How to strengthen your housing register application with medical evidence

If you have a health condition that is made worse by your current housing, you may be able to apply for a higher priority band on the housing register. The key is providing the right medical evidence in the right way. Here is how medical priority works and how to build a strong case.

What is medical priority on the housing register?

Most councils operate a banding or points-based system. Medical priority is one way to move into a higher band or gain additional points. The council's housing department assesses whether your current housing is unsuitable or is significantly affecting your health, and if so, places you in a higher priority category than you would otherwise be in.

The assessment is not automatic. You need to apply for a medical assessment and provide supporting evidence. The strength of that evidence determines whether you are awarded medical priority and, if so, at what level.

When does housing affect medical priority?

Medical priority is generally awarded where your current housing is:

• Making an existing condition significantly worse
• Preventing appropriate management of your condition
• Causing risk of harm (for example, a person with mobility problems living in a property with multiple flights of stairs, or a person with severe respiratory disease living in a damp and mouldy home)
• Not adapted for your needs in a way that substantially limits daily living

The connection between your condition and your current housing is what matters. A health condition alone, without a link to the housing, does not automatically attract medical priority.

What evidence you need

A letter from your doctor or specialist

The most important piece of evidence is a letter from a clinician who knows your condition well, your doctor, a hospital consultant, a specialist nurse, or an occupational therapist. The letter should:

• State your diagnosis clearly
• Describe how your condition affects you day-to-day
• Explain the specific connection between your housing and your health, for example, "the persistent damp and cold in the current property is worsening [patient's] COPD and causing more frequent respiratory infections"
• Set out what type of alternative housing would address the problem (ground floor, no stairs, away from damp, adapted bathroom, etc.)
• Confirm that the connection is, in the clinician's professional view, clinically significant

A generic letter that simply states the diagnosis without connecting it to the housing is much less effective than one that makes the link explicit.

Specialist reports and assessments

Depending on your condition, specialist reports may carry more weight than a letter from your doctor alone:

• Occupational therapist report: OTs assess how a person's disability or health condition affects their ability to manage at home. An OT report recommending a ground-floor property, a property with a wet room, or a property without stairs is highly persuasive evidence for medical priority.

• Respiratory specialist: for conditions like COPD or asthma worsened by damp, a letter from a consultant respiratory physician or a respiratory specialist nurse explaining the clinical link to housing conditions carries significant weight.

• Physiotherapist or neurologist: for mobility conditions, neurological conditions, or those involving falls risk.

Your own written account

Your own account of how your health and daily life are affected by your housing matters too. Write a clear, factual statement describing:

• Your health conditions and their practical impact on you
• Specific ways your current home makes things worse (for example, "the stairs mean I cannot use the bathroom independently", or "the mould in the bedroom causes me to wake coughing every night")
• Any incidents caused by the housing (falls, hospital admissions, antibiotic courses linked to respiratory infections in the property)
• What you have tried to do (reported repairs, requested adaptations)

Evidence of the housing conditions

Photographs of damp, mould, broken heating, unsafe stairs, or other problems support your account. Environmental health reports or previous repair correspondence also help establish that the conditions you describe have been independently verified or are on record.

How to submit a medical assessment request

Contact the council's housing department and ask to make a medical assessment application. Ask for their form (most councils have one) and find out who carries out the assessment, some councils have in-house medical advisers, others use an independent service.

Submit the form alongside all of your supporting evidence in one package. Do not rely on the council to gather evidence, provide everything yourself.

If medical priority is refused or awarded at a low level

You have the right to request a review of a medical priority decision. If you have new evidence, additional letters, or an OT report that was not included in the original submission, include it in the review request.

If the review decision remains unfavourable and you believe it is wrong, you can:

• Make a formal complaint through the council's complaints process
• Seek advice from a housing adviser (Citizens Advice, Shelter, or a local law centre)

When should I contact Support for Tenants?

If you are living in disrepair, damp, mould, cold, or structural problems, that is affecting your health and making your medical priority case stronger, you may also have a disrepair claim against your landlord. These are separate but compatible routes. Call us on 0800 030 4669.

No upfront cost. You only pay if you win, and the fee comes out of the compensation. If you don't win, you pay nothing.

Sources

• Housing Act 1996, Part 6 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Equality Act 2010 (legislation.gov.uk)

Related articles

• How to get rehoused, the housing register
• Occupational therapist, housing disrepair referral
• Medical evidence letter, for housing claim