Finding somewhere to rent with bad credit rating and no referees.

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That's it basically. Am finding it impossible to stay in family home till it's sold but can't rent anywhere else as I have a crap credit rating, an currently not working and so have no access to references.
How do I do this?

If you can raise 6 months rent to pay in advance you'll be able to get somewhere.

If you are going through divorce proceedings you could make an application for interim spousal maintenance, and if granted either use that to pay your rent or save it up and pay 6 months in advance.

We rented our house out to a woman who was bankrupt as her BIL agreed to be a guarantor for her.

You could also get someone else to sign the tenancy agreement with you, even if they aren't going to live there as they would still be liable for the rent.

Getting the deposit together is not really a problem.
It's actually finding a prospective landlord who will take me and the DCs on knowing that I have a bad credit rating and no references.
I actually asked STBX to act as a guarantor but he just laughed at me. He refuses to help at all in this situation. He is in the construction industry and actually has a lot of private landlords as contacts. He refuses to put in a good word with them either

Perhaps look at private rentals in the local paper or at the smaller agencies where you will be dealing with a real person.

Our tenants paid on time every month and stayed for three years. We didn't use an agency.

You need a private landlord rather than going through an agency. Look out for hand-made signs outside properties. That's how we got our current home and it's lovely

a flat share ;plenty of pepole advertising rooms in some quite nice houses and cheaper too