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

Thanks for your advice
I'll be going to the drop in on Friday
We aren't mid sussex district Horsham has it's own one and if you start the application process unless you are homeless ( page 1 ) you can't apply as you need to have an overcrowding / medical issue in all other instances which we don't

Yes i was confused about that, its very differernt from my council, mentioned things merging etc so i think the drop in service would be really helpful to you. Good luck

Hi,
Just a quick update after speaking with the housing officer this morning at the drop in.
Firstly they don't operate a " general waiting list " anymore.
Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing as obviously means we can't apply ahead of time, but then I guess it makes it easier for them to house people who are homeless.
We can apply once we are overcrowded, when the eldest child turns 10 but that is 5 years away.
The only rule is you can't have a household income of £60,000 which we don't / never will!
With regards to our current situation, the landlord by law needs to give us 2 months, not 1 month notice to leave. So that's given a little more time.
I have called the estate agent ( whilst in the council office ) and informed them of this and apparently the landlord is thinking about signing another 12 month contract before he sells to retire but without a doubt will increase the rent by at least £50 a month like he did last year.
So if we said no, we aren't paying that, he could then serve us notice.
I asked the council if that would be making ourselves homeless and it wouldn't, the LHA for this borough is £178 per week and we are well over that already.
So whilst they would probably advise us to go private / find us the deposit and rent in advance etc really it all depends on what's available at the time.
As we would be homeless with children we would be in the top priority and would probably be given temporary accomdation for the time being and what happens from then on depends on that they have and whether we could find another 2 bed property in the area at that time for under £1000.
So it's quite confusing really as whilst of course £50 is not a great deal, if he is going to sell next year anyway it seems daft putting off the inevitable as even with a years notice we won't be able to save £3000 for another move.
It just seems like a big risk when we could potentially end up in another private rental as you can NOT refuse settled accomodation as long as the lease is for 12 months :-(

Oh thats not good is it, sounds like they have a much bigger problem than our council, i would have thought you could go on a general list and build up waiting time for the future. So as long as you get a 12mnth tenancy problem solved but its not for you, your still going to have to keep moving if LL decide's to increases the rent or have new tenants every 12 months.

You have children so you'll be in priority housing need based on Housing Act & Childrens' Act. So you will be rehoused but probably remain a good while in temporary accommodation before you are rehoused permanently, thats something you'll have to put up with.

I really feel for you OP, we rented for 7 years with children and had no chance of buying a house . Our landlord threatened to sell the house every time we reported anything and his wife did 3 monthly inspections and criticised everything . She also turned up when we were out and let herself in to measure up! Try ed to royally screw us over on our deposit which we argued with DPS and won! I never felt like it was our home , and with some help, a new job, cutting back a lot and cheap house prices round here we managed to buy . It's only now I can see how ill it was making me being so insecure in rental,dh and I argued a lot and I felt anxious all the time about the 2 months notice. I'd never felt content and felt sick every time the door bell went in case it was landlord or his wife!it's no way to live, especially with children. If there is no chance of buying do everything you can to get a council/ha property With secure tenancy. I really hope whoever gets into government makes some changes to the rental market for families. It really is awful and unless youve lived with that insecurity you cant understand. I am eternally great full to family for helping us get out of it and hope you find somewhere to make a home. good luck x

Cheers for the replies
Yes they have a duty to us but it all depends what is available at the time to whether we get offered council accommodation after temporary or private again.
She was honest and the fact we a working household does not help us as private landlords will take us easily so then the only real problem we face is the deposit etc which they offer help with :-(
No end to this horrible insecure feeling that comes with privately renting then.

Hello :)
I'm a social worker with a local council so may be able to help😀 The only time we would intervene is if you have no friends or family that you could stay with as we intervene when parents are not giving children basics (food, drink, house, bed , suitable home etc.) or when there is any neglect. If you do not have friends or family, an allocated social worker should be put in place to help you find either a house (through local housing) or temporary housing. If this can not be done, an emergency court order can be taken to 'remove' children for a certain time until a suitable home can be found. I say 'remove' as it is likely for a very short period unless there are complications within the case. If you need any help I would recommend contacting your social workers team leader or talking to your allocated social worker. Also, a family solicitor may also be useful! Good luck with house hunting and remember your SW will be trying to do good on your behalf! Best of luck xxx

I was in this exact situation last year, LL wanted to sell, we couldnt raise the money required and rents are ridiculous in this area. £1300+ for a small 3 bed. Anyway we applied for the council list and were housed with a housing association the DAY before our court notice expired. Social services were definatly not involved at all, I think they only do if you are found "intentionally" homeless

I'm in temporary accommodation, single parent, no contact from SS at all.

Zombie Thread - from 2015

We don't have any housing ourselves, we do work alongside the housing dep to ensure children have a bed to sleep in on a night. We have a duty of care which ethos is to keep children safe. How can our DOC be met without a home? We do help as much as possible- but the ultimatum is up to the housing xxx

Hi all, interesting answers, I just want to point out that everyone is saying yes or no to "my area" can we all say what the area is? I'm after an answer for West Midlands, thanks, I wish you all a good future, these are very hard times to be experiencing.

The thread is seven years old so you're better off starting a new one if you have concerns or you could seek advice with an organisation like Shelter? People's answers might be out of date (also, people can be wrong. Sometimes it's helpful to get professional advice.)