To think there is a very real chance we're going to be homeless soon?

[ICameOnTheJitney]

We're in the shit big time. The trouble is this...Dh and I don't earn a lot. Both self employed, we work hard but make only enough to just get by.

Our landlord is selling...we need to look at a new rental. Our credit scores are "Fair" and I am seriously panicked that when we try to rent through an agency, we just won't pass.

We know nobody to be a guarantor. Everyone we know is a low earner or not a homeowner.

We would have to save up enough to pay 6 months rent in advance in order for agencies to touch us...and our current home is on the market as of next week. If it sells, we have 2 months notice and then we're out.

We rent from an ex employer and never had to have a credit check to move in here...I'm so worried. We've been here for 7 years...it's home. But obviously it's not...we are saving but it's so slow. We need about three grand and I don't know where to turn.

I just looked at peer to peer lending and got a knockback right away. I am saving but it's hard when you've only just got enough anyway. DH works long hours and so do I...no time for an extra job at all. I have been thinking up all kinds of schemes and none of them are realistic. Is there ANY advice here? Where can I lend with a rubbish credit score?

tiredout, don't follow the advice about withholding rent. It's also wrong.You're still living in the house.

Before tenancy deposit schemes sometimes tenants decided they wouldn't pay the last month's rent as landlord could keep the deposit. Still not right but landlords were unlikely to do anything about it if tenancy was ending. All deposits have to be in a scheme now so there is no reason to do that now.

Why would a solicitor tell you to withhold rent because landlord wanted to sell? I am curious about that too?

re. "the two months" issue - I don't know if a Landlord can legally demand that you leave, if you have nowhere else to go. So he or she may have to wait until you find somewhere suitable! I would check with Shelter on that particular issue legally.

Good luck OP, it can be tough out there.

Oops, didn't mean to strikethough, meant to italicise!

Ok there's a few options,

1. rent privately, we passed a credit check and truly ours is rubbish. Have a look at your rating and see if you can clean it up, any discrepancies write to the lender. Get a glowing review from your current LL
2. make yourselves homeless, this is shit truly shit but it is the only way you can get a council house / housing association now. Once your landlord gives you notice, you tell him your not going. He then gets a court order to get you out, you still don't go. Once the bailiffs knock, then you go. You will be in emergency accommodation but you'll also get more points and probably housed within a few months and you won't need to worry again.

It's rubbish truly rubbish

If landlord didn't give the required amount of notice the lease wasn't validly terminated, he'd have to reserve the notice to quit.

Seems daft advice to me, and in the case of the OP here counter productive if she needs a reference from current landlord.

It would only make sense if it was in the days before tenancy protection schemes and the tenant thought landdord was likely not to repay the deposit. Even then I'd not have advised a tenant not to pay rent. I'd have said it is unlikely, if he has a deposit and you're going anyway, that he will raise an action for payment and ejection

Is the landlord selling as a going concern with tenants?

I think the landlord would ahve to 'section 8' (I think) you through the courts to get you out.

I have a very dodgy credit rating (bad marriage, say no more) but still got a private rental through an agency.

I was shocked, but hey ho, I think they were more interested in my salary than my credit rating. Thankfully.

Check your local Housing Advice Teams homelessness criteria - the one I used to mainly deal with stated that your situation had to be vulnerable ie not necessarily on the streets, and if your landlord is selling, that means vulnerable...

I just can't bring myself to make myself homeless. We have 2 children well settled in school. That route could mean we end up in the wrong part of town entirely. I'd rather pitch a bloody tent in the right area.

After posting here, I called the council to check and they're calling me back on Monday when they've looked at my banding. The woman said that as my banding wasn't the lowest priority, she couldn't work out why I'd been dropped off the list...if indeed I have...she said there was every chance that they just hadn't got my data yet and that I am still on the list.

A landlord can, assuming he has set up the tenancy as one of the tenancies where there is no security of tenure (in Scotland , a Short Assured Tenancy,England has similar but slightly different name) ask you to leave at the end of the contract. Neither he nor the court has to wait for you to find somewhere else.

If you refuse to go he needs a court order to get his house back.

If you have one of these tenancies but refuse to go until the landlord has a court order you will not have any defence to his action and he could ask the court for expenses against you.

In Scotland it is possible to create a tenancy called an Assured Tenancy, usually by mistake by landlords using diy leases. It is far more difficult to end these. I don't know if there is an English equivalent.

It sounds really scary but try not to worry.

I work in housing and I recommend that you talk to your local council. I appreciate that you have said earlier that there are no council houses available but councils also try and prevent homelessness and many will operate Private Sector Leasing Schemes. The council will act as a liaison between a private owner and prospective tenants and will provide the deposit etc.

Regarding the notice period - assuming you have an assured shorthold tenancy your landlord will have to give you 2 months notice. However, you do not have to move out at the end of this notice period. The landlord will need to go to court and apply for possession. Once possession is awarded you still legally do not have to move out - they will have to apply for a bailiffs warrant and evict you. This whole process can take 6/8 months depending on how quickly the courts process the paperwork. A council will not accept you as homeless (and therefore have a duty to provide you with accommodation) until the eviction date. As someone said earlier, this duty may be met by offering you rooms in a hostel or B&B.

Most councils I work with try and avoid things getting to this stage (thereby avoiding accepting a duty to rehouse your family) by trying to help you find accommodation before the eviction.

I work in London and families are being encouraged to move out of London as they cannot afford the rents any more due to the benefit cap. If you are in London you may find more accommodation available than you think. If you and your DH work more than 24 hours pw between you, you should be exempt from the cap.

Don't panic! My credit score is very very very poor. The worst!
I PASSED the check that agents did. They said they're more interested on whether we can cover the rent. We are on a low income and have some housing benefit. It didn't matter- it counts as income!
This is a very well known letting agents aswell, not some shoddy small company
You will be absolutely fine

Just be careful about saying " you do not have to move out"

I agree a landlord cannot physically evict a tenant without a court decree but if the tenancy was set up as an assured shorthold tenancy landlord can ask for expenses and damages as part of the court action. He's not getting any rent whilst all of this is going on and other than buying time if landlord had all his paperwork in order there will be no defence to his action.

I would rent to somebody with impeccable references who had previously rented for seven years without missing a payment.

I know people who have had bad experiences with tenants who passed credit checks with flying colours. Peoples situations are fluid and changeable, I'd much rather have somebody who might struggle but has always paid up in the past and been honest, than somebody with excellent credit but the second circumstances change and money gets tight they default on their rent.

If you rent through an agency talk to them first as they know you.

English courts are possibly slower but for a tenant under the Scots equivalent 3/4 months more likely for the court process.

As far as I'm aware as long as the Council is satisfied the tenancy was set up as the type where landlord can get his house back and the notice to quit is correctly served a Scottish council will accept tenant will be homeless from the termination date without forcing lanlord and tenant into a court action tenant cannot defend.

I do some work for a letting agent. The credit checks are not very detailed, basically to check there are no CCJs, that your employers are who you say they are, we ask you for your salary (to make sure you can afford the rent) but cannot ask your employer to confirm it. More important is the reference from your previous landlord, so given you have been there 7 years you shouldn't have a problem.

I've just remembered...I am self employed and my income for last year is not great...this last few months it has begun to pick up. But they're not going to like what I earn...no employer.

A solicitor advised not to pay the rent? Wow, that was nice for a landlord with a mortgage to pay. How disgusting. And who would take on a non-paying tenant?

OP; your tenancy is unaffected by the sale. If you have a fixed end date, that does not change. If it is a rolling month-to-month, you are indeed on two months notice from the landlord (it is one month's notice from you). As others note, ask for a reference from the landlord.

when the notice expires, no, you don't have to leave. You can wait until the landlord goes through all the proper procedures and brings round the bailiffs. The council MAY then house you but most landlords will run a mile at the sight of you.

now, you are good tenants with a good record of paying and presumably of looking after the place. Don't wreck that good record.

as an aside, if the new owner wants a buy to let, you are a bonus and could end up staying.

I wouldn't not pay...I'd never consider that! The landlord has been nothing but good to us. He has also promised to give good refs. He did say that if an investor buys we'd possibly be able to stay...

I hope you get something soon!

ICameOnTheJitney - the withholding of rent was due to many other issues which has now proceeded to a rather large and very complex court action (by us). I only mentioned it because it was the way it made us look when we had to find another home but by being honest with agents didn't actually cause us a problem being accepted as tenants.

specialsubject - trust me, it wasn't disgusting! What was disgusting was the fraud, theft, harassment, misrepresentation, danger to our 4 children if they stepped outside the house and inside the house too, threats to kill and the injury that has led to me being on sick leave for the last 5 months. I could also throw in the illegal electricity extraction, vets bills, 6 months of living on a construction site, 3 months of the garden being operated as a commercial site, no heating or hot water, all whilst paying a very large rent until enough was enough.