Likely going to be homeless soon

[Themrmen]

I just wanted to see if anyone has any advice for us.

Dp works full time and earns £21500 pa, I lost my job in June but have been job hunting and had a few interviews (fingers crossed) I am currently on income support but due to dps wages I'm only entitled to £143 a month. We rent a three bedroom house as have a 7mo and he has / children from previous relationship who stay with us. We get £300 a month towards housing benefit but are taxed as we have an extra room, my dp pays £250 a month csa and our benefits are worked out as though he doesn't pay it, so they have worked everything out as tho we have 250 more a month that we do. Our rent is 1050 which is what dp clears a month and this is the last month of savings so we're going to have to give notice on our home. However we're stuck we don't have any money for a deposit and won't get our old one back until we leave and we literally have nowhere to go, no one can put us up. Don't know what to do, does anyone have any idea what we can do between leaving and renting somewhere new and a lot cheaper.

Thanks for reading

Also. Can't get a loan as we're both on debt repayment plans

How often does he have his children?

It's a bit rubbish that you need the extra bedroom/bedrooms for his kids to stay but get charged "bedroom tax" as they are not considered unless he has the Child Benefit award.

Does his ex claim the CB? If they are amicable would she agree to transfer it to him so that you can be entitled to help whilst you why yourselves back on your feet? You could say you'd give her the money right back (the actual CB money). That's if she doesn't claim Housing Benefit of course.

Or can you move and rent a smaller place? 2 bed apartment?

If you give notice and leave then you'll be considered intentionally homeless and won't be helped by the local Council for housing purposes. If you really have no option other than to rely on the Council to help with somewhere to live due to homelessness then you need to be very careful and wait until you are evicted properly not give notice and leave.

Can you not get a job anywhere? Even something you aren't interested in/don't enjoy just to tide you over?

I have been trying to get any job problem is my dp does shift work which changes 2 weekly, so can't get an evening job as sometimes he works till 10, meaning not home time 11, so need to earn over a certain amount to cover childcare and bills, have literally been applying for everything.

His ex gets housing benefit so no way she would transfer it to us. We usually have them every other weekend although monthly at mo as they live 1.5 hrs away on train and can't afford to get them. We have them for the half terms and a week over Christmas and usually 2/3 weeks over summer

Even if we do rent somewhere cheaper we have no deposit to put down as tied up in this house.

I put this same idea on another thread today!

Do you live in an area where you could be a host family and rent a room out to language students? Could be a goer in the short term. The DCs could share in the meantime.

Or if that's not possible, could you get a lodger for the third bedroom?

See your council's homelessness office.

Most tenancy agreements won't permit subletting so lodgers or students are out.

Are you not getting child benefit and tax credits for your own DC?

Also you shouldn't be getting the "bedroom tax" deducted from your housing benefit as it doesn't sound like you are in social housing and iirc it doesn't apply to private rentals.

I think you need to see if your local council or maybe the CAB has a benefits advisor and make sure you are getting everything you are entitled to to get you through this difficult period.

They may advise that you should NOT give notice on your current home but wait til you are served with a notice to quit (which I assume you would be if you can't afford to pay the rent!) as this may help you get into social housing if there is any available in your area.

The bedroom tax applies in that the top rate of LHA they can claim is determined by the number of bedrooms they are assessed as having a need for.

Do not give notice. The council will deem you intentionally homeless. Stay until they get you out by court order. Speak to the Homelessness Team from now. They may be able to help with the deposit for a new rental.

First, sorry you're in this situation, it sounds shit & really stressful.

I'll advise you as if you live where I am, other councils are more lenient, I'm mainly echoing yambabe here.

Do not give notice. Here, they'll find you intentionally homeless for doing so if you need to go to the council for homelessness assistance.

Can you speak to your landlord about paying the rent in a different way - weekly/fortnightly? It might be more affordable that way. Get everything in writing if you do this. You might need "evidence" for the Council office.

Can you go back to HB/benefits & explain re the CSA payments?

Do they do Discretionary Housing Payments in your area? I'd definitely apply for one of these, put everything in re your situation. They don't necessarily last for ever but should cover the shortfall for a while.

Best of luck x