Nowhere to live over Christmas, advice needed

[Bakewellbits]

I was meant to be completing on my first home this weekend, but the seller pulled out last minute, despite pressuring me for weeks to exchange - there was a legal issue outstanding that took a few weeks for solicitors to resolve, not a big deal, or my fault, but obvs needed sorting. Then at point of exchange the seller decided not to move afterall. I'm devastated.

I've given notice on my rental flat and new tenants are moving in soon. I have nowhere to go now, there are hardly any rentals around that I can afford. Airbnbs costs a bloody fortune. I need to be able to commute to work in London 3-4 days a week. I've spent 20 years saving for my deposit, I can't afford to go throwing several grand away on an Airbnb for several months while I get my shit together finding a new rental or place to buy - then I'll never be able to afford to buy. I have no family left, and no close friends any more so can't stay with anyone.

Any advice? And yes, things could be worse, I could be completely broke and homeless, so at least I'm lucky enough to have some funds.

Some options:

• As others have said, see if you can sublet a room. You might need to move a bit. Ideally someone who is visiting family in Australia or travelling for a bit etc and would appreciate someone covering their rent for a bit. Students might be off for a few weeks over Christmas and be keen for this.
• Not ideal, but a friend stayed in a youth hostel between houses. She only did a week or so, you wouldn't want to for months, but could be a stop-gap. You would need storage though.

Have you asked around your friends or family if anyone can rent you a room? One of my work friends needed a room for 2 months between properties. She rented a room from a friend and it worked fine as it was only short term.

OP said she has no family or close friends in her opening post

Utter rubbish! Don't listen to this!!

The OP gave notice (not the LL) so they MUST move out. The LL can charge double rent if they stay!

@Bakewellbits Can you look for a room in a shared house and put your stuff in storage? Could you ask at work if anyone has a room to rent?

For future reference, never give notice on your rental until contracts have been exchanged!!

I've been on MN for 18/19 years and I've never heard of it!

Yes plus the landlord doesn’t actually need a court order to evict her either. It’s absolutely idiotic advice and she’d be out on her ear in the cold.
OP with a future purchase you need to tell the estate agent and seller upfront that you need a month between exchange and completion so that you can give notice on your rental. Either that or budget for an extra month of overlap.

Speak to your landlord and ask if you can extend (I wouldn't want to screw the next family over either but they might have other options themselves or be able to delay their move a little, so do ask.... nothing to lose).

Definitely look for a house/ flat sitting opportunity over Xmas and NY, loads available if you are child free and capable of looking after a few small animals. That will buy you some breathing space. In between house sits I would make use of hostels, couch surfing and cheap airbnb/ travleodge type deals and then get on to SpareRoom.com for short term house share / rooms to let, the fact you can move in quickly and start paying rent (even if it's only short term) will be a bonus to some people.

What a nightmare. Another reason why the buying/selling process in the UK is not fit for purpose.

The process works fine, and is very sensible! Don't end your right to live where you currently are until you have the guaranteed right to move into the next place. Don't promise to move out until the seller has promised that you can move in. In cases like this it means don't give notice until you've exchanged contracts.

Off topic, but I'd love to see a photo of what a giant house bunny is??? 😊

I didn’t get the twin comment at all. What’s the MN twin thing?

I think it’s when the OP posts something that’s clearly made up and as part of the narrative they often have twins or are pregnant with twins. But this is a fairly standard post - nothing OTT or made up - just shitty luck for the OP so it makes no sense to do the twins comment.

What a stressful thing to happen, I’m so sorry! Sorry if it’s been suggested already but you could look on spareroom for a short term room in a house share maybe? Your stuff could go into storage until you’ve managed to buy?

@Bakewellbits trying to think practically how much are you used to spending on rent and bills per month? The actual Christmas/NY period is going to be massively inflated in terms of costs for the likes of an Airbnb but outside of that period it might be possible to negotiate a much more realistic rate. How much stuff do you have which would need storing?

Presumably ideally you want to look for somewhere else to buy so it could be some months before you get through the process so need to plan for at least 3 months but not a rental with a 6 or 12 months minimum term as it puts you back in the same position.

Start looking at storage options now - prices vary by location so it's worth phoning several and also the unit size they have available will vary and you don't want to pay for a size you don't need just because it's the only thing available.

Caravan or mobile home out of season could be an option or finding someone looking for a lodger. Post on some local Facebook groups to see if anyone is looking. Mention that income from renting a room is tax free up to something like £7k a year.

I am so sorry that you are in this situation, OP. Frankly, the system in the UK for buying and selling property is appalling, and the scenario of vendors pulling out because they've changed their mind happens very often, and should not be possible. Please have a hug from me. There are good suggestions on this strand, so not much to add, but to recap:

i) housesitting: TrustedHousesitters seems to be more a pet-sitting agency than homesitting one per se, and I think that they stipulate that you can't leave a pet for more than three hours, but worth looking into. For Christmas holidays, if you get that time off, and like animals, there is a nice cat-sitting gig in Croydon: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/house-and-pet-sitting-assignments/united-kingdom/england/croydon/l/1814481
You pay an annual fee (I think £200) and no money exchanges hands for rent.

ii) University Rooms: you can rent a room during the university holidays. I've stayed in central London, and it was fine; en suite room and shared kitchen, so not fancy, but nicer than a cheap hotel;
ii) as others have said, best thing to do is to put your possessions into self-storage, which gives you a lot of flexibility. Worth getting started asap with the packing, and everything will be sitting safely in store for when you buy :-)
iii) look on Sparerooms for a house share. This is, of course, not ideal, but will be cheaper than your flat's rent was, and hopefully you can actually save money to finance your future purchase. When I bought my first flat I was living in a shared house with minimal possessions, and only had to give a month's notice, and that made it very easy to move.

Don't despair! It will take some time before you're in a place of your own, and may mean living in less than ideal circumstances, but you'll get there. Another hug!

That's plainly untrue. You can rescind your notice whenever you want.

Is it, but if the OP ever wants to rent again, she will need a reference.

How about something like this until you find a new house to buy

https://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/flatshare_detail.pl?featured=1&flatshare_id=17560712&search_id=&search_results=%2Fflatshare%2Fcroydon%2Fpage4

Expert on housing law, are you?
It does annoy me when people make shit up on mumsnet.

Just a thought. Are there any caravan parks nearby that may rent to you for a few weeks? If you are looking at longer term, could you buy a second hand caravan, park it on a site, one at Abbey Wood charges £23 per night, then, when you find a house sell the caravan? I don't know if this would be feasible but might be worth looking at.

I'm not sure housesitting is an option as it would require a DBS check which could take weeks.

@StormingNorman it's like shouting "🐂💩" on someone's thread but with added mumsnet "wit" it's basically troll hunting and twatty . The comment was removed .

You don't have to tell you GP if you've moved, just forward your post.
Definitely look at housesitting, loads of people will need care for pets over Xmas. My DM is off on a long holiday in Jan looking for 3 weeks pet sitter as an example.
Put your stuff in storage and then just cope with a bit of uncertainty over the next month or two and either get back into a rental or find somewhere else to buy

Do you have a staff noticeboard at work?

We have one on our intranet, and there are often people looking for or offering rooms to rent short term.

One of my airbnb guests from overseas was due to move into a rental property. She stayed with me on a temp basis while waiting for the previous tenant to move out. The previous tenant got let down on her property purchase and asked to stay, or be given some extra time until she found somewhere else.

My guest insisted on moving in on the agreed date, so she had to leave.

On moving out day, the landlord went round to find the previous tenant still there. He gave her until 6pm, then called the police when she wouldn’t move. They must have having a quiet night because they did go round after a few hours, and she was made to leave at 11pm with nowhere to go.

The next day the landlord changed the locks and got the property deep cleaned. My guest moved in as planned, while the previous tenant was left homeless.

Here’s my deaf, partially blind, prone to slam hurling the cat, floofy rescue girl bun bun

Yes actually, I have a law degree and have worked in the industry for over a decade. That's how I know you're talking rubbish 💐