To wonder if social services become involved if you're made homeless?

[Confusedmartie999]

We've privately rented for years.
Had to move many times, sometimes our choice to follow jobs / family and sometimes landlords selling or increasing the rent beyond out affordability.
I wonder what would actually happen if this property ( been here 2 years but apparently owners are retiring next year according to neighbours and will sell ) if we physically couldn't raise deposit / rent in advance / moving costs and find a suitable property near kids school and we got evicted after notice served and went to the council.
Would social service become involved as the children would be homeless?
Or would they house us in temporary accommodation etc as it wouldn't be an intentional homeless case?
Worrying ahead of time

Confused why do you need a term time only job?
Can u not look for something to fit round your husbands work (early mornings/ evenings/ nights?
With both of you working surely things would be a lot more manageable??

Hi
Husband works away most months and his shifts are very unpredictable so term time only is all that would really work so pre school would take the bulk of childcare with possible a childminder alongside.
I can't apply to go on the council list as we don't have a housing need at the moment.
Yes this is all hear say we don't deal with the landlord only the agents and the agents have said they won't know anything until nearer the time?!
I don't know, it just seems there's no end to the vicious cycle of privately renting.
If I were to be working full time and we were earning a lot more we would still not be able to save for a mortgage for about 10 years and by then the kids would be almost adults so that seems pretty pointless.
Do the council only help if you are both unemployed?
Someone suggested to me that if one or both of you are working they always get you into a private let again rather than council accommodation

What do you mean very unlikely?so where would they put us with 2 children if we were given notice to leave through no fault of our own??
Sorry this may, not sure if I wrote next year but end of May this year.
It's a 2 bed the kids share a room but we are happy here and wouldn't want to leave but if it comes to it we can't keep finding thousands to move we just don't have it.

I am in Newcastle. Ten years ago my partner left suddenly and I had one dc and was pg with twins. I couldn't afford the rent on my own, so was evicted. The thing is, the eviction by itself means very little. I had nowhere to go, so stayed on in the property after the eviction, but I was then able to get council accomodation much sooner.

Basically, if you are evicted, and are worried about ss, don't leave the property. It's totally not ideal, but ultimately you have to put yourself first, and that's that.

I also spoke to Shelter, the charity. I heartily recommend contacting them immediately as you are threatened with being homeless. Their advice is excellent.

Best of luck.

No, council have an obligation to help regardless of your employment status. Also, your local mp should be worth getting onside.

So less than 8 weeks time? I would have thought the LL would have told you by now. Is may when this years tenancy is up?

Before any of this happens I advise you to go to your local housing dept and housing association providers to see where you stand. Also www.shelter.org/UK for info.

Council have advised me we can't go on the list as we are housed and that we would have to be evicted under some section or other in order to be helped.
The tenancy is due up on the 30th may, landlord only has to give 1 months notice as do we, so we will know in a few weeks time the plan.
My main concern really is if it comes to it and he does sell and we have no deposit etc than the council will seem the children vulnerable as they are homeless and then it becomes a child protection concern?

I am a housing/homelessness officer at the local authority.

If you are served notice, apply to the council asap. Some will have homeless prevention schemes such as rent deposit loans or grants, or assessments to increase your priority on the housing register before you are evicted. Many will want you to have a court order in place before they will help. You can make a homeless application within 28 days of becoming homeless.

In our area, if you are found to be intentionally homeless (sounds unlikely in your case) we would refer to SS as we would have no duty to house you.

If you make a homeless application you can be placed in temporary accommodation.

Shelter are very good for help with this stuff.
Might be an idea to start saving a bit now, if you can, towards a deposit.

What will you do if you get housed outside of the 15 mile radius? The housing could place you anywhere.

Also, the landlord has to give you two months notice, regardless of what he thinks/says or what the tenancy agreement says.

Why are you so tied to that area if dh works away ? With the age of your DC now is the time you can be most flexible. Can you not contact the ll yourself to clarify plans?

I don't understand how your partner both works 'away' and needs to stay within 15 mile radius. I think you need to find work and childcare tbh and also determine from landlord and hsing services what situation is.

Thanks for replies
So if not intentionally homeless which we aren't social services aren't alerted to children who are homeless?
We can't contact the landlord direct it's all through the agent we don't have their contact details it is managed by the agent
Well yes my husband could end up out of a job but that's a risk we would have to take for a council property and start again,
We can't keep this private renting up finding money from thin air every time we need to move.
It's ridiculous.

If your not bothered about your dh losing his job then it might be a better idea for you both to look for work in a cheaper part of the country where properties are more affordable.

Sadly a lot of people are in your position op. There just aren't enough properties available

It's not about it being more affordable it's about the instability and the constant having to find thousands to move

Legally the ll's details are included on the lease agreement or have to be given to you within a certain period of the onset, 28 days iirc.

Presumably there is a deposit to be returned too.

Also the council may help with a deposit.

Round here the council run a "virtual deposit" scheme for those who haven't got a deposit. So they will contact the private landlord to see if the landlord will accept it. It means the council sort the deposit out and keep it in their own internal bank account deposit scheme. If when the people move out the landlord believe that they are owed money from the deposit then if it's all agreed the council pay the LL the money.

I've known two people (both with kids) be made homeless recently, not though their own fault. One very similar to you and the other due to domestic violence. Both were housed quickly by the council so it does happen.

Also if the council did refer to SS it would only be for help/support, they wouldn't be removing your kids. A SW could put pressure on housing people to house you as a priority case.

I've just checked our contract, the landlords names are on it but their address is in America so it states underneath all management is to be done by the agent.
Yes deposit should be returned but this is always a week or 2 after you leave a property never before.
I think we've done our fair share of paying other peoples mortgages, we've moved 8 times in the last 6 years and only twice was our choice it's not fair on the children.

I think I understand what your asking.

You've had a child protection investigation in the past and want to avoid ever going through that again?

The answer is no. 'Just' being homeless will not trigger another child protection investigation.

Some councils administer their housing/homelessness and social services departments together at a senior management level but this doesn't mean social workers do assessments on every child that becomes homeless, especially not in the circumstances you are describing. (If you were being evicted for anti social behaviour it might be different)

Please try not to worry about the ss side of this.

It was a very open and shut case but it was awful.
I would hate them to think the kids were at risk.
I hope with every part of me it doesn't come to this but if it does I don't think we can go through the expense the trauma and the instability of yet another private rented house. Not a home. Ever. A house.

If SS get involved they won't be looking to whisk the kids away just because you as a family are homeless. They want to keep families together if at all possible, so it's probably just a flag up so as to check if there are other issues going on (like somebody said antisocial behaviour, or if you were spending all of the housing benefit on drugs or whatever). They're not going to take the DC if you are homeless through no fault of your own.

I know it's horrible to have them involved (I've had v brief involvement too) and really stressful but do try to remember they have to check up sometimes. It's not personal to you they just have to do their jobs.

Agree speak to Shelter, and speak to your MP. The council won't be able to do anything until/unless you are actually legally homeless, which might mean staying in the house after you've been evicted and waiting to be taken to court.

It's shitty - awful situation for any renters. It does cost a bomb to move every time and totally sinks any chance of being able to save for the future, as well. I bet you've paid more in agent's fees, deposits and rent upfront than it would have cost to put a deposit down for a mortgage. That should never be the case.