AIBU to not understand why we don’t meet social housing criteria?

[Lulubon]

Does anyone have any experience with social housing?
We have been on the register for a year, band C and 13 points

Our situation:
My partner was made redundant during the pandemic and found it hard to find a job, he now works a low paid nhs job, full time.

He has a previous ccj which prevents us being accepted for rental properties. We’ve been turned down more times then I can count.

We live in one of the most expensive areas of the country. (Just happened to be where we grew up and we previously were relatively high earners)

We have a 7 month old son. I am currently receiving statuary maternity pay which ends this month.

I am a nursing student and will be returning to my studies in September full time.

We currently rent a small flat which is £1000pm. We originally lived her a few years ago when both in full time work, well paid jobs.

Rent is almost all of my partners earning and we are left with just enough to cover bills and food. Although I often have to put at least one food shop on the credit card.

Our flat has been sold and we have been served notice.

We have nowhere to go as we have been frantically applying to rent through letting agents and haven’t been accepted for low income and the ccj.

We contacted the council to ask if we have gained priority and they said no!?

I am completely at a loss and so heartbroken to be in this situation, we were living a care free lifestyle with quite a bit of disposable income pre pandemic.
I want our son to have a secure home but the woman we spoke to today from the counsel said we would need minimum 25 point (we have 13) to even be considered for a housing association house.

Can this be correct? If so what can we do in this situation?

Thanks in advance

Sorry you're getting a hard time here OP.

Can your uni help with accommodation? They might have links with landlords or can help with a deposit. You have had some good advice about staying where you are until eviction, it's the only way the council will house you if you can't get anything else.

I think people who are saying you can't afford to study are being really short sighted. You only have to get to October and then your loan will come in.

Some people here get really chippy about others trying to better themselves in difficult circumstances, I don't know why. Some sort of fear that people might be getting something for nothing if they're helped. Bizarre.

Anyway good luck with getting housed OP.

I genuinely don’t think op is getting a hard time,or posters are bitter or jealous
There are realistic and factual responses regard housing , that op may not have anticipated or been aware of
Quite Simply the demand for housing exceeds supply, as a result there are stringent criteria

The best single advice I’ll give is wait for the eviction
Go to a law centre check the paperwork is in order
Coronavirus update

You must be served a section 21 notice From 1 June 2021 all section 21 notices must give at least 4 months' notice
Your landlord can only apply to court after the notice period ends. Currently There's a backlog of eviction cases in the courts so there will be delays , up to months of delays.The bailiffs must give you at least 2 weeks' notice of an eviction date.

Letting agents shouldn't be discounting you immediately on the strength of the CCJ alone. That said, and having previously worked in the rental sector, it's astounding how many of them have zero empathy or any real humility when it comes to dealing with people who have less than a perfect credit rating.

Have you checked your credit scores/information lately? Credit Karma is a free online service you can use - you have to enter debit/credit card details, but this is for purely identification reasons, and not to charge you anything. It's definitely worth being in possession of the full information shown on your credit report.

You could consider doing something along the lines of a 'marketing campaign' on yourselves when approaching letting agents. A friend of mine experienced the same sort of issues recently, so she wrote an introduction letter, laying out all her circumstances (including things such as the fact she's never missed a rent payment, has references for previous tenancies, and has a rental guarantor - which is very useful if you're able to have someone on a good and reliable income to guarantee your tenancy).

She also included a couple of photos of her and her toddler and the reasons she wanted to move. She focused on all the positive aspects a landlord could enjoy and benefit from by having her as a Tenant.

It's REALLY depressing to think prospective private Tenants should have to resort to stuff like that, and I have NO love for the private rental sector for contributing to the levels of housing inequality and instability we're experiencing now, but I thought I'd offer some thoughts anyway.

I really hope you get sorted soon, it must be so stressful for you.

could you get an evening job? when your partner is not at work and can look after your child ?

I’m a tenant with a HA and I’ve had to fill in a new application as they’re going to demolish our flats next year. I put reason for application as flat being demolished to make way for new development. I was allocated band C. I’ve got this vision of pitching up a tent in the rubble that used to be my flat . So I think what posters are saying about not being a priority till you are actually homeless must be true as I can’t think of a much better reason for needing to move than because your home is being demolished.

@Tabitha005 the problem is letting agents are probably discounting them based purely on their income at the moment, without even getting the CCJ. Most use a basic affordability criteria which I doubt they meet on their current incomes.

[quote Flowers500]@Tabitha005 the problem is letting agents are probably discounting them based purely on their income at the moment, without even getting the CCJ. Most use a basic affordability criteria which I doubt they meet on their current incomes.[/quote]
True. I hadn't thought of that.

What an awful situation. The UK housing system is a broken mess for so many people.

Sadly myself and my 11 year old in March- had to live in a hotel for a month. Our landlord had the house back to sell. I couldn’t afford the deposit on a private rental. We weren’t priority until we were homeless. 3 weeks in, we were given a property. The system really isn’t right. I really hope you get things sorted.

I have never heard of properties not being let to a couple where one is working but on a few weeks probation!

If you end up with nowhere to go and become truly homeless I hope you realise it's likely a Bed and breakfast where they will put you

And it can be out of area. It's an emergency situation, roof over heads is way more important than a course!

You don't seem to have got far finding anywhere, you need to prepare for the next stage

How long ago was your DPs CCJ? Did he pay it off?

Today 09:04 butterpuffed

Tibtab
If your landlord sells then the new owners become your landlords. They have the same legal obligations and these don’t stop on the sale of the house.
You have to stay put and wait for eviction which is stressful but it’s the only thing you can do as the council will not rehome you if leave before this. That’s the system.
This is wrong, you can't become an automatic landlord when you buy somewhere with a tenant in situ. There are all sorts of rules and regulations which apply when you want to become one.

@butterpuffed
The tenant is “in-situ” and the change in ownership does not change their tenancy agreement and rights:
www.samconveyancing.co.uk/news/conveyancing/sitting-tenant-5173

We got housed by the council within a few months when we were made homeless. Our private rental was declared unsuitable to live in, plus I was prioritised due to DV and disabilities (disabled dd and my own disability). I had a lot of medical and social care reports, plus police and solicitor evidence. I was very fortunate to get housed so quickly as we're in a central London borough and many families are only offered housing out of the area, but we needed to stay due to my support network and hospital appointments. I would guess that most families who are getting housed meet various priority criteria which would put their application above the OP. I don't know anyone in my block who doesn't meet much higher criteria like DV, refugee, severe medical or social need etc.

@BrieAndChilli

The problem is they likely have 10 houses but 100 applicants, there has to be some system for allocating fairly based on greatest need. They can’t just magic up a house for everyone that needs it. Who do you want to bump off the list so you get a house first? The family that were in the grenfell fire and are still on a 1 room temp hostel? The woman and 2 kids who fled domestic violence? The family who’s current home is infested with cockroaches? Everyone on the list will have some sort of story and need. Council/social housing is in such short supply it can’t be relied upon as a choice or even an emergency measure!

I think you need to look at other options - moving area, increasing earnings etc

This is not the least bit 'rude', OP, nor is it at all 'passive aggressive'. It is factual.

Your thread title says 'AIBU to not understand why we don't meet social housing criteria?' Here's your answer in a nutshell.

If you've been given band C, that's usually overcrowding. They're not saying that you're not eligible for couuncil housing, solely that yo're not likely to get HA.

The people the council say they have a duty to house tend to have no income at all and/or maybe a disability (I know because I got a council house based on my disability and being unable to work.

I don't know what band C is apart from overcrowding.

Get a rented flat (you will find one if you look hard, as you've sucseeded in getting one before) and try and stay on the council list. Your day will come one day.

Letting agents shouldn't be discounting you immediately on the strength of the CCJ alone.

@Tabitha005 they don't really pick and choose the reasons- if the person fails a credit check an estate agent won't accept them.

@Lulubon You could try and find a landlord who deals with tenants directly themselves rather than through an estate agent, and some don't do a credit check. They do exist, I know from experience.

You will find somewhere -keep hunting. Best wishes. x

Well it is a bit rude tbh as it implies op wants to remove people from the list. She doesn't. She just wants to be housed as she's being evicted from her home.

@EverythingWillFallInLine

Well it is a bit rude tbh as it implies op wants to remove people from the list. She doesn't. She just wants to be housed as she's being evicted from her home.

It's a rhetorical question, designed to make OP think. It's not as if she has the literal power to bump anyone off the list. To those making the decisions re who to house first, the OP is not in as severe crisis as many hundreds/thousands of others. Not what she wants to hear, but reality.

It doesn't imply that at all 🙄 It's illustrating the decision-making process so that OP can see why she's lacking in points compared to others on the list.

Have you approached your university to ask if they can help? Most universities have student housing portfolios and cater for mature students and families as well, and you might be able to rent directly from them even with your credit history. Make full use of the services of the university-contact student support services and tell them your situation and that you are on the verge of being homeless. They might be able to help directly or at least offer advice.

Because you currently have a flat, only way you would be higher band would be if you were homeless or living with relatives and was over crowded, councils don't have enough houses so lots have to privately rent

My reply was re Brieandchilli's post btw.

@me4real every council has their own allocations criteria. Within that some councils allocate for some housing associations who have their own secondary criteria again. So what's true for some areas isn't true for others and even within that the secondary criteria can change things eg a lot of housing associations prefer tenants who are working.

So the first step for op is to find out the policy or policies that apply to her area.

She may well get lucky. Not everyone ends up in a b&b. As a pp said some temporary accommodation is self contained flats. And she may bypass the temporary accommodation stage altogether if she can get herself assessed as high enough priority and spends enough time waiting. It's taking a while to evict at the moment : notice is longer and even once notice has expired there's a court backlog so it's longer until hearing and eviction. All of that means more time on the list during which op gets closer to the top.

It could be risky but if it's feasible it's worth it to have a secure and affordable home. Op won't have priority again without an eviction notice so she may as well see where it can get her now.

The problem is you have to cut your cloth accordingly.
Living in an expensive area is fine whilst the money is coming in.
We'd all love to live in areas like this.
Also, you need a job, studying is the same, great whilst the money is coming in.

Oh another thing--some universities are willing to act as your guarantor for private renting. Not all but some, would be worth checking

@Lulubon what job did your husband do when he was in IT before? Might be able to leverage it into something else directly

@foxsalt

We got housed by the council within a few months when we were made homeless. Our private rental was declared unsuitable to live in, plus I was prioritised due to DV and disabilities (disabled dd and my own disability). I had a lot of medical and social care reports, plus police and solicitor evidence. I was very fortunate to get housed so quickly as we're in a central London borough and many families are only offered housing out of the area, but we needed to stay due to my support network and hospital appointments. I would guess that most families who are getting housed meet various priority criteria which would put their application above the OP. I don't know anyone in my block who doesn't meet much higher criteria like DV, refugee, severe medical or social need etc.

I thought refugees had a separate list altogether..

Also whoever bought your LL's flat with tenants in situ is dumb.
Stay put, they can't just kick you out as pp have mentioned