to want to go outside and slash down the SOLD sign outside our rented home?

[rocket74]

I am so so upset. Our happily rented home for us with 2 small children has been sold and we will have to move out. We wanted to stay here indefinately. Been here 3.5 years but never realised when we moved in our rent was paying for the owners care home fees and that when she died it would be sold. Thought they meant it when they said long term rental.
So gutted. Some couple came round with their kid and dad who was obviously putting up the deposit for them. Alright for some!!
ABSOLUTELY bereft - we have tried looking for somewhere new - but we need an extra £400 month to get somewhere even vaguely similar as rents have gone crazy in this area - Brighton and Hove.

I just want to scream and slash the sign because if I don't I will end up slashing something else - which won't help issues.
Our little boy loves this house - he has autism - and the garden is big enough for him to run and do his laps - as is the living dining room.
I just want to be able to provide him with a home to suit his needs but I don't see how. I'm just crying all the time and feel totally hopeless.

Will I be done for criminal damage if I do smash down that fucking sign?

Yes, Good Luck Rocket.

I'm glad you came back. Yes, your thread went loony tunes. I hope you find somewhere just as lovely. Good luck.

Sunflowers, that's my point -typical MN. Next you'll be telling me he may have had hidden disabilities. Nope. Because he explained it in detail (as I was confused given he had a decent job and as far as I knew no kids and thought maybe he forgot to mention something.). In fact he was a permanent resident but not a natural citizen and I (naively) thought only uk-born adults qualified for council housing. (Yes in retrospect I'm an idiot)

Well, you said it cosmo, but I agree. You are a bit of an idiot to think something like that - it would be very unfair, after all.

Bisho - the time taken getting a grant of probate can vary - my Dad died in November, the solicitors started the process after the funeral, at the end of the month and it came through on Thursday - so just 10 weeks, including Christmas. (My MIL's on the other hand took many months) Dad's bungalow has to be sold, and though a sale couldn't be completed until after probate, there's no reason it can't be marketed, and we put it with an estate agent in December and accepted an offer just over a month later. So things can move pretty fast, even when probate is involved.

3 months for a grant of probate is good. Longer is more usual. However 3 months is plenty of notice when most tenancies give a month's notice.

I have looked further afield and it's where I want to go - salt dean perhaps? But we were warned by my sons pre school about the strict catchment area for Brighton and hove. We are bang in the middle of his statementing and school placement for September and moving out of the area could really affect all that.
So my concerns are not strictly ' ooh I must have a lovely house in a hip area' as someone suggested but that we are tied into quite a lengthy and emotional process with the local authority at moment.

When I return to work I do have an ok salary and OH is going to take on the child care - so we will be stretched with only one income.
I didn't read the post but I think I'm apparently a piss poor parent for not having a contingency fund of 3.5k to cover deposits etc. thanks for that - a really insightful comment.

I have no intention of waiting until the bailiffs come - its my job to ensure my kids have as good a life and I wouldn't dream of sitting on the street with them.

Also 8 out 10 properties in our price range are all targeted at students for some reason. I don't understand why they are perceived as better tenants.
And I say that as someone who was a student for seven years.

Something is bothering me about this thread.

For one thing, the op wrote the post and then went out or something.
Meanwhile all sorts of things were thought up about her.

And second.
I dont see any homeless families on the streets. Perhaps there are, but I dont see them.
So if they are not housed by the council, and they are not in reality on the streets, where are they. With friends or family?
What happens if they have no friends or family. And the council dont house them.
They are not in reality on the street are they?
And yes I know, as someone said up thread, that may be an ignorant question. But if I dont ask the question, I will remain ignorant.

Saltdean is nappy valley. Full of families. The coast road gets congested - but it's fabulous to be able to walk on the downs or along the undercliff walk. Nice school in the village.

amilion lots of homeless families are put into B&Bs. Just because they are not on the streets doesn't mean they aren't homeless.

amillion - this is why people have explained it is ridiculous to pretend the OP should, had she needed to, have gone on the streets instead of taking the course of action recommended in those circumstances.

It is all explained up the thread. Likewise, it's pretty clear if you read the whole thread (and I know it's long) that people didn't assume she was going to be homeless - they set out various possibilities and her having nowhere else to go was the one people seized on. I am very glad the OP came back and seems clear that won't be happening!

Amillionyears the council are housing them normally (and yes sometimes in B&Bs), that's why you don't see them on the street. We actually have quite good homeless legislation when children are involved and that's something we should be proud of. But for the council to house them they need to not do anything to make themselves intentionally homeless, and that would include leaving just because the landlord wants the hosue back.

• don't quite understand some of these posts. Everyone knows private renting is a gamble. If she has been there 3 years and her child has SN, had she put her name down on a council list when she moved in she'd possibly be offered a house by now.*

It doesn't work that way. We have a son with severe autism and are forced to rent privately. We have been on the council waiting list for almost 9 years and are no nearer being offered a place. We are in Brighton and Hove also (well, Portslade as we can't afford Brighton or Hove!) and you have to bid for places. Despite both dh and I both being born and bred here, supposed extra points for disability etc we apparently don't have enough 'points' to make us anything like priority. I'd like to know exactly what would tbh.

I have every sympathy for the OP, I live in dread of this happening as I know it must one day. We chose this house because it is in a close with a green outside and we don't have the constant worry of our son getting out into the traffic. We looked at a lot of places beforehand which would have been a nightmare as he doesn't have any sense of danger, front doors opening onto main roads, open plan staircases, unfenced gardens etc. He is very settled here, as we all are, and the neighbours know him and are supportive. I'm terrified of having to go somewhere where he will be abused and bullied (which we all know happens all too frequently).

Hi OP, this happened to us a few months ago, I was devastated, we have 3 young DC and our landlady sold the house to developers who are turning it into student accommodation.

We had been there for 4 years and it felt like home. We now pay £300 more per month due to unbelievable rental increases and have also lost a bedroom so one of our DC is in with us.

Clearly the owner of the house has every right to sell it, but that doesn't make it any easier for the family who gets chucked out

I work in homelessness in B&H and some of the ignorant, judgemental, narrow minded bloody privileged comments on here make me want to weep.

Private renting in the city forms a higher % of housing than almost any other city in the uk. It is very very high cost and figures consistently show that families with children are being priced out of the area as houses can be rented at high rents for students. (A landlord can rent out a house for £500 a room to students, so a 3 bed house with a separate dining room can go for £2000 a month.) There are 15,000 households on the housing register and 750 houses let a year with half of them being studios/one beds.) If Rocket leaves before the bailiff's warrant her family will be considered to be intentionally homeless, so to have made themselves homeless by a deliberate act) and not entitled to help from Housing. She could present to Children Services for help but would probably just be offered short term accommodation.

If rocket moves out of area she will have to start the entire statementing process for her child.

Rocket, please go and get advice from BHCC, the Housing Options service may be able to help you access private rented accommodation (help with deposit etc) or at least offer good advice. Call 290000 and ask for Housing Options.

You sound like a good mum and a good person in a shot situation. Best of luck, if you want to pm me please do.

Shit situation obvs

Housing options won't help if she goes IH either. When I was on mat leave we got a section 21, got an appointment at housing options to find out about guaranteed deposit scheme (as no money for deposit and £500 fees) and they said we needed to stay put and get evicted to be considered for help. We didn't of course, that's an absolutely desperate last resort, but if we didn't there would be no help, not even advice/signposting to agents who take HB etc.

I work in homelessness in B&H and some of the ignorant, judgemental, narrow minded bloody privileged comments on here make me want to weep

Me too... I started a thread about my situation (same as OP's) a while back and was flamed by a fair few posters.

That's not necessarily the case, it depends how much money is left in the budget...

Where I live you can bid when houses come up once you are on the list. They look at all those who bid and the one with most points gets it.

My cousin had a secure private rental and two non SN kids and now she has a council house .

Where OP lives you will wait at least 10 years to get to the top of the list, and even then you will never get allocated if someone on a higher band than you bids, which if you are band c (as the OP would be, or d) means you will be extremely lucky to get anywhere at all.