In thinking that living in a B&B with two kids is going to be a nightmare?

[CharlieUniformNovemberTango]

I know I'm being unreasonable. I know there are people is worse situations but I need to get all of this out in the hope I'll sleep tonight if I offload and maybe even hear something positive from people who have done it before.

I have posted before under a different name (AllShiney) but this name better matches my mood :)

The gist is that I was served notice. I now have 18 days left and I still have not found anywhere to go. It's a combination of private rents being too high, no one taking people who recieve housing benefit, not having a UK based gaurentaur.

I have rung over 100 agencies. I have been in touch with shelter and a local housing charity. It's hopeless :(

I'm on the council list and bidding but I am low band only in need of an extra bedroom as per their assessment at the moment. They have advised that if I leave when my notice is over I am making myself intentionally homeless and they will not prioritise our needs. I basically have to stay and be evicted through the court before I am a priority.

Then I will 'most definately' be put into temporary accommodation which would be a B&B. They 'might' be able to offer me storage for my belongings at a reduced rate. However, they won't know this for certain until the day I approach them with my homeless application. That is the day that the bailiffs will evict me so I would have to leave the furniture behind as opposed to selling it if I had some notice.

Please don't get me wrong, I am gratefull we won't be on the streets but the whole situation is so stressful :(

I have an 11 yo and a 3 yo. The thought of staying in one room for months is daunting. I'm just visualising me sat in the dark from 8pm. Not even sure I'll have MN as I won't have my WiFi.

Also, the council women today said they will try to pu me in a food friendly b&b. When I asked what that meant she said some of the places they use don't allow any hit food in the room. You have to eat out for every meal. I was hoping I could pickup a cheap microwave and use that :(

It's going to be hell isn't it?

I haven't had time to read through the rest of the thread so I don't know whether this has been mentioned, but you should also gather the following documents (as a minimum) and have them in easy reach:

ID for all members of the household. Birth certificates are usually perfectly acceptable if no photo ID.

3 months worth of bank statement for any bank accounts you have.

3 months worth of pay slips, if you have been working.

Proof (the award letter ideally) of any benefits you receive, most importantly your child benefit.

You should check with the Council as to what kind of documents they would require you to submit though. We get lots of people inevitably fucked over when their life is in a state of chaos and their items are all over the place simply not being able to find these documents. Get them organised now while you have plenty of time.

The council I work for and many others will NOT place people into temporary accommodation without ID. You can imagine how fair this is on people who have had the misfortune of being street homeless/ sofa surfing for a long time. Yep, because I know SO many homeless people with £70 passports. Even replacement birth certificates cost about £10, unaffordable for many in that situation.

Take care OP.

frothy Exactly. When we all know that the question should be: WHY can't working people on mid-to-low incomes afford decent accommodation? It's hardly the fault of people on benefits!

Very well put stubbornstains.

"The cost to la's of placing people in b&b must be high - surely that money would be better invested in affordable housing. Ditto the reliance on the private sector market led rental housing."

£525 pwk for our placement, we were there 24wks so thats £12600 plus the £1600 storage costs and then £300 moving cost, then the £1200 deposit as were private renting as they had no council houses available.

I found myself in the same position 3 years ago and followed the council's advice and stayed in the property and got myself evicted by the bailiff. Ended up in a hostel for 9 months with my 3 years old DD. The council was so harsh and they traumatised me. After 9 months, because according to the council I made myself intentionally homeless for not paying the rent I was evicted from the hostel!! Do no trust what they say and prepare yourself for the worse. I had to borrow money from friends and family for a deposit and rented a small one bed until my finances were sorted.
Good luck and it may work out in the end but it is very difficult to prove to the council that you have not made yourself intentionally homeless by not paying your rent. You have to prove that you have made every possible attempt to clear the arrears.

I had to take the intentionally homeless decission to court 5 times, get the mp and a local housing expert involved before we won our case, me and dp joke our faces are on a dartboard at the council offices, they were cunts, lied and smarmed around us, said "oh yes we'll help it will be ok etc" until were stood there with bags in the car and nothing else to call our own.

I had to show 6 months worth of bank statements to the council to prove I had paid my rent (standing order). If you pay by standing order your bank will have the evidence.

Collecting all the relevant paperwork now, it will make things easier later.

I thought my council were hardfaced but they actually were ok compared to the last two posts. They said it was my choice to stay and incur court costs from the landlord getting a court order to send in the bailiffs. They were happy to take the official section 21 letter from the landlord as evidence I wasn't intentionally homeless. It's terrible how some councils are so harsh in their assesment!

Mine have said they can't help with deposit. As ll
Has my deposit but surely if I withheld last months rent in order to
Use as deposit I run the risk of being judged intentionally homeless ?

It has shocked me that so many people have been through this. I'm happy and sad in equal measures. Glad you've all come out the other side though.

I'm going down to the offices this morning with my section 21 and I'm going to try and get a clear answer of what to do next and clear up the timings about the court order etc.

I love how this thread has gone all political though :) I doubt it would do much good to send to anyone though. This seems to be a common practice so they must all know it's happening.

For those that have contacted your MP, what did you say? And were they any help? I'm not sure they can do anything really.

Good luck Charlie hope you get some help today.

Sin - I would pay your rent up until the day you go really.

Is your deposit in a secure scheme?

I'm expecting some of mine to be kept for repainting but that's all that needs doing. Scuff marks etc and it seems standard that they charge for this.

My deposit is in a scheme so I should get some back but I'm not sure how long it takes. Tbh, I'm not counting it at all right now. It'll be a nice bonus towards the new house eventually. I don't trust that the LL will pay it fairly. I think he'll charge for al sorts. There's an on going damp issue the agents keep fobbing me off with and I think he will charge me to get that sorted.

My rent is paid directly to him from the HB so he shouldn't have any arrears.

No the landlord has it as we moved here in 2007.

Hope you get all or most of yours back

charlie our mp was fantastic, we just emailed him explaining our situation and the reasons causing it (ours was complex renting from Dad who lost his business and the bank took the house too) and he put a letter together stating that the time we'd spent in a bnb was a detriment to our family and health, I'd had a nervous breakdown. And he also saved all our belongings after the council refused to pay despite writing to us saying they would, and the centre were a day away from auctioning our things. One call and an email and the council came to us with an apolagie and payment for a van to move house by way of making up for 'the stress they caused'

Mps can be a very powerful help.

State- I think I will contact my mp then. It's worth a try.

Off to the council offices again today as there was a very long wait and I needed to get back for DD and her friend for their mammoth homework session. It involved finding a large stick to strip and dress as a spear. Her room l

Pah! Stupid phone!

Her room looked like a forest floor!

I'm stuck in potty training hell this week. DS is just 3 but I want to be done before we move because we have laminate flooring here and I'd think being in a b&b with the accidents etc will be tough!

He's not all that impressed so far! Naughty mummy keeps interrupting his vital mission to line up every single car across the longe floor.

I am going to really crack on with the packing over the next few days too. I've cleared out so much stuff and I have a little pot growing in savings from selling stuff. I've vowed not to spend the eBay money until I am in my new place. I'll use it for bedding and things for the kids new rooms.

I am off to the doctor tomorrow. I really have to solve this not sleeping business and I've had a few panic attacks too :( That's a new thing fOr me and it's not fun. I just feel very anxious about taking any kind of medication around the kids. I don't want to be knocked out at night when it's just me here for them.

Spent the last 3 nights on the couch. I'm not dropping off until about 3-4 am and then when ds was getting up at 5.30 ish he'd be rummaging through the fridge or unpackIng half done boxes because I was finally asleep and wouldn't here him get up. At least in the lounge he wakes me up straight away.

Plus, I need to be up to get DD sorted for school. She is so easily distracted and takes forever. That's despite having a checklist to go through with her routine.

Right now, the practical stuff feels doable but the emotional stuff is proving difficult :(

I appreciate the chance to vent here though. And the lovely lovely support.

Charlie - you have all my sympathy.

Just wanted to say on a slightly different note that this is why LLs won't rent to those on HB, the tenants are told to stay put through the eviction process which means LLs lose out on at least two months' rent. Then they can't pay the mortgage etc etc etc.

The whole system sucks.

You can make a homeless application if you have to be out in less than 4 weeks. What did Shelter say?

Shelter said stay put until the court eviction is through. That is all I've heard from the LA too.

Hully - I do get the reasons behind then not taking HB tenants. My rent goes directly to my landlord. He will be paid up until the day I move out so it's not that he will lose any rent in this case. I hate that he is having to go to the effort of the court process. He has every right to get his flat back but I don't know what else I can do now. This is just how it's going to have to be I think. And it seems as if I will cover the court costs and then once the flat is relet, he'll be getting about an extra £150 a month going by local rents.

I do think that the LA is trying all they can to make me find my own place before housing me. I do see that they have their hands tied to a certain extent as they don't have a limitless amount of housing. I just wish they would act on the section 21 and not make me wait so so long.

I will be pushing for them to do something sooner though. Just trying to get stuff together to leave the house. For some reason is can't muster the energy just now!

Charlie, I know this is a tangent, but he won't. He will be paid up to the last day of the tenancy. Then he starts eviction proceedings and gets nothing for the duration.

Charlie, I don't have anything at all useful to say, I'm sorry - I just really wanted to say my heart is breaking for your family and I really admire how you're facing up to this and sorting things out for them. I just can't imagine how stressful this is for you. It's so shocking how many people on this thread have been through something similar; I've been homeless but only as a teenager and only for a while. I can't imagine how hard it must be when you have your children too. I wish there was something practical I could do to help.

I was under the impression he would get his rent?

Yet another thin I have to check then! God now I feel awful :( I know he has bills etc :(

If I am in the property, why won't they pay him?

This whole thing is so stupid! I'm so tired of it all now. I just want a clear cut list of steps that will be taken and things I have to do. Every time I read something about this I hear something different.

Not shooting the messenger by the way.

Thanks everybodysang. It is lovely to hear everyone's good stories here and know people have gotten through it.

I have found this place invaluable. I can see why people defend it so much when people slag it off. I'll be right up there with them now.

I just wish for once something went smoothly. I wan someone else to do this for me now. I'm fed up of thinking about it.

Totally self absorbed today as well by the looks of it. Got to snap out of that. This a bad time to give up caffeine and start my diet!!!!

He can't get his rent or he has no grounds for eviction!

Just read the thread and wanted to wish you good luck.

Charlie you are awesome! You're children are very very lucky to have such a strong mother. Have a coffee!