To beg for your help!

[EllenandBump]

I am just really desperately asking everyone (and anyone) if they know of any landlords in the bexley, greenwich, sidcup, dartford, erith, thamesmead and surroung areas who take housing benefit! PLEASE HELP ME FIND THEM! Really just wondered if anyone knew any, and if so please can i have their phone number. PRETTY PLEASE!

I have asked everyone i know about landlords, and they are asking everyone they know. Will make sure i see an mp next week obviously depending we dont get too much snow!! I am in contact with DHA, Houisng law solicitors through shelter. Dont believe he has given his part of the tenancy up, and therefore would have to have his permission to home swap and tbh its a shit hole place. I have no keys to it cos he took them off of me! They have been challenging the decision, they originally came back with basically, the police arent taking it any furher about the divorce = your lying so no we wont help. Got confirmation from old health visitor that there were suspicions of domestic violence.abuse so therefore they could no longer say that, now they are saying cos he has handed his keys in its reasonable for me to return, except if he is still on tenancy he has a right to be there, has probably got more keys than he handed in, and i know the only place he could be staying is at his mothers, which their relationship is volatile at best. It feels like he is making sure i have no option but to return to northampton, which i am desperate not to do. I have no friends there to help me and would be very isolated, and feel obviously very unsafe. He has stabbed me in the leg, which i didnt tell the police as i was really too scared to go to court and didnt want the hassle, just wanted to move on with my life. If he had a copy of them keys, which he could well have done, he could be waiting there one day to hurt me and take our child. He has been in contact with a solicitor, which i did get legal advice and since have heard nothing back from his solicitor cos i have phoned mine and it has now been over a month, si windering if it was a bluff, or if he can force me back to northampton he is going to snatch my son. At the moment i know i am safe. I am at mums and never go out alone, or open the door unless i know i am expecting someone and even then i check to confirm who it is first through the window. If i get myself somewhre here to live, i wont have to give him my address so he wont ba able to track me down and plan to change my name by deed poll, so i am not easy to trace.

Sorry about the long post

That's excellent news that he's handed the keys in surely??

All you have to do is get the council to change the locks...and believe me they will

Nothing concrete to add Im afraid so bumping for you anyway.

But , just speculating on the possibility of reclaiming the house in Northampton(whether or not you move into it) and then immediately put in for an exchange.

Would that or something similar be possible?

An exchange is an excellent idea

did you put a wanted add in gumtree? thats how i found my place.

sorry
I had no idea your situation was so bad.
I think Womans Aid should be able to help.
They can influence council and also have contacts with landlords and other charities who might be able to help.
Do you have any links to a church? Sometimes church members can help with temporary accommodation.
I also think you should insist on police involvement if only to record your experiences.
If I think of anything else I will post tomorrow.

But an exchange would mean he would have to give permission as he is still on the tenancy. I would be going back to somewher i feel unsafe and have NO friends and no support, he would know where i live and WOULD make my life hell. I would be living in fear....again. Hence i dont want to go back, all my friends and family are in london. I have really really looked into it. Hence asking if anyone knew of any landlords who do housing benefit in the area....and a rent deposit scheme, apparently the council are willing to put me on that. Shelters people are trying to go down the route of mental health etc, cos i have post natal depression and didnt seek help myself, my ex ended up (eventually) taking me to the doctors. His mum wanted him to leave me then, get me sectioned and take our son. He told her i was sectioned! I wasnt though! Any suggestions gratefully received, but going back to northampton, honestly is really not emotionally an option. It would all remind me of the abuse etc, and i really would be scared, This is someone who stabbed me in the leg, so not to be messed with. I am sure he would have kept a copy of that key, and we are supposed to have home insurance change any locks under the tenancy agreement or foot the bill.

The police have been involved. Will speak to my advisor at shelter about womens aid being able to help. Anything you think of would be fantastic. Thank you for everyones support

But an exchange would mean he would have to give permission as he is still on the tenancy

Not if he's handed the keys back.

Ellen I've read almost every thread you've started about this problem and as much as I realise this is not the ideal solution you're after...I think it's the best you're going to get with the way things are regarding social housing.

It's a case of move back in and ask the council to change the locks...then get an exchange.

Or wait til your Mum throws you and your child out and go down the homeless hostel route.

There really seems no other option I'm sorry to say.

Apparently by the sounds of it, he has handed MY keys in, but not HIS, as if its fine for me to return. Its not though. Really trying hard to stay in this or neighbouring boroughs, hence trying t find a private landlord to take me, as loads have suggested, but wondered if anyone knew of any in the area who do take housing benefit. Northampton would really HAVE to be my absolute dying last option. I know this is a pain, but i really am trying so so hard. I want to do whats right by me and my little boy, and going back to live n edge and in fear while waiting for an exchange, to london could take years, years of stress and fear. I have lived long enough with that, so really looking at privately renting now. The council have agreed with a housing rep from shelter to help with a deposit so i have at least got that now, which they werent prepared to do before! Maybe claire (my housing rep) will have a list or other ideas.

If he has stated he has no intention to return and handed the keys back, could you reasonably change the locks? Not ideal but better than wondering if he can get in... Can you get him taken off the tenancy? Maybe the council who are refusing to house you can lean on Northampton council to do that in order to make you their problem, so to speak?

As for landlords who take housing benefit - I have rented on HB before and I found the easiest way to do it was to approach the landlord of a property you like the look of, even if it says they don't take HB, and ask if they would be prepared to consider you. In many cases if you can get past the agent and meet the landlord (or never deal with an agent in the first place, I once rented an absolutely lovely property from an old lady who put an ad in the paper), and show them that you are a polite, well groomed, mature sounding person, they are can be persuaded to change their mind. This worked for me on several occasions. It is even easier if you have someone who is willing (and has sufficient income to) act as a guarantor, but I appreciate that might not be an option for you.

Bumping for you, hope you find somewhere.

Unfortunately whilst you are on the tenancy elsewhere I doubt you can get housing benefit for a new place. YOu would have to remove yourself from the tenancy at your old place first, you might wish to check to see if this is correct.

Try, torent.co.uk

You are entitled to housing benefit for an old property for up to 4 weeks after you move out apparently. I would, when IF i get my own place, remove myself from that tenancy, however all the benefits WERE in his name, so the rent possibly isnt getting paid any longer, although the council has been emailed and in contact with bexley council to kn ow i am no longer living at that address because of domestic abuse, and i have heard nothing from them. Such a mess. Will try what was suggested and se if i can convince them to take me on. My sisters aprtner peter, is phoning around a few friends at the moment. I cant give up my old tenancy or i am intentionally homeless until i have a new tenancy agreement to another. I feel like screaming. Last night was the first night in months i actually managed to sleep, no post today and i know with all this snow, i am helpless to do anything today!

It's the local council who pay housing benefit, so if the council where you are now won't house you as they think you are adequately housed in Northampton, will they definitely pay housing benefit?

They will pay housing benefit as long as i give up my previous property. You can move for any reason you like, and between boroughs, plus i have that all my family are within the borough I am moving to. Claire doesnt seem to think they have any right not to pay it. Just wont house me.

Ive seen a couple of your posts on another thread (the one about the abortion which the OP is being pushed into) and thought that you were having a bad time. Now Ive just seen this thread (not seen any previous) and just want to say Im thinking of you.

Sorry Im nowhere near the area so cant help there, but I can tell you what my friend did. She was offered a council hostel in my local town, but really wasnt happy so she put up an advert on gumtree saying please help me I am x Ive been offered this place, but looking for a private landlord to please give me a chance and rent me out a property. It worked for her and she was on benefits. Maybe you could try that.

Does anybody know why landlords are funny about benefits? Surely they know that the rent will get paid? Is it a stigma thing? If it is that is really off because as it has been discussed time and time again not everyone on benefits is low-life scum. In fact most are genuine people who will always pay their rent and keep their house nice.

Hope you find somewhere soon Ellen.

Thank you. MOST people on benefits are just having a hard time or dissiculties in life. NOT all people on benefits arent working either. I know someone with a child, who gets some of her rent paid by housing benefit because she is on a low income, so it doesnt necessarily mean you are sitting on your bum, twidling your thumbs.....i mean like thats what anyone does when they have kids! Chance would be a fine thing!

No we all spend our days on mumsnet There is no twiddling thumbs just typing fingers

Ah, ok. I had a similar issue a few years ago and just wondered if they could wriggle out of it with that excuse!

I found my house through a letting agent, who when I first told them I would be claiming HB, hung up on me Then my dad phoned, spoke to the owner of the agency, who arranged a viewing for that afternoon and I moved a fortnight later. A lot of the letting agents say they have a blanket ban on HB but I know a few people who did the same as me. Possibly worth a try? Maybe not the huge national chains of letting agents but if there's a privately run one near you, perhaps arrange a meeting with the manager/owner?

Someone is taking me to a letting agent tomorrow, cos they know the manager there and maybe able to help!! Getting somewhere at least!

providing another bump

not far from northampton if you have no alternative but to return and need a bit support.x

That sounds quite promising! I think the assumption is when you say housing benefit, that you'll turn up with your drug dealer boyfriend, pit bull on a rope and ten brats all on ASBOs. That's how I was made to feel by the landlords that refused me. Of course for thousands of people, they're just normal folk having a hard time and wanting somewhere with a bit of stability. The way letting agents just dismiss people offhand as soon as they hear the words housing benefit without checking any circumstances really is appalling.

Obviously not everyone on benefits is like that! It is just an assumption. I dont think i am too bad, i am clean and tidy, dont play loud music (like some QUIET music on though) but then it is no louder than the tele, so wouldnt or shouldnt disturb anyone. My little boy is a treasure and hardly ever screams and only then when he is in pain(20months). People need to stop making assumptions, someone with a job could still have a drug dealer partner and kids with asbo's!! They just dont understand how hard it is to get into a property

I think a lot of LL don't like to take HB as it can be paid to the tennant instead of direct to the LL. So if the tennant decides not to pay their rent they in for hassle and there's no comeback on the council as in their eyes they've paid the rent. I don't know why some councils prefer to pay it to the tennant.