to think i will never get a council house?

[bellver888]

been on the waiting list 2 years - showing 30 in bidding systems
DV occurred up to September 2020 when i forced my exp out the house.
rent is 600 and i cannot afford it now there’s just me and DS.
Landlord is shit, I have no heating, riddled with damp and window hanging out of pane. It’s a 3rd floor flat. HSA (housing standards authority) keep saying they’re contacting my landlord and he’s sending someone round, they never come.
PTSD is kicking in and i can’t go in my bedroom without vomiting and panicking as that’s where the abuse occurred
poor credit and no guarantor and no way i can afford private rent as average is 600-700 in my area and i need support
severe depression, OCD and anxiety
im getting 1140 in UC and im in arrears with everything, DHP was rejected and can’t appeal

Every single time when I phone up I get “keep bidding you’re moving up the list” yet I’m really not. I can’t take anymore of this, I hate my life and I don’t think I have a future at all.

If you have evidence that your LL hasn't addressed an issue in the property which is considered essential (eg heating), despite repeated requests, you can do the repair yourself and deduct it from the rent.

The council's private renting team or environmental health should be ordering your LL to do the repairs and checking they are done. If he is fobbing them off by telling them something factually incorrect, then the council is inept.

I am a LL and I would be ashamed and embarrassed to treat any tenant of mine in this way. I am sorry you are going through this and I am so sick of shitty LLs giving good ones a bad name.

No advice sadly OP just wanted you to know you're not alone.

My situation is very similar to yours. I fled DV and escaped to a different city for my own safety where i had family but the council wouldn't help me. I rented a one bed flat for me and my DC in haste as I couldn't afford anything else. The place consists of two rooms (living/kitchen room, one bedroom and a bathroom)

Full of damp. Boiler issues. The built in oven is keeps breaking down. The dump is that badly insulated I have to spend a fortune using little electric heaters, only for it to be freezing again as soon as I turn them off. No windows in the bathroom and a dodgy extractor fan so the bathroom is covered in mould too.

I also have issues with my Windows, the last time we had torrential rain my bedroom flooded and my property was damaged.

3 years later we're still stuck here and have even less chance of getting help now than I did in the first place as we are "adequately housed" bullshit

I really hope things improve for you soon x

@LordSendGin are you in my block?! Our fucking built in oven doesn’t work either!

Feel free to PM me any time. It’s so shit isn’t it. Xx

@loveisagirlnameddaisy the last time I spoke to housing standards was friday, she said the heating may not work as I haven’t topped it up I’m on a direct debit but whatever they say!

Good landlords deserve 10x the praise x

Hello OP
As pp said, the council's private rental team or environmental health should have assessed your property, written a report & be ordering your LL to do the repairs. Also, if there are a number of hazards/issues/significant damp reported, the report can go to your housing needs team/housing register providers & they can then decide who picks up your case.. (they may up your banding, maybe can find more suitable housing for you/emergency housing.
If environmental health won't assess, go to your MP. Keep cc'ing your MP's office into emails to housing.
I think you mentioned shelter are supporting you. CC in your shelter worker too.
Apologies if you've done all this. I haven't read the whole thread.
You deserve a safe, stable home.

[quote bellver888]@loveisagirlnameddaisy the last time I spoke to housing standards was friday, she said the heating may not work as I haven’t topped it up I’m on a direct debit but whatever they say!

Good landlords deserve 10x the praise x[/quote]
I can only imagine how frustrating it is to have to deal with disinterested council employees who don't even understand your predicament fully! Have you spoken to the CAB? I know they can be hit and miss but it might be worthwhile.

@Godimabitch

I know it's not the right thing to do and I'd usually be very against it. But, and someone else might know if this is a terrible idea... if you stopped paying your rent, then your landlord would evict you and you'd at least get emergency housing, which may well be worse than what you're in, I dont know.

Then she'd be deliberately homeless and not get a council place. Stupid advice.

I just don’t understand how they help so many people yet me and another poster get fuck all. I don’t understand it at all.

Hi OP, sorry to hear about your situation. My friend has just got a housing association house in Sharston. I'm not sure how she proved local links as she's Polish but she moved up the list as her children were seen as being inadequately housed. She said there have been two other families move in to her street in the last year. I'm just mentioning this in case Sharston is an area you can look at.

The area round the Uni is really expensive, even Hulme and Miss Side are expensive now.

I will have to check that out thank you so much

Sorry I’m using this thread to vent because my mum worries about me 24/7 and I don’t want to stress her out any more.
I just wish I had a timescale of when this ends. Will it ever be okay? Will DS ever have what other kids have? I hate myself for forcing this shit life on my innocent son

My mum has emailed one of her excolleagues at our HA asking if PTSD qualifies for medical points with a GP’s letter.

Apparently it makes absolutely no difference. What the fuck is the point

It sounds like a huge barrier to you moving on to a better house is the debt relief order because absent that you would stand a much better chance at a private rental, especially if you get a full time job from now til your course starts to increase your income and pass rental income checks. If you are already in a property & switch to HB when already there your landlord simply won't know to discriminate.

Is the debt big? Have you spoken to CAB or anyone like StepChange to identify if there are any ways to improve that situation & rebuild credit?

@bellver888

The only thing they actually said was to get a solicitor for a claim for illegal disrepair. Like I’ve got the fucking money, time, mental capacity to do that

I did suggest legal action against your landlord. You could ask your local Citizens Advice whether there are any local solicitors that offer free, pro bono, or no win no fee type arrangements for cases like yours. In some limited circumstances it is possible to get legal aid for housing issues, I'm not sure whether you'd qualify but it's worth asking.

It sounds as if you've tried everything and I think legal action is the only remaining option tbh.

You've already made a complaint to the council about their failure to force the landlord to act, haven't you? They have a long time to respond (8 weeks IIRC) but if they haven't resolved it to your satisfaction after that time, you can take it higher, I think it would be the local government ombudsman or housing ombudsman, off the top of my head.

As for your social housing application, they seem to be one of the most strict and least helpful councils I've come across. So it would definitely be worth thinking about applying to other councils in other locations you'd be willing to live in, if their criteria will be more favourite. As a DV victim you should be exempt from the local connection rule.

The uni where I works offer free legal help, I'm sure yours will too?

Please get in touch with the uni and ask about them helping to accommodate you so that you are able to start your course again in Autumn.

If you're in Manchester and your landlord is crap it might be worth contacting/joining Acorn m.facebook.com/acornmanchester/

Man Met do free legal work and help out Shelter

www.mmu.ac.uk/law/study/school-life/pro-bono/

Please contact them to enforce your landlord to comply with the law.

If I didn’t have the DRO I’d have absolutely no money paying my debts off. Plus my credit score would be shit.

I’ve enquired to a solicitor today via CAB. I’m band C with Leeds homes.

I applied for my last private rented today. It’s an hour and a half away and £525 a month however it isn’t nice. But we do what we can.

If this fails then I’m just giving up completely with everything. I already hate my life and what it has become.

Having trouble linking but if you would consider moving areas 2 bed flat Blackburn St Radcliffe 595 with open reach and on Zoopla
Will let to students its about 2 minutes from metrolink to get you into Manchester and will give you link to Bury for council housing which can't be as bad as Manchester

OP sorry you are having such a terrible time. If you decide to go back to uni and finish your social work degree MMU have just opened bookings for their halls of residence. They do family rooms. You may be able to move in during the summer holiday rather than wait until September. Could you stay with your mum til then? You LL is a complete shit.

The flat in Radcliffe has only been on since 18th January so so you may have missed it in your search.Its available immediately as well

As pp said, universities oftenwill help with legal matters and issues with private landlords. If there's a law dept, law students might help to gain experience. But I really think your local paper is a good place to start. Sent them your circumstances, a timeline and photos. And as much as I loathe the daily mail they run these types of stories a lot and action seems to be swift afterwards!

bellver888, many many years ago I was in a very similar situation to you. Hang on in there, go back to university and get your social work qualification. As others have said try and get accommodation through Man Met.
I am now at the end of my career and have a good, comfortable life, but I was once living with my young son in a homeless families hostel. I did my degree with 3 young children, and also had to defer for a year. Life has been infinitely better once I qualified and could get a job that paid reasonably well.
I know how awful things are for you at the moment, but please don't give up - things will get better for you and your baby.

Hi op, I came across this today and wondered whether anything on here might be useful to you: www.billhelp.uk/manchester-rent-deposit-scheme-programmes/

I am in a similar situation as you OP regarding not being able to get a privately rented place.
I am in social housing but it is not much better as I have no hot water and lots of damp and mould and they won’t do anything about it so just be aware that your situation may not be a million times better than it is now and if you do get a chance to go private or thorough the uni even if it’s further away then I’d go for it.