Single young mum with 2 kids about to be evicted - plse help

[TheRhubarb]

My neighbour is a single mum with 2 pre-school kids, one just 8 months old. She's been living where she is now for more than a year and her contract is a rolling one with both owners of the house who are renting it out because they've split up.

The contract is signed by both parties and she pays her rent to a bank account in the wife's name.

He now has a new girlfriend and wants to move back into the property, giving her 2 months notice. But she didn't pay him a deposit which means she has no deposit to take to another house. 2 months doesn't give her time to find a new place or save up for the deposit she would need.

She's currently on maternity leave but will be a full time student in Sept and is receiving housing benefit, child tax credit etc.

He hasn't given her formal notice yet, he's coming at 12noon to tell her whether or not he wants to move back in and I'm going to be with her for support. My question is; obv he will have to give written notice but will his wife need to sign the eviction notice too?

Should she tell him that he'll have to evict her forcibly? Which he will need to do because otherwise she'll have made herself voluntarily homeless.

Any other advice before he comes round gratefully appreciated.

Cheers guys

Her choice to have 2 kids while not living with or being supported by her bf

It's a sad thing that every thread seems to be jumped on at the moment. This young girl, who you don't know, has been called a scrounger, something out of the Jeremy Kyle show and her bf and parents are assumed to be rich. Let's get this straight. I know a little of her circumstances, you know only what I have gleaned from her - you haven't met her or know her yet you presume enough to attack like a bunch of hyenas and rip her apart. And what is worse is that some of you - yes you GB - actually appear to be enjoying it.

She isn't living on income support or claiming job seekers allowance. She doesn't have 10 kids by 10 different dads. She's a young girl with 2 very young children who has worked and paid her taxes and is now going to college to try to better her situation. Her mother has done what many mothers are now doing, which is to take out a trust fund for her daughter and her daughter has wisely decided to use that for a deposit for a house. That the fund is in her mother's name means that she can actually claim HB whilst at college. That is not illegal.

Her bf, from what I know, has always had his flat and works 50miles away. I don't know why he hasn't moved in with her, I guess that's for them to sort out. I know she is hoping that they will move in together soon, but I haven't met him so have no idea what he wants from all of this. I could judge him without knowing him or having met him like many of you are no doubt doing, but I'd rather not. He may be living the life of Riley whilst his young gf struggles with his 2 kids or he may not.

Thanks to those who gave advice at the beginning. For those hyenas who just wanted to get their teeth stuck into someone they don't know - hope you feel better for your rants and shrieks and accusations. One day you may find yourself in a situation where you need a little help and I dearly hope that you aren't judged for your situation but find some kindness instead, because kindness seems to be sorely lacking on these threads right now.

And GB, I reserve the right to call you a smug arse still, because I have judged you by the righteous tone of your patronising and self-satisfied posts.

Just stalked you Gooseberrybushes, what a nice poster you seem to be

Rhubarb - I think what people are getting at is the fact that she has a working partner who owns his own flat. She has a 50K trust fund which is in her mothers name so she can claim HB. It grates with me TBH as i was homeless for 8 months with 2 kids and had nothing. Yes its awful she is going to be made homeless but she has got plenty to fall back on, others havent IYSWIM. Great shes working for a better future but for her kids but at the end of the day she is a lot better off than people i know who are homeless. My brothers friends sister is in a B&B with a 4 month old baby. She has to get out after beakfast and stay out till 6pm. She sits in the council office if it rains. This to me is a desperate mother with nothing. She has got 50K and the dad had property

*Your friend has got 50K

The matter is now resolved Fifis. Yes she does have a £50k trust fund in her mother's name which she cannot now touch for a further 2 years. Her bf earns £17k pa so even if they were living together I think she'd still be entitled to HB as his wage is low. Yes she's a lot better of than a lot of people to be honest, but that doesn't mean to say that I shouldn't come onto MN asking for some advice on tenancy issues. That's all she wanted, was to know where she stood in case he gave her notice to quit. Unfortunately the way the system works she'd have to get an eviction notice before the council would house her. She'd rather not take up a council house, she's privately renting, the LLs are in profit every month and she keeps the house in pristine condition. She is doing nothing wrong or illegal, but because she's not in dire circumstances she's considered by some to be not worthy enough.

Rhubarb- this is confusing. You say now that her mother has £50k in a trust fund for her. In another part of the thread you say it is in the mother's name. Well, she'll be holding it as trusteethen. The beneficial owner of the trust money is your neighbour. If she was offered the money before then it sounds to me like it has vested. Therefore she'll not be entitled to housing benefit. Although the capital won't mean she won't get tax credits, the income it generates must be declared to the revenue.

That is why people are having a go at her.

And her HB will stop in Sept btw as she will be a full-time student. So she would be financially better off if her bf did move in with her.

Collaborate. This is my neighbour's financial affairs, would you like me to go round and interrogate her?

She told me last night that her mother has saved up money in a trust fund. The fund is in her mother's name which is why she couldn't ask for it to be released early herself, she would need to ask her mother to release it. When she was pg her mother offered to release it, but she was working at the time and wanted her mother to keep it so that she could in the future use it as a deposit for a house.

As I am aware, if the savings are not in your name then you do not have to declare it to HB. She is claiming tax credits but again all of this will go when she starts college. She wasn't claiming a penny whilst working and was paying her way in taxes, but I can see that she is going to struggle whilst at college and I didn't want to see her evicted when she had so many plans in place for her future.

I am supportive of her because I can see a hard working girl who has ambitions to make a real contribution to society through her midwifery and I personally believe that those going to college should be supported through their studies anyway. For one reason or another, her bf is not living with her so she's on her own all day every day. I can see the new mum feeling hasn't worn off yet with her, her eldest is just 2 and she reminds me of how I was when I had mine. That's why I don't like to see her torn apart by vultures on this thread who grasp at the barest snippets of info to paint her as a scrounging low-life scumbag. I'd much rather have her as a neighbour than most of the critics on this thread who would probably never condescend to speak to their neighbours.

But that sounds like what the plan has been all along to me. To be in whatever situation she can to claim HB. He is going to move in with her when itt is beneficial which in my eyes is benefit fraud. They are living apart so she can claim HB and when she goes back to work and looses HB he will move in. Is that what you are saying. Im not having a go, just asking

Rhubarb,

People asking questions to try and clarify the situation, doesn't mean they are vultures trying to tear the poor gel apart. I think you are really identifying with her and like her very much and hence are taking it astonishingly personally and getting ravingly angry at posters pointing out the flaws.

Bf not living with her is NOT benefit fraud.

Rhubarb - I couldn't give a toss if you interrogate her. If I take your posts at face value, she's committing housing benefit fraud. But you think that's alright.

You've posted this in legal. That is my legal advice.

i think she should borrow the money for deposit and look for another rental property, that way she has more choice and control over where she lives.

if she goes down the eviction/council housing route she may well end up in temporary accomodation which wont help her to settle into college etc.

as she a has a working Bf who has a flat he owns and a mother who has managed to save 50,000 there seems no logical reason why she cant access (borrow) from these people enough money (what would it be? £1200??) for a deposit to rent another private rental .

whether she claims or not HB is a different matter.

if she goes for midwifery she is gong to need support to cover shift work etc - it will be hard slog and she will need good childcare - maybe better she moves closer to BF/childrens father unless he has a car and is going to be coming over to care for the children. she needs to think longer term.

eviction /temp accomodation/hoping for council housing - maybe isnt the way to go when she clearly has other options and access to funds.

No that is not what I am saying Fifis that is presumption on your part. She has just started to claim HB as she was working before. I know she would dearly love her bf to move in but he isn't doing, I don't know why. I don't think she is expecting him to anytime soon as she is talking about difficulties in looking after the kids on her own and getting to college and back.

He has never lived with her, he's always lived in this flat. Not ideal and I wouldn't put up with it but there you go, I guess she's going to have to learn that particular lesson the hard way. I have no idea if he contributes towards the kids, I did ask if he could help with her utility bill and she evaded the question so I'm guessing he ain't that supportive. I've never seen him around all the time we've been here. I just hope she finds someone who will support her because he does sound like a waste of space. Guess I'd need to meet him to find out though.

cestlavie. Originally the house was going to be a long-term let until she finished Uni, that's what they told her. After this she may well start looking.

I don't know how come the bf owns his own flat so I won't presume he'll lend her any money. I don't know her mother's financial situ either, her parents are recently divorced. I know that I have so far managed to save £3k for each of my kids and hoping to get that to £10k for when they start Uni, but if they asked for a few grand now I wouldn't have it. Their savings have been through birthday/Christmas money, wage bonuses that I've put in their accounts and extra money as and when we could spare it. So it's not fair to presume that the mother can just cough up a couple of grand now because she's been carefully saving for the past 23 years.

She is looking at getting a registered childminder to take the kids/pick them up from nursery/school when she goes to Uni.

collaborate - I know it's not illegal.

Ok Rhubarb. I was only querying as the story ended up a bit different from the initial OP. If she is a genuine single parent then she will probably need to access her fund to help with housing whilst she is studying and childcare. If she is going to pay full rent she is probably better off trying to release the money for a deposit then she wont waste money on rent IYSWIM

Hully, if you read the threads you'll see that she has been called a scrounger and like something from the Jeremy Kyle show. As I originally posted for tenancy advice and not a lecture on benefit fraud I'll take offence at my posts being twisted just to suit some screaming banshees.

I feel responsible that I posted her details unwittingly for people to pore over and then act as judge, jury and executioner. I'm sure she'd be horrified if she ever read this, which is why I am taking it personally, because I am responsible. And yes I do like her, there's no crime in that. I admire her ambition and am actually slighly envious of the way motherhood has come naturally to her - it's been bloody hard work for me and I have a dh for support!

Do you have to get so personal? Obviously there's something wrong here and let's face it, two cute kids and a homemade cake will pull anyone's rope. But can you stand disagreement so little that you resort to abuse, and stalking? Who cares if I'm the most unpopular poster on mn? I say what I think. At least I've the guts to.

And yes, I did need help, no, it wasn't available - yes I could have resorted to the same technique as your neighbour to acquire it and no, I didn't.

"some of you - yes you GB - actually appear to be enjoying it." - ludicrous.

Do what you want, but she is basically abusing the system and you wanted advice on how to help her abuse the landlords too.

I think so too Fifis. I think she should drop the idea of buying the house as she'll never get a mortgage. When it's released she needs to access it and use the money as a deposit for something much more secure and to help pay her rent and studies as she won't be eligible for HB or many other benefits. I'm not sure if she'll get a grant or not for studying a midwife course, I guess not since the Tories have cut most of the grants for students.

I would really like to meet her bf and ask why he doesn't do more to support her, but I guess you can't live their lives for them. For now I'm just going to point her in the right direction and offer advice when asked. I won't get too involved.

GB, bully for you.

As much as it may hurt. She is not actually abusing the system.
I've taken a look at the HB form and as her bf does not share any of the parenting or live with her then she is classed as a single parent.
Her mother's savings are not in her name so she doesn't have to declare them.
She's going to be claiming HB for what - less than a year and then it's cut when she goes to Uni.
Shelter and the CAB both advise that if you are issued with a notice to quit, you must wait until served with an eviction notice if you want to stand a chance of getting a council house.

You may not like any of the above, but I can't find anything that is illegal.

oh fgs
Rhubarb0 has explained that she doesn't have a trust fund herself.
She was working and is now on maternity leave.
As she is having to support 2 children on her own, presumably she is getting help with housing benefit and tax credits. What is wrong with that?

Now I've paid taxes all my life and I am also a LL, and I don't begrudge this girl a penny. And if I was her LL I would try and by as amenable as possible in order to help her

give it up Rhubarb, people aren't reading properly or can't see the bigger picture or are too blinded by their own experiences.

exhausted - me too! I think I will give it up. People want to find something, anything as an excuse to have a good old bitchfest. I'm not asking her anymore questions about her finances or personal circumstances. I got the advice I was looking for and should have left then. I've got better things to do than to try and hold off this pack of vultures.

My old landlord and his wife split up due to him beating the shit out of her.My dd was 3, it got messy and basically they wanted the house back to sell asap. Both me and dp had just lost our jobs. I went to the council absolutey petrified we were going to be on the streets. I was told by the council that nothing could be done until landlords took us to court (the wife did not want that) and even though the husband kept coming in the home uninvited and drunk and we had no heating or hot water for over a year (the husband refused to fix boiler) had I left I would have made myself intentionally homeless. The system is silly and just causes stress for both parties in my opinion. Luckily we managed to get some money together and find another private rented house and got out of that situation.

I hope everything turns out ok for your friend.

What's wrong with that is that she is with the father if these children who I pressume has 2 arms and 2 legs and therefore he can support them bur just as she's choosen not to take the trust fund because it suits her she also chooses not to live with the father of her children. This crap is what gives single mums a bad name, she should be ashamed but I doubt she gives a toss and I bet this friend is in fact our OP.