So in 2022 my private landlord served me a section 21 out of blue. It was a stressful time as I had 4 children but also a blessing in a way as it lead me to leave my coercive, emotionally abusive controlling ex.
As I was classed as being at risk of homelessness I had to take the first available property I was given by the council. It was a new build but in an area I would not have chosen if I had the choice.
My ex found out where I moved to and the first 6 months here were horrific with him turning up causing problems. Not the best start to my 'fresh start ' .. after about 9 months i reconnected with my first ever boyfriend from school, we started dating and have now been together 2 years.
I am still not happy in the house I am in, my son moved to live with his dad so it's just me now and my 3 daughter 9, and 7 year old twins. The area is not the best, iv struggled to move them to a local school so the 30 min drive every morning stresses me out. It's right by a main road which people speed up and down and one of my daughters has additional needs so has no sense of danger and tries to get out the gate. There are drug deals in broad daylight, I have had my tyres slashed on my car and people are forever throwing glass bottles.etc over the fence when my children are in the garden. I am miserable here and I do not feel safe. Not only this, financially it cripples me living alone and I feel like I am not living just surviving here.
I have tried to exchange but nobody wants to live in this area 😒
My partner has a 2 bedroom house, closer to my children's school and a quiet street and he has said he would love for us to move in with him
I have spoken to my council who said it would be overcrowded and they would not approve this. But after reading up, my children only class as half a person so in theory we would be 3.5 people in a 2 bedroom house with a living room that could also be turned into a bedroom. I said it would be a temporary thing as we would continue to search for an exchange for a bigger house, which would be easier there as its a more desirable area.
The council say they would make us leave my partners house if we did this and they will not rehouse me as I made myself intentionally homeless.
I feel stuck in what to do, It's really affecting my mental health here, I hardly sleep, and the council do not want to help me.
My partner would not want to move into my 3 bed house again due to the area and I don't blame him as I wouldn't want to give up a nice house in a quiet street to live somewhere with antisocial behaviours like this.
Has anyone else been in this situation?