To want the council to house me after leaving abusive husband?

[EllenandBump]

I left my husband on 5th november and went down to mum's in kent. I then applied to the coucil for housing as my mum hasnt got the room for us to stay there permanently. And when i say abusive, he stabbed me in the leg in one incident.

Today, I received a letter to say that bexley council advise that i approach northampton council (where i left) to get rehoused.

Is it so unreasonable for me to want to be housed in the borough i spent my first 16years of life, where my sister lives and the same borough as my mum was born in and has lived for all 64years of her life?

I have explained that i have PND and need support and have no friends in northampton, and only had my husband there. My mum and sister are my only family. just dont see how they can refer me back there with a clear conscience. Although, i havent told the police the extent of it, cos i didnt want trouble from his family and just want to move on, i dont really want to have every thing dragged up in court.

Have you contacted your old council to find out how to get off the tenancy there? Are you sure you don't want to take action against your ex so that you can have your house back? You may need a solicitors advice about this.

You really need to push on this, it's for your future and your child/ren. I can appreciate you are probably still a little shell shocked but it's rather frustrating for eveyone offering advice to you and you appear to be batting it off and just wanting a council house NOW. It's not going to happen so you need to make other plans.

Oh and if you do present as homeles and get put into bed and breakfast, I can say from experience it's not actually as bad as you'd think it is, so if you are worrying about that, please don't be.

There certainly are nice council properties in Bexley, particularly in the south of the borough - I own an ex-council house in one of them :) What I would say is that these houses are fairly few in number, and demand is very high. All the families I can think of who have moved in whilst I've lived here have 4 or more children - my neighbours have 4 children and only moved from a 2 bed flat to their house in the last year or so. In your position I would have thought you'd be better off going down the private rented route to get a place in your choice of area.

Have I understood correctly, in that if you have a tenancy elsewhere, Bexley won't house you, but if you give up that tenancy they won't house you as intentionally homeless?

Surely there must be exceptions or DV?

*for DV. ooops

People who arent on housing benefit dont understand how hard it is to get a place and when you have no savings (unless the £3.56 in my bank account counts) there is so very few landlords that will take you on. There are supposed to be exceptions, ie if it is unreasonable for you to return to a property, which in my situation i feel it is unreasonable to return to a tencancy which he occupies.

What really peeped me off is that i always believed that you were entitled to be on ANY councils waiting list, but if you were out the borough and had no housing need would be placed right at the bottom. So why hasnt bexley council even allowed me to do that?

I know i wont get a council house right now, but surely i should at least be put on the list, even if it is in the lowest banding?

I have been down the private rented route before, and was evicted 8months pregnant. When you are on housing benefit and a RDS, the landlord treats you like dirt and wont do the repairs, because they know you have no option but to remain there.

I need my mum more than ever right now as she knows what it feels like to be homeless with children, when my grandad died, she didnt know if she would have a roof over her head with me and my sister, because she was thinking it would have to be sold to pay for the funeral. Fortunatly, his life insurance policy covered the solicitor costs and funeral expenses as it had to go through probate as at the time there was no will.

Huntycat that IS the £67.50 a week ESA! Plus CTC and CB.

And yes I DO have an idea about private renting and housing benefit. We currently rent our 4 bed house to a single parent mum on housing benefit, I saw her no different than a tenant without housing benefit, to me all that matters is that she treats the house as hers and therefore keeps it in a good state and pays her rent (relatively) on time. The LHA for the area is £780 a month and we rent the house at £650 a month. I could screw the HB system and deliberately put the rent up but why? If ever the mum makes enough to not claim HB, she will do it easier without such a high rent. It works both ways, she for her part keeps the house in a great condition. And I don't know where you get this deposit thing from, we didn't ask for any deposit at all, the tenant paid a fee of something like £100 to the agent who looks after the house (we are currently posted abroad), so all our tenant had to pay was the first month's rent. But where does anyone get money from? Well they save it, they borrow it, they earn it, they find a guarantor. At some point you do have to be an adult and take responsibility and provide for oneself and not live with this "I have a right to be a housed" attitude - and I am not getting personally at the OP here.

You are the exception then natation and I'm happy you're such a great landlord.
However, most landlords ask for one month's rent as a deposit and a month's rent up front. Even if you're working, it is difficult to find that kind of money.

I looked at renting about 4 years ago and typical rent was about £650 for somewhere decent. So that would be £1300 up front plus agent's fees of £250 I think.

FABBY is right, we were homeless for 6mnths this year, we were in the midlands when we lost our home, they wouldn't touch us as wed not been there a year, so we went back to where I'd grown, up and wed lived together previously, even then it was a god damn long battle, requiring 5 appeals and help from a local mp.

Councils are fecking horrible, they just don't care.

When we won our battle they chucked us to the nearest homeless charity who told us with referal they'd have housed us immeadiatly... Were now in a private let in a town/county we'd never visited let alone lived in.

Did I say the council are horrible?

The reason i have no savings is because of my ex's lifestyle. I am good with money, but because of the way i left only had a few clothes for both of us and nothing more. I have had to but a travel cot, bedding etc, and currently i only get esa as the cb was in his name so have to get it changed into mine, which apparently he has to sign into mine or i will contest it, i should know in about 7 weeks time, which he has done. The child tax credits required more information so currently i am only on esa, which is not much to live on. I have no coat yet, shoes or many warm jumpers, my mum is 64 and a pensioner on a basic state pension, so there is little money coming in and have just paid some money towards a gas bill and still want to but something for my son for christmas.

What i think is unreasonable is that they wont even put me on the register, and they havent even given a decision just advice. The first time i went in they just said i'd need to talk to northampton.

Everything is a mess. People assume cos you get benefits you can afford to save, i just cant, i have nothing and have to start from scratch. My mum isnt able to let us stay here long, so i have to find somewhere quickly. I know it will take time, i am not saying it wont, i am just saying its a lot of money to save on a low income. I have looked into loans and even the bad credit ones wont touch me. Mum has absolutely no money saved, it all goes on her home as the fencing needs doing, the tree in the front garden needs coming out (cso it is dying) a new tv aerial for the switchover, her washing amchine packed up so she had to have a new one as did her boiler, and cos she owns the place it is down to her to fix. My dad cant help either before anyone asks as he died 22years ago, and left nothing behind. Some times life feels like a b*h.

I am also glad there are some landlords out there that will help, its just very few and far between. i have been in contact with various estate agents online and i never get a response back. My friend emma (who has rent in advance and a deposit) also cant find anywhere in the area to take housing benefit and a baby.