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One parent becoming homeless, can the other get full custody?

52 replies

LionsandLambs · 02/01/2023 11:46

My brother is being evicted from his rental property as his landlord is selling. He has joint custody of his daughter but a low income despite working full time. He is struggling to find anything affordable to rent and being turned down because of income. His ex wife is now settled with her new partner and financially stable. All council properties here have long waiting lists and he would likely have to go into a homeless hostel for more than a year before being allocated something. In that time will he be able to have his daughter with him? His ex wife is very worried about her daughter living in a hostel part time. Will she be able to insist the child lives with her full time? He is a good dad and they are amicable but he is obviously very worried about losing custody. There is also an argument that he will be higher priority with a child.

OP posts:
LionsandLambs · 02/01/2023 17:19

loislovesstewie · 02/01/2023 17:02

He needs to discuss all of this with the person dealing with the homeless application. Each local authority is different in that what help can be given and whether he could be helped with a deposit to rent privately or even if there is anything suitable to rent. I used to work as a homeless officer and most people are unhappy with having to move into temporary accommodation, but it was suitable for families and was managed by a housing association. How long he might wait to be housed will vary too, so please, just advise him to discuss all this with the appropriate person.

Will do, thanks. Yes, he needs proper advice. He’ll speak to them this week.

OP posts:
IneedanewTV · 02/01/2023 17:45

LionsandLambs · 02/01/2023 15:52

The mum won’t want her to be in a HMO sharing space with strangers. To be honest I’ve also seen hardly any of those, he’s quite rural. One bed flats here start at £1200 pcm, he can just about do that but can’t secure one as gets pipped to the post.

Get him to speak to his local council. They have pots of money for this situation. So they pay his deposit and 6 months rent in advance and he refunds the council. They will do anything to keep people out of emergency accommodation and use secure LL.

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