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Original poster

Being evicted, can't get through to anyone who can help and we're scared

214 replies

demonchilde · 30/05/2017 14:01

Hi all - posting here for traffic, in a bit off a panic at the moment. Quite a long back story to it, I did have a thread in legal about it all, I will try and link to it.

I'm a lone parent of 4 DC's (still at home), currently doing a nursing degree. It's been a bit of a year in general- DS4 (11) has ASD so suffers from quite severe behavioural and sleep problems. DS3 very sadly lost his best friend of 10 years to brain cancer a few weeks ago and this has affected him really badly - he has become very anxious, is having panic attacks, sleeping problems and has been pulling his hair out. DD2 (18) is due to start her a levels next week.

We were served a section 21 in our private rented house of 10 years back in February. I looked everywhere but couldn't find anything at all - rental prices have rocketed round here and as a student with no wage or guarantor no one will rent to us anyway. We went to the council who said they couldn't help us. Went to shelter then CAB who advised us the council were obliged to help us. They are not helpful - almost impossible to get through to, and advised us we have to wait for the landlord to take us to court for possession and then eviction.

The landlord has now done this. We were allocated a hearing to ask for a couple of extra weeks for exceptional circumstances due to my daughter's A- levels. But the hearing was this morning and the judge denied our application for extra time, and granted the landlord possession from tomorrow. They have also said I have to pay a significant amount to him in court costs that I cannot afford. This is so unfair as we are only still here because the council have insisted we stay until the bailiffs arrive.

I have just spoken to the landlord- he has agreed to store our things for 2 weeks if we go voluntarily, meaning we will be saved the cost and the DC's being scared by the bailiffs but the council have said no, if we do that we make ourselves voluntarily homeless and they will have no duty to house us.

So now, he is instructing high court bailiffs who I am told will probably be here within the week. I can't get through to the council. I have nowhere to store our stuff, yet they are saying they do not have to help us with that. We still have our cat here- all the catteries are full up. The council have told us we will be in a b and b indefinitely which could be anywhere within a 30 mile radius. I have no idea how I will get my children to school if we are far away. Really panicking here and I can't get through to anyone.

Can anyone advice me what I should do from here? I'm really panicking.

OP posts:
Counterpane · 30/05/2017 17:11

So sorry OP. Flowers

If you have to leave any furniture behind make sure you photograph it, in situ. That way, if your Landlord doesn't keep to the rules, you can prove the items were in the house.

SuperFlyHigh · 30/05/2017 17:11

OP, I know you're waiting on a house, but what happened to the house your close friend you used to be a carer for said she'd let you and the DC stay in?

SusannahL · 30/05/2017 17:21

Op were you up to date with your rent, or were you sometimes late with it?
I'm wondering why your landlord wants you out. Of course he may have decided to sell the house.

I think your best bet is to put your degree on hold and get a full time job which will put you in a much better financial position with regard to renting somewhere else.

As you have found there is a shortage of rental properties, so these days landlords can afford to be picky.

We are currently renovating a house with a view to renting it out and the letting agent has told us he will be able to advise us on who to go with.

FloweringDeranger · 30/05/2017 17:21

Maybe your local MP might be able to help? I've heard of good ones being effective with councils before. Flowers, this sounds so shit.

Sprinklestar · 30/05/2017 17:35

I'm a bit surprised there is no one at all you can rely on. Can a teacher at school have DD until the end of exams? Where is your DP in all of this?

NImbleJumper · 30/05/2017 17:40

I echo what others have said about checking in with your university: the student union Welfare services, as well as university student services.

They may be able to help with accommodation as well, as lots of students move out of halls around about now.

Also, let your DD's school know. This will have an impact on her A Levels which she should receive some mitigation for.

I'm assuming the children's father is a loser who's checked out of supporting his children?

Seething that this is what it comes down to for you. This is what Toryism has brought us to. Flowers I get so angry that my taxes go to subsidising multinationals, and not to housing my fellow countrymen.

I know you want to stay anonymous, but there are many offers of help here on this thread. I hope that some of them are in your area, and you can get some informal support.

scott2609 · 30/05/2017 17:51

Hiya,

I'm a Housing Advisor working in a solicitors' office and though I am very happy to outline broadly your available options, you do need dedicated legal advice from either an Advisor or a solicitor as I think you're likely going to require advocacy for making submissions to your local authority.

Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions about what you will/ won't be entitled to, some of which have already been posted on this thread. Please get proper advice and ignore what unqualified people are advising.

If you're getting nowhere with Shelter's advice line, I would strongly recommend you contact the Legal Aid Agency's Civil gateway number.

They will check whether you qualify for Legal Aid (your particular legal matter is funded, so it just depends on your income and any savings as to whether you qualify).

If you do qualify, they will either get you referred to get telephone advice from a solicitora' office, or they can refer you to your nearest office with a Legal Aid contract for housing.

Details here, but as I said, PM me if you think I can help at all:

www.gov.uk/civil-legal-advice

SusannahL · 30/05/2017 17:59

This situation is absolutely NOT the fault of the Tory party.

The landlord wanted his property back and by law he would have to have given this family 2 months notice , which is usually ample time to find somewhere else.

The problem with this situation is that there is a mother on her own with four children, and she is a student, so presumably not earning !

FloweringDeranger · 30/05/2017 18:42

Sprinklestar, ffs do teachers have to provide bed and board now as well as solve all the rest of society's problems? I'm sorry for the op, but that made me laugh.

LavenderDoll · 30/05/2017 18:48

Can someone at the university not offer you help/advice OP

PencilsInSpace · 30/05/2017 19:04

So sorry you're going through this Flowers

In terms of advice, what scott2609 said. This is legal aidable so get proper help.

SusannahL - This situation is absolutely NOT the fault of the Tory party.

Yes it bloody well is Angry Why do you think we have such a massive shortage of social housing? Where's it gone? Which party's policy was responsible for that?

by law he would have to have given this family 2 months notice , which is usually ample time to find somewhere else

Unless you're on HB and/or don't have a guarantor.

The problem with this situation is that there is a mother on her own with four children, and she is a student, so presumably not earning !

  1. By doing a degree she is bettering herself and will have greater earning potential in the future. It would be awful if she had to give this up for the sake of short term survival.

  2. By doing a nursing degree, she is helping the NHS which has a massive staffing crisis. I do hope you never need them.

  3. Are you aware how many people who are working also need to claim HB/UC housing costs? It's rather a lot.

The problem is that housing is totally totally fucked.

tomatopuree · 30/05/2017 19:12

@Sprinklestar Confused you want her to ask a teacher to house her child for the duration of the exams? How about I send my ironing to the teacher too ???

youaredeluded · 30/05/2017 19:15

This is NOT the landlord's fault! It may have been your home, but it is his property. He has every right to sell it and it seem you have had ample time and he has gone through the correct channels. I still feel bad for you though, but I think unfair to blame the landlord here. Hope the council step in and help you.

SusannahL · 30/05/2017 19:15

I do agree that it's good that the op has a career in mind to enable her to provide for her family eventually, but her immediate problem at the moment is housing.
That's why I suggested she get full time employment to make her a more attractive proposition for landlords.

Becca19962014 · 30/05/2017 19:19

The OP is doing a nursing degree and is the final year where this is funded. If she leaves her degree then she will lose all her funding. It's explained on the thread linked above.

SusannahL · 30/05/2017 19:23

youaredeluded. Unfortunately there is always a lot of hand wringing on here about 'wicked landlords'.
It's pretty obvious isn't it that if you rent, at some point the owner will want his/her house back.
This is the 21st century though with a very generous welfare state in place, so no-one should be homeless, unless it's their own fault ie, drug addiction or alcoholism.

Becca19962014 · 30/05/2017 19:25

Two months sounds ample but when you factor in time to find somewhere else to rent, especially if a student/recieving HB/no guarantor as well as work experience and studying it's actually quite difficult.

In my area landlords want rent paid up front in those circumstances for the length of the tenancy as well as a deposit. You then can't claim housing benefit as your rent is already paid.

Sometimes there are deposit schemes but it doesn't help with the issue of guarantor or the way students/those claiming HB are perceived.

JefferysJodpers · 30/05/2017 19:26

I've been through this as a landlord (unable to sell at first, after a few years then put flat on market so I could stop renting.) My tennant was a lovely woman and forced down the route by the council (she had become disabled over the course of the tenancy).

We looked at it together, and decided ultimately it was the only possible route and giving x amount of time to find somewhere was pointless.

She cleared the property before the date (friends storage) so handed the keys over from an empty property. This was fine with bailiffs who were simply pleased to change jobs quickly.

It just seemed to be on the luck of the day what was offered or free, no forward planning at the council. My friend held on a few days and got a temporary flat that was decent, but another was in hostel accommodation. If you have a way of holding out a few days, crashing with a friend and going back daily as homeless you can get different offers. Horribly stressful though, I truely hope it works out, it is wrong this is done to children. Does your dd doing exams have a good friend to stay with you could offer food money to for a few weeks in exam time? Xx

SingaSong12 · 30/05/2017 19:31

What scott2609 said.
You can use find a solicitor from the Law Society to find a housing solicitor. They will do a legal aid check. Use "more search options" to narrow down to only the solicitors that do legal aid work.

solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/?Pro=False

youaredeluded · 30/05/2017 19:32

I am not blaming the OP it sounds like a shitty situation. Just I can't see how it is the LL fault either. Just a really bad system with the council making people jump through riduclous hoops to get help.

PencilsInSpace · 30/05/2017 19:37

And that's the poverty trap right there. People can't afford to better themselves because they have to make themselves an 'attractive proposition to landlords'. It would probably make no difference to the OP if she did drop her course and get a FT job anyway. She'd need to be earning a lot to take her out of needing HB for a property big enough for her family.

This is the 21st century though with a very generous welfare state in place, so no-one should be homeless, unless it's their own fault ie, drug addiction or alcoholism.

This is one of the stupidest comments I have ever read on here. You have no clue.

PencilsInSpace · 30/05/2017 19:42

We need a shake up of buy to let. I don't have any animosity towards private landlords but it's not good enough for mortgage and insurance companies to say LL are not allowed to rent to people on benefits and for LL to just shrug and say 'our hands are tied'.

We need far more social housing - actual social rents, not this 'affordable' BS.

We need far far stiffer penalties for absent parents not supporting their children and we need to enforce them.

it is wrong this is done to children

THIS. While everybody's passing the buck, children are being made homeless and it's getting worse all the time.

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 30/05/2017 19:54

Feel truly sorry for the OP, it sounds so stressful. I hope you get something sorted.

And to those posters asking why the LL would evict, thanks to wanker Osborne's tax on mortgage interest which came in this April, a lot of landlords are now unable to keep going. Whether you agree with BTL or not, it's not just LLs who are affected by this tax change (as the government originally announced) but also tenants.

CakeLaceMat · 30/05/2017 20:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

scott2609 · 30/05/2017 20:28

Also, I should mention that if you absolutely cannot get tailored legal advice (and please, please do try) via the suggestions I made (& also SingaSong12's suggestion re: checking the Law Society website) there are some excellent guides on the Shelter website. Here is the relevant one about making a homeless application:

england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/homelessness/help_from_the_council_when_homeless/applying_as_homeless

Housing law does differ if you're in Wales or Scotland though and Shelter's has advice websites with the same sorts of guides for both these countries, so make sure you're checking the correct one.