To wonder if social services become involved if you're made homeless?

Surely you are getting a bit carried away with worrying over 30 years' hence. You have the option to take control by saving and finding somewhere else before the ll sells , if that is even their plan. You need to spend time reviewing your budgets and optimising your income, whether through you working pt, your dh looking for a different job , maybe in a cheaper area or within a reasonable travel distance of a cheaper area. You still haven't clarified how you are required to live in a specific area yet he doesn't often work there. Have you contacted local HAs in case you can join their lists?

and BTW they can put you in a hostel with children, i don't want to scare you but i know a few people placed in bnb's where they had to get out after breakfast and stay out till bed time, one used to sit in the council office all day with her kids as she had no where else to go, another was in some sort of hostel but could stay there all day and another friend was given a flat in a tower block with flats reserved for homeless people until they could house her. This was only about 4 year ago, idk unless it has changed

The way our homeless list works is you are put on the list and pick an area, N.E.S.W of the borough, you then check weekly and bid on properties in this area, the bidding runs for 13 weeks, if you don't bid on a property if it is deemed as adequate for your needs your homeless advisor will bid on it for you. So week 12 i finished second on a house i wanted, the following week my advisor bidded on a house i would never have bidded on and i finished first, i then immediately appealed it and it went to the panel, I won the appeal then it was a case of you take the next one, if you don't your removed from the homeless list.

My council estate is lovely, some are and some are not so nice. I hase lived on a council estate almost all my life and i can tell you they are a lot more strict on people now especially over the last few years. I live facing some flats which tend to change hands frequently, the ones who cause a disturbance seem to get booted out pretty quickly nowadays and they don't tolerate rent arrears anymore, at one time people could get a few throusand behind in rent now they ring me and turned up on the door step for £14 arrears. Yes it is security having a council house, I have had this one now for 6 years, before that i bought my Dms house and lived there a few years and before that i private rented, i feel a lot more secure now than i did with a dodgy northern rock mortgage i took on knowing i couldn't cover it and should never have got approved, at the time i was desperate to get out of private rented.

I got to put on the homeless list on the bidding system and it was basically pot luck, i got what i was given. I got one miles away, won an appeal and got the one i had before this one, i then done a 3 way exchange to get this house with a friend and her work friend.

The average rent for a 3 bed in Newcastle is about £500 but some LL's charge way over the odds, a typical 2 bed victorian flat is about £380

Of course I think it's unfair we pay £1000 a month for a 2 bed place when 2 streets away council tenants are paying £500 for 3 need places but this would never make me try and do anything that wasn't by the book

I live in the next street to the one i was brought up in. My mam bought her house in that street for 14 thousand. I bought it off her for 80 then split with my ex and had it repossessed, sold at auction to a BTL LL for 71, i was on the homeless list and got a council house then 2 years later exchanged and live in the next street to my old house house. My friend rents it, 3 bed £650pcm. My council rent on the exact same house is £360pcm. Blame the RTB scheme for the lack of council houses and BTL landlords making a fortune on them. Many people like my mam sold it for a massive profit as soon as the 3 years were up then many were repossessed in the 90s or bought up by LL's.

Dear god - £1000 a month for a 2 bed house! You might not want to say but it sounds like you could be living in an expensive part of the country. Hope it's not London. I'm in the West Midland and rents are approx. £500 a month for a 3 bed house, dependent on which particular area.

No an eviction notice isn't like a CCJ.

Section 21 notice will be a minimum of 2 months. Ideally you would find somewhere to move to in that time to coincide with the date the notice expires.

You can still legally remain in the property after the notice expires, but agent and landlord may be a bit annoyed as extra hassle and expense to apply to court for a court order. This process can take up to a couple of months, depends how quickly your local court works. As long as correct notice served etc the court will grant eviction and give a date to leave the property. If you are still in the property when the court order expires landlord/ agent can go back to court for a bailiffs warrant. The date on the warrant is when bailiffs turn up at the property to remove you and change the locks. That whole process can take up to 3 months but maybe quicker if courts are quick.

Council may advise you to stay in property if you have nowhere else to go. unfortunately if you need the councils assistance with finance or help to find another property it us probably best to follow the advice they give you, but the end part of the process can be quite stressful.

I know it's hard renting, I was still only able to afford a room in a shared house aged 30, mot much fun.

Whilst it's not ideal privately renting is probably the option that will be most available to you. Get lots of advice, have a chat with the council, tell them honestly your concerns, see what they can offer. But then probably the best thing to do is to find another property to rent that is affordable for you. Before putting any money down ask the council if they will pay the deposit and rent in advance for you (they may do it as a loan rather than a grant) to secure the property. Ideally try to save some money towards the rent in advance as it always looks good and shows the council that you are trying to help yourselves as well.

Councils don't really want to take homelessness applications and make formal homeless / intentionally homeless decisions unless they have too (affects their statistics) if they can prevent you from becoming homeless by securing a property in the private sector for you they will, as more cost effective for them.

Social services as someone said earlier are so cash strapped they will only want to get involved if concerns for the welfare of your children or if you have been offered accommodation options, turned them down and their is a real chance you might have to sleep rough with the children. Even then they will try to ensure the children can stay with someone whilst you get yourselves sorted.

I know it's a stressful time but try to stay one step ahead and in control of the situation. It will be more stressful if you just wait for the council to come up with something. Horrible to see families with children waiting at a council with their belongings waiting to find out what bed and breakfast can be found for them :-(

The fact that you are thinking about these things in advance proves that you want to get the situation sorted out. So many people wait till the last minute when there are such limited options available.

I don't think they would put you into a hostel with children. They're usually single occupancy (and single sex?) and don't take under 18s anyway. It would be B&B (grim but at least you'd have a door to close) or a temporary flat.

I wonder if you could get a loan for the 10k for the part buy places? If the repayments were similar to the difference between your current rental costs and the cost of half rent/half mortgage on the part buy place?

If you stay until you're evicted, do you still get your deposit back? I have no idea about this, just wondering if the LL can keep it to cover legal costs. Will you need that deposit to help with a new place?

SORRY - didn't mean to duplicate post! Time I went to bed!

My understanding of the legislation regarding homelessness is as follows:

If you are deemed to be unintentionally homeless and in priority need (because of having children in this case) then the Housing Dept have a duty to re-house you. Having said that all councils are desperately short of housing stock (most of it is sub contracted to HAs) but there is still a massive shortfall with demand far exceeding supply. But the duty remains, and so they would have to find accommodation. They are not meant to put families in B & B (and not for longer than 6 weeks) but they do this in some areas of the country where there are no other options.

Because of the shortage of council/HA properties LA Housing Depts are now in the ludicrous situation where they have to house people in private rented accommodation in order to fulfil their duty, but tenants can claim Housing Benefit if they fulfil the criteria. If you are unfortunate enough to live in London, you could be housed anywhere in the country, where the rents are cheapest.

NB Don't vote Tory

Incidentally even if you are deemed to be intentionally homeless but in priority need they have a duty to provide you with temporary accommodation.

LA Housing Depts can loan advanced rent and deposits etc on a private rented property as this is a cheaper option for them than having to provide accommodation themselves.

OP PLEASE stop worrying about social services - (retired social worker here with 30 years experience) and child protection procedures - it won't happen - there has to be evidence that a child is being significantly harmed. Time was when Social Services would be able to provide some financial help for families in need of housing (and yes S.17 of the CA 1989) is still in existence but they too are severely cash strapped so it's highly unlikely you would get any financial help from them. Sometimes social services and housing work together but this will be on the basis of helping homeless families not invoking child protection procedures (unless of course there was evidence that a child was being abused/neglected)

I agree with others that SHELTER (the biggest Housing Charity) are excellent - have a look at their website, and you can talk to them on the phone.

I'm wondering OP about this "help to buy" scheme (not that I know anything about it) and there may be a catch but might b worth a look at the details. The other thing is there are properties where you can buy a half share (again worth looking into) there were some really nice houses in our local paper being offered for sale on this basis (3 bed semi) for around £60/£70 K - it's a really tough time for families and anyone in need of housing as owners can keep increasing rents and evicting tenants if they think they can get higher rents.

CAB might be a good place to give you information. The other excellent charity on all welfare rights is Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG)

My understanding of the legislation regarding homelessness is as follows:

If you are deemed to be unintentionally homeless and in priority need (because of having children in this case) then the Housing Dept have a duty to re-house you. Having said that all councils are desperately short of housing stock (most of it is sub contracted to HAs) but there is still a massive shortfall with demand far exceeding supply. But the duty remains, and so they would have to find accommodation. They are not meant to put families in B & B (and not for longer than 6 weeks) but they do this in some areas of the country where there are no other options.

Because of the shortage of council/HA properties LA Housing Depts are now in the ludicrous situation where they have to house people in private rented accommodation in order to fulfil their duty, but tenants can claim Housing Benefit if they fulfil the criteria. If you are unfortunate enough to live in London, you could be housed anywhere in the country, where the rents are cheapest.

NB Don't vote Tory

Incidentally even if you are deemed to be intentionally homeless but in priority need they have a duty to provide you with temporary accommodation.

LA Housing Depts can loan advanced rent and deposits etc on a private rented property as this is a cheaper option for them than having to provide accommodation themselves.

OP PLEASE stop worrying about social services - (retired social worker here with 30 years experience) and child protection procedures - it won't happen - there has to be evidence that a child is being significantly harmed. Time was when Social Services would be able to provide some financial help for families in need of housing (and yes S.17 of the CA 1989) is still in existence but they too are severely cash strapped so it's highly unlikely you would get any financial help from them. Sometimes social services and housing work together but this will be on the basis of helping homeless families not invoking child protection procedures (unless of course there was evidence that a child was being abused/neglected)

I agree with others that SHELTER (the biggest Housing Charity) are excellent - have a look at their website, and you can talk to them on the phone.

I'm wondering OP about this "help to buy" scheme (not that I know anything about it) and there may be a catch but might b worth a look at the details. The other thing is there are properties where you can buy a half share (again worth looking into) there were some really nice houses in our local paper being offered for sale on this basis (3 bed semi) for around £60/£70 K - it's a really tough time for families and anyone in need of housing as owners can keep increasing rents and evicting tenants if they think they can get higher rents.

CAB might be a good place to give you information. The other excellent charity on all welfare rights is Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG)

Probably not no but if you don't have the money for the deposit?