quarters in the area that we have requested to move to, only then to find out on arrival that there are several houses that have been empty for months awaiting repairs, or others occupied by families that are no longer stationed in the area. DIO Ops Accommodation, with the support of the chain of command, are working to ensure that families are occupying quarters only in their entitled locations, or that they have a legitimate reason for retaining a quarter in a previous location.

So before you reject that first SFA offer, give some serious thought to the possible consequences for your family. If you have already turned down one house and are considering rejecting a second offer, then you may find yourself struggling to obtain any quarter allocation at all as the JSP 464 housing regulations only require the HIC to make two offers of SFA.

If you wish to consult JSP 464 tri-Service Accommodation Regulations (TSARs) they can be found on the DIO website - click here.

Retaining a quarter or hiring for educational reasons

Families who have children reaching critical examination periods may apply for retention for up to four months (one academic term) leading to the final public examination. Also, where it is not possible for the child to transfer schools whilst within two years of public examinations (because of school availability, regional syllabus differences or Continuous Assessment Work), then retention is possible up to the public examination. The term public examination only includes GCSE, A / S Level, A Level and/or other nationally recognised, full-time, higher and further education courses up to and including Degree Level. It may be important to know that the child must live permanently in Service Families’ Accommodation (SFA) and be under 25, unmarried and in full time education. Families need to speak to CEAS regarding the “educational impact statement” required by DIO as supporting evidence for retention. CEAS can be contacted on enquiries@ceas.detsa.co.uk or by calling the helpline on 01980 618244.

If you have a child undergoing statementing for Additional Needs, then a quarter may be retained for two academic terms or until the end of the academic year. If you have a child not statemented but with special educational needs, then you can still be considered for retention on welfare/medical grounds, providing that consultation between the Local Service Commander and the relevant welfare, medical and educational agencies is undertaken. Retention will be for a specific period, after which a further application may be made if required.

Surplus quarters – a place in history?

The number of surplus quarters is decreasing and their availability is slipping into history. I have received numerous calls from eligible personnel who have been told that there are no surplus quarters available in many areas. Service personnel divorced with access to children and welfare cases requiring moves nearer to family are just some of the examples of affected families. As they are only eligible for, rather than entitled to, surplus quarters, if there are no available empty properties, then there is little that can be done, despite DIO Ops Accommodation treating each case individually.

When applications are specific to certain areas then the chances of a surplus property are limited. Some less popular areas do have surplus quarters, which DIO Ops Accommodation is eager to fill with occupants, but these are often not in the right location. Just having the property available does not automatically mean that eligible personnel can occupy it. Because of the possible welfare and support structure that may be required, local command approval must also be sought.

It is now common that if an application is declined it will no longer be placed on a waiting list, as many areas do not foresee surplus properties becoming available. I always advise callers who find themselves in this situation to maintain communication with DIO Ops Accommodation/ the HASC and if necessary re-submit their application periodically, especially if no waiting list is held. You never know, one day a suitable surplus property might become available.

If separated serving parents were to become entitled to quarters, then their particular problem would be solved – but until then, if ever, we will still hear of children spending their weekends with their separated parent sleeping on a mess room floor, or soldiers simply leaving the Services to enable them to play an active role in their children’s lives!

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