To ask what you’d do in this dire situation?

@ReallyStuck2024 how about an interim move to somewhere like Andover? Much cheaper and on the way to Devon.

PS
Oh, and you will actually be changing someone else's life and helping them. And you might learn a bit of a new language. And feel like you are trading kindness and not money for home and pleasure.

Try it.

Right, come on. Here I am. The Cavalry.

Background: I've been living in the mire you are now peering down at for some (fairly long) time (in my case due to abusive ex and super-abusive witch behind him extorting a stack of cash from me to save my and my daughter and son's lives but that's another Netflix ; ) .....

So.

I have a horrendous credit history. No money. And for a while have had no income (due to stopping doing what had been doing with him - previously had come from a very solid writing career).

Listen, and follow these instructions : )

If you are currently paying £1,100 a month rent and £400 bills, that is £1,500. You move up north. You move to somewhere actually very nice around West or South Yorkshire. You sit in a lovely little house and do your work.

This will cost you maybe max £750 a month for the house and say £300 bills, so we have £1050. BUT, you have 2 bedrooms. In one, you kindly home a Ukrainian refugee (carefully selected - ask me - I have lots of lovely friends I have helped, I know something about all of this). You get from the council a payment of around min. £425 a month to say thank you. So now your £1,050 is £625 a month. This is £775 less a month. So basically 2 months here is less than 1 month where you are.

And you are not alone.

And you are living somewhere lovely, where everything (and I mean everything, even a carton of milk) is cheaper. So, for example, in the SE where I am now sadly forced to be for a while, the cheapest diesel is £1.38/L. In Yorkshire I have seen it for £1.29/L.

It all adds up, OP, it all adds up.

It will not take you 6 months to furnish a place. You go on Facebook marketplace and get ludicrous bargains from people who went all out furnishing their place then split up 6 months later and now don't want to look at any of it. And you buy the stuff up there. Your removal costs are £350 for whatever you're taking up.

You do this. The deposit is £750 not £2,750.

Move North.

It's a different country.

A better one.

There are actually quite a lot of options the OP has which have been outlined by many other posters. All far more likely lead to a successful outcome than “thoughts and prayers” ever could.

Apart from airbnb whilst you save you could also go for

Narrow Boat rentals / long term holiday lets

Has he definitely served the notice to increase properly, I know it has to be in writing etc… our landlord served a notice via email/text once but it wasn’t valid as it hadn’t been properly served so we didn’t pay the increase the next month and negotiated a price in between (he was increasing far beyond the local rent).

Moving a bit cheaper is entirely possible - pre Brexit I had loads of furniture transported from Ireland for less the €200 as a truck was coming this way with a bit of space they wanted to fill. If you put how many boxes you need to move on shipley you may get a mover who has space to fit it in with another shipment at a reduced cost - you just have to be a little flexible on your dates and times so they can fit it in with another shipment. We have also used enterprise car club to hire vans and but you pay per the mile so probably better for short distances - handy for picking up furniture locally!

Facebook marketplace has lots of secondhand furniture, there are also quite a few charity shops that sell furniture, some of which deliver locally, so don’t let that element put you off!

We were in a rental years back managed by Oceans letting and in the contract they had the clause of professional cleaning (house, oven, carpets) which was particularly annoying as the house was dirty when we moved in - particularly the carpets! We pointed out it was cleaner now and we had photographs etc… but they said if we didn’t produce a cleaners receipt they would keep part of the deposit so we found some cleaner who does all three things together for £160 but didn’t do as good a job as I would have done myself.

Personally I would move, put some stuff in storage if you have too much for a room rental, save and then move into a bigger space in a few months.

OP would my caravan holiday suggestion above work do you think?

To quote Sister Michael

"For feck's sake"

Good luck @ReallyStuck2024, you'll get yourself to Devon.

I would also consider signing up for job alerts for things in your field or similar. Even a small increase in your wages would really help. Maybe it's the kind of job that doesn't come up much but things will be advertised and just having a regular email digest means you can keep an eye out.

Prayer - St Joseph for financial assistance, St Philomena for a miracle, or rhe souls in purgatory to sort it for you. People may laugh but you have got no other option at this stage.

Why move to Devon when no one can help financially or practically, surely there are cheaper places near there that would allow you to visit more easily than Surrey but without paying premium Devonshire prices . Bristol?

Alternatively pursue the lodger route rather than trying to get your own place which you sadly can't afford.

Maybe a fresh start up North where accommodation is obviously cheaper? I know you want family support but there's always the phone and facetime.

What industry are you in? That's such a basic wage it's awful.

As pp have said, you can challenge the rent increase at a rent tribunal. The section 13 you said you have been served should tell you how to do this.
I presume you are not on any means tested benefits.

Can you guys share for a few weeks?

I know that's probably a stupid idea. But if it's not for long and you shared the rent? Since you're both in a rubbish situation you could maybe help each other out

and not one of them can help you out financially or with a place to stay temporarily?

A lot of holiday cottages in Devon are rented out on 6-month tenancies over the winter, and they are furnished so you wouldn't need to worry about buying furniture until you find a more permanent place. Google 'winter lets Devon'.

On a very quick look at Airbnb, putting in two months, feb and March, and Exeter, you could get something for about £1k a month. Given that this would include bills and be equipped so you could move in with basically a suitcase it might give you a couple of months breathing space, time to save, time to look at different areas.