Im short with my rent this month and im terrified.

[bowlingforsoup]

Hi need some advice.

Split up with ex dp a few weeks ago. This is the first rent payment i will have to find myself.

It's due on Thursday and i am £250 short at the moment. I have most of it here but using it all would leave me completely skint (and i mean not a penny) until next Friday (21st) when I get paid.

My landlord is really hard to approach. I'm actually quite scared of him because when I was a bit short last time (about £150) he was really annoyed and told me I had 3 days to find it or we were out. Ex DP had lost his job at that point and I was struggling to pay everything myself. I do get a small amount of housing benefit but not much and nowhere near enough to be a big help. Obviously with ex dp moving out my circumstances have changed and the council are reviewing my claim but it takes weeks.

I am really struggling. My wages have dropped to standard maternity pay because I had to leave work a lot earlier due to health reasons.

I'm due a baby next week and I've hardly slept the past 3 nights because I'm so worried ill be homeless by the end of the week. My tenancy agreement runs out on Thursday too so I don't have a leg to stand on - he doesn't have to renew it.

What should I do? Ex dp has made it clear that it's not his problem and if we get thrown out we will just have to deal with it. I have a 4yo DD and we have really settled here. My family aren't in a position to help out and im already due them a lot.

Should I tell my landlord the circumstances?
Just give up and move into a hotel until I get something else?
There is genuinely no council housing available in this area they have even stopped taking applications because the waiting list is so long. I could try but i cant rely on them and to be honest it's up to me to find housing it's not a right to have council accommodation.

I am so stressed i feel sick.

You've bought a £900 pram and a £200 phone recently but have no savings to cover emergencies such as this?

Hmmm. Most of us prioritise, you need to.

Bonquers I think that was unnecessary.

I don't. The LL has to pay his mortgage but the OP hasn't given a thought to the future and spent far more money than most people on a bloody pram.

This is the nub of so much that is wrong, feckless spending, lack of proper priorities, useless men and then, yep, the taxpayer picking up the tab as usual.

She's asking for practical advice, not a kicking and your political views.

He can't legally chuck you out on Friday, even with non payment of rent he has to give you two months notice if your tenancy has gone onto a rolling tenancy (which is does automatically if you haven't been asked to sign a new agreement on thursday.
No more phone calls, get everything in writing, send him an email detailing your conversation this morning and telling him that you are aware of your rights and that until you have official notice to quit you will not be moving. Explain that you wish to resolve the situation amicably, that you have bever defaulted before and that you plan to make up the difference in rent ASAP.
You say in your OP that you have most of the missing £250 already but giving it to him will leave you with nothing til next Friday. Could you manage on part of it til then and offer him more than half? Obviously this depends on what else you have going out, but if it's just food then you could manage on £50 or so easily for 10 days?

Oh and whatever you do DO NOT just give up and move out, you will be classed as making yourself homeless and then your options become severely limited.

OP - what has happened with your wages? Employers can no longer force you to start your maternity leave any earlier than 36 weeks - before that you should have been signed off sick and on sick pay.

I don't understand how you are in such dire straights if your ex has never contributed anyway, and you had enough to pay £900 for a pram.

Can you move in with your family? I am always very at people on MN suggesting that you force your LL to evict you. LLs have bills to pay, families to feed like everyone else, and to withhold rent and cost them ££££s in court fees when you have any other option is just rude, and spiteful and frankly vile.

I also suggest that you get on to the CSA asap about getting some money from your children's father.

Just like some tenants are horrible, some landlords are too :( I have had a wonderful LL who was able to give me two months grace during difficult times so it's horrible that yours, given your good history, is unwilling to extend you a bit of courtesy.

Having said that, since LL won't, look at your tenancy agreement and see what the terms are, call Shelter as advised up thread, follow up your HB claim re changes (my local centre wrote to my LL to help so worth the ask) and, if rent will be an issue long term, look for somewhere less expensive.

Not sure where you are but here a) landlords often refuse HB claimants but b) many can't fill their tenancies so perhaps worth pointing out, if you can afford the property on HB and income, that you are a good tenant and a bit of leeway now will ensure them continuity as well as saving costs on advertising.

I have never been a LL but I know they have their costs and bills so it's not fair to ask then to 'carry' you indefinitely. Selling possessions at whatever price to keep a roof over your head is a better option than being blacklisted but if, long term, you cannot afford where you live then it is better, despite the pain, to find somewhere more affordable.

Pretty shit that your OH won't help their kids stay in their home but unfortunately us lone parents have to cut our cloth according to our income so I suppose best of getting used to that and work on increasing your own income and consider any maintenance as a bonus if you cannot rely on it.

Bonquers that was uncalled for. The pram was bought months ago, presumably when the now ex dp was still around and no need to worry about paying the mortgage.

if my dp was to walk out and leave me just now (at 37 weeks pregnant) i would just make the next mortgage payment, except the mortgage company would give a bit of grace to get sorted out.

op, i can understand your landlord is not happy as he probably relies on that money to pay the mortgage and other bills related to the property. However, as i said previously as a landlord, it is better to get some money now rather than no money and wait a week to get the rest.

is the rental agreement solely in your name as otherwise your exdp can't just walk away from this.

You say in your op that you've been short with rent before but your last message states you've never been late or short. ??

OP, you do seem to lurch from one situation to the next with little planning ahead. Your OP has cheated on you, and things have been going wrong for a long time. Did you think ahead over the last few months? Save any money separately? Plan for what would happen if and when you threw himout?
So now you are going to have to be hard-headed and logical, and although you are almost ready to have your second child. Do you have a friend or a relative that can help you out with either money or support whilst you phone? You will need to make decisions and be pro-active, however tired you are.
Have you asked ex-p to pay his share for the next couple of months, even if you have to pay him back? Have you got onto the CSA as well?
They are his children too, are they his only ones? Is he already supporting children? If so, he knows what's expected of him.

I would list the bugaboo on as many sites as you can, netmums local, vivastreet, gumtree they are all free to list on and get a lot of traffic.

If you sell your phone could a friend give you an old pay as you go?

Op tbf if you can't afford rent this month how on earth are you going to pay next month etc?

Whilst the ll cannot just evict you I doubt he will want to keep you as a tenant given your situation. You have been £150 short in the past and now you are £250 short.

It may not be your fault given situation with your ex however you don't know your ll situation. For example if he upped the rent by £250 with short notice you would struggle and be outraged and the loss of £250 would hit you hard. Well you have effectively just put him in that very position.

You need to sort your finances ASAP and once your on top of them stay on top of them

Offer the pram to the landlord

Op, I hope you are ok xx

I assume the OP managed to sell her phone, and if that was her only method of Internet access then that would explain why she hasn't been back to update us.

I'm a landlord and while I would be annoyed that my tenant didn't have the rent I would be more annoyed that they hadn't let me know the situation.
That being said, the landlord would be silly to evict you when you have told him you would have the money a week later.
But OP, how are you going to make next months rent, which is due in two weeks?

You can apply for a crisis loan from the job centre, whether you claim benefits or not.
You are also entitled to claim income support now you are a single parent, which is probably more than the SMP, you should also call the IR and sort out your tax credits.
And push the council to rush through your housing benefit claim. I believe you can apply for a payment from the council to cover any rent while you wait, you should ask about it.

If your landlord does seriously want to evict you then, regardless of the agreement ending, he has to give you proper written notice, which will give you time to sort something else out.
You could use the crisis loan from the JC to help with a deposit on a new place, and you will have a while to save up the rest.
You also need to contact the CSA and make a claim against that worthless ex of yours.

It doesn't sound like this LL is going to give you a good reference anyway, so I would suggest that if you can't sort out a new home before the notice is up to just stay put, the LL can not remove you, he will have to go to court which will likely take a couple of months and give you time to find something else.

If you need a good reference for a new place feel free to PM me, I would be happy to pose as your landlord and give you a glowing reference.

Good luck.

WeAreEternal...what you are suggesting is fraud and of course illegal...I think the OP has enough problems without taking this route, however well meant your intentions are.