Haven’t paid rent in months!

Good point re being cheaper than emergency housing. But then the council should arrange a plan for her to pay it back to them. As it was clearly spunked up the wall. Neither the landlord or the council should be out of pocket here for something totally avoidable.

It’s cheaper and easier for the council to pay off the arrears of someone with presumably demonstrable mental health issues who can show that they are in dire straits than to support a whole family through an eviction including temp accom which costs hundreds of pounds per week for however long it takes. In fact they can use a case like that to show that they are carrying out prevention work and have stopped someone from becoming homeless. Its not a solution to any of the problems raised but this is what happens in reality.

Of course that’s not how it works in reality, no matter what some idiots would have you believe.

Is very confusing... are some posters saying so you MUST rent to people on benefits if they want your property?
So one flat, 27 people after it, 17 on benefits 10 not, it's illegal not to take all of the benefits people?

For a starters get your rent paid direct to him from your universal credit why are you not doing this already

Do you have ANY idea how difficult it is to get a DHP, even with genuine reasons unlike the OP? I apply for them for people pretty much every week. There is no way that OP will get one because she forgot to pay. No way.

If it's illegal for the council to not house them, I'm not sure there's much difference at all.

It's not illegal for children to be homeless. I think you mean that the LA have a legal duty to house them if they are legally homeless, which is quite different.

Unfortunately, I expect the taxpayer will pick up the tab. There are kids involved and it is illegal for them to be homeless and parents are fully aware of that fact.

The council will advise her to stay until she's formally evicted and then she will be emergency housed. They'll then almost certainly get a council house and the council will claim the rent direct from central government.

Some people genuinely dont need the money and it isn’t the main driver of their motives (the landlords didn’t notice for over6 months, I’m not suggesting this mean he doesn’t mind, but clearly it’s not the most important thing to him. It’s ok to think slightly differently to you isn’t it? Or is that not allowed?🚫

You’ve misunderstood what I’ve written. I said nothing about guilty tripping or manipulating, just an honest conversation.

We don't know how the LL will react but he hasn't noticed the missing money so he clearly isn't relying on it, and therefore might act generously towards a tenant who clearly has problems. It is somewhat in his interests, because evicting a tenant is a slow and ghastly process for both parties. He might be willing to accept just a proportion of the money owed if OP agrees to move out immediately, and accept an IOU for the rest to be paid whenever the tenant can manage it.
I'm saying this as a LL - I wouldn't want to pressurise a desperate tenant for rent, or ask the guarantor, but I would want the person to move out to somewhere they could more easily afford and sort out benefits rather than staying there accruing more and more unpaid rent.

@EagerExpert I’m assuming that the guarantor won’t want to see the OP and her children homeless-I’m not saying that loaning money is financially sensible, just trying to come up with possible solutions.

I don’t honestly think that the landlord will agree to a long term payment plan with the OP unless she can come up with at least part of the arrears owed quickly, do you?

This thread seems to have a few people on it who think the LL doesn't need the money so should just let OP live there for free and also think the guarantor should do x, y or z to help the OP including loaning her the money?

Let's be honest, they'd be an idiot to loan the OP money. Anyone would be.

They were possibly an idiot to act as guarantor for OP in the first place but she's subsequently proven herself to be a really shitty financial risk in every way so no way would any sensible person offer to loan her the money to pay off her arrears.

I'm not a landlord and I rent and have done for 23 years- at the end of the day whilst agents can't discriminate against people on UC or with pets or even children, a private landlord can prioritise whoever he wants, especially if there are multiple people after the same properties.its one reason we don't have a dog - but we do Borrow my doggy instead. Once you are in it, and paying your rent unless you aren't keeping it up to scratch or not paying rent it's going to be harder without showing discrimination but the issue is that in the first place in private rentals a landlord has the choice whether to rent to you or not - yes it's indirect discrimination but it's also called 'choice' -

@StMarieforme Yes, I think that her guarantor is going to have to pay off some of the arrears tbh. That’s why I suggested that the OP checks her accounts ASAP to see what she can offer LL right away-and also speak to her guarantor.

Perhaps her guarantor can loan the money to pay the arrears and the OP can gradually repay her.

But if she owes 6 times say £800 that's £4800 so paying back at £50 would take 96 months! He's not going to do that!

…or perhaps once bitten?

Not illegal for private landlords - see previous posts.

I don’t believe a single word of your tale and I feel very sorry for your friend!

The mental capacity act in law is very specific and wouldn't cover the OP.

Though it's honestly ridiculous for anyone to suggest that just because OP is bad with money, someone else should take over responsibility for her finances.

It's not at all the same as not having capacity to manage finances.

So? You can rent your own property to whomever you please.

(“What I do illegally anyway”).

Fixed it for you.

You need to be upfront with your landlord and I would make sure the guarantor knows before they are contacted
I have MH diagnosis myself so I do understand the effects on life
6 months is a very long time not to check your bank. You would've checked your benefits had gone in properly at the very least.
Offer to pay the landlord as much as you can afford today and are willing to set up a payment plan for your arrears
Having lost his son, I can understand why he hasn't informed you sooner
Contact CAB for further help

Do you not have to lack capacity for that? You could maybe ask a friend, but who'd want to take that responsibility on?!