to expect the council to house us even though DH is sshh ..... working!!

[EverSoSlightlyStressed]

Landlord has a court order for possession which runs out tomorrow. Council have basically said we will have to wait for the court bailiffs to physically kick us out and then go to them with our stuff in binbags before they will provide us with anything even emergency housing which is quite a stressful thought . It could be that we have no more than 7 days until we get kicked out depending on how long it takes for the LL to arrange the bailiffs to come. Obviously I have no problem with the LL wanting us out and feel terrible that he has been forced to take us to court but it is the only way the council will help us.

BTW we are not feckless or scroungers! We have 4 DCs - youngest 2mnths old. DH works around 48 hours a week and has a relatively good wage. We are not entitled to tax credits (child benefit only) and have struggled with the massive amount we have to pay in private rent but scraped by without too much hassle. LL decided to sell house last year, we knew we would have problems renting again as we are both had to go bankrupt (1 year ago) since we moved into this house so our credit is shot and no chance of ever having a mortgage again . Current letting agents said they would not be able to rent to us again because of this as we have no one to be guarantor even though they have had no problems with us and nor will any other agent. There are no properties being advertised by individuals that would not need a credit check round here (except for shared house rooms) and anyway all 3 bed properties are like gold dust so we are in deep shit!!

The council keep telling us that as DH works we should find our own property. We keep telling them that we can't for reasons detailed above. It seems that if he was not working and we were on benefits, they would bend over backwards to help but as he is a taxpayer, they will not do anything. Is it me or is this a bit arse about face??

I find it interesting that the OP appears to think that she has not been feckless, even though both her and her partner have been made bankrupt and have completely stitched up their landlord!

And, no, I do not think she has any right to 'expect' the council to accommodate her. As other posters have suggested, most private landlords do not require a credit check, just bank statements and a deposit. If her husband is on a reasonable wage and they can prove that they can pay, then they should get somewhere. And if there is no housing, then they may need to move.

I have had to take a tenant to court before and have lost a lot of money as I continued to pay the mortgage on my flat. The OP has shown very little responsibility either towards her finanical obligations or her family's housing.

Have no idea morloth speak to someone from the council for that answer. Not my fault if i get given duff info. So who the hell are we supposed to believe.

Scardypants, hahahahaha, that's quick! I love it.

OP, where do you live? It must be horrible to be faced with the prospect of being evicted and homeless, and arguably with a 2 month old you don't exactly have a free hand to do lots of searching. But... you will be able to find something that will do, on a temporary basis, in the private rented sector. As others have said, try local papers' classifieds sections, not Estate Agents.

Tiredmummno1, a recent review by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission found that migrants were not given preferential treatment by local authorities when it came to housing. Only 2% of social housing stock is occupied people who arrived in the UK in the last 5 years.

You are basing your understanding of a complex issue on what one person has told you. For what it's worth, my aunty's job involves dealing with housing benefit claims and she spouts the most amazing shite about about migrants getting preferential treatment. Without fail, these statements have which have turned out to be completely untrue. But then, she is vaguely racist.

That was to TMN1 btw

All you are proving Tiredmum is that not only you are racist your council working friends are too.

btw, everyone, the Op has long gone....

Tiredmum I live right on the south coast and there are ALOT of immigrants here, I have never seen any in council houses just crammed into small barely livable private rents (whole streets of bad condition housing). Admittedly I am assuming they are recent immigrants from accents and level of english and so this is just looking from afar!

You see if we get all different info from others then some are obviously lying, thats why i asked who we believe then. And i was honestly not trying to offend anyone at all.

LOL, who knew you couldn't take second/third hand info as gospel and then spout it as fact?!

Depending on where you live and which council you are under, you do get some points for not being able to afford to provide your own home - which is where the misconception about benefits=housing comes from. But most councils will award these points to anyone who doesn't have savings over a certain amount, or who already has a mortgage.

And you could have gone on the housing list anyway, 5 months ago - and then, when your circumstances changed, had your points / banding reassessed. You can be in private accomodation and be rehomed. DH and I were in a small private 1 bed flat when we had DS1 and were rehomed in a 2 bed HA flat. So if the only place you could move to was a couple of rooms, for example, you would be given priority.

I don't see why you feel your landlord evicting you would help - because presumably they will see it as, if you can afford to rent your current home, then you can afford to rent another. The council can help you find landlords who will accept tenants in situations such as yours - and I'm sure some councils will have conditions on giving you a tenancy if you have been evicted from somewhere (although this might only apply if you have been evicted from social housing)

It is quite normal where we are to wait 10 years for a 3 bedroom house, with 3 children of different sexes sharing a room, so I wouldn't expect miracles.

In the area I live there are no council houses, (lots of private rentals) but we have alot of Immigrants here - mainly in shared houses or in houses that have been converted to tiny bedsits.

TiredMum - you have just proved how racist you are, plus how idiotic you are too.

And stop trying to be so sad and brand me racist, you see the difference with me is i will tell the truth, and i am so not racist. And i personally couldnt give a toss where everyone lives. I was just obviously mis informed on the way councils handle things

AnyFucker "btw, everyone, the Op has long gone...."

Like we ever let that get in the way!

TIREDMUMNO1 are you Richard Littlejohn?

seriously though, you need a little help with your spelling and grammar. Oh, and to answer Morloth's question too.

To the OP - yes, totally unreasonable. But you knew that already didn't you?

How did the bankruptcies come about? I only ask in case it is possible to provide proof to a potential landlord that it was due to circumstances beyond your control (e.g. a business crashing/long-term illness/accident) as opposed to reckless spending on credit cards to fund champagne and plush holidays.

I know the op has gone, however I wonder if she considered the fact that the reason she might not be able to get a property in her local area is that word has gone round at how shite she treated her current landlord - especially if they wanted a reference!

Money absolutely IS the issue. Because if the husband is on the sort of salary that the OPs posts implied then, regardless of last year's overpayment blah blah, their normal entitlement would seem to suggest that he earns somewhere between £35-55k.

THAT sort of money enables you to save 3 months deposit, particularly as they've had 5 months notice at the very least that this was going to happen.

Loads of private landlords (not agencies) accept proof of earnings (ie payslips) and 3 months deposit.

But no, much easier to declare yourselves bankrupt to avoid repaying debt, force some poor unsuspecting landlord to take you to court (which will have cost them money BTW) and now wait for the council to come up trumps.

The OP asked: "am I unreasonable to expect the council to house us even though DH is working?"

Fuck, yes.

Sorry, I'd rather the one remaining council house went to someone fleeing persecution in another country. I'm proud that our country has a system to take care of people in THAT sort of situation.

well the bankruptcies have now had a nice big fat WE SHAFTED OUR LANDLORD ribbon to wrap them up, so it's a bit late for damage limitation on that front now

morloth, yup

never let a runaway OP get in the way of a good scrap, eh ?

Shadeofviolet actually taking one bloody sentence that i said and trying to turn it round to make me look bad is immature. I aint gonna keep telling you that i am not, if you cant figure that out, then you are the stupid one not me.

Casserole - totally agree.

I think it's great that you aint gonna keep telling us that you is immature

innit

what stage is this scrap at, btw, because I really need to wash up

I totally agree with casserole too

mp...you weren't nasty at all, btw

I think you just saw straight through the crap that OP was trying to justify herself with...

There really is no need to turn anything around Tiredmumno1 you wrote it, it is there on the page nice and clear. Your words, if you don't want people to think you are a racist perhaps you should consider not writing racist things?