Can anyone help me ... i need advice on housing ......

[Scoobydooooo]

Yes i am in the crapiest of situation & have spent the whole morning crying whats new hey!

Well we are in private rented & have been for the past 2 years in this house, we have a assured shorthold tenancy which ends on the 1st september 2006 the lanlord had served us with a "section 21" notice for eviction on the 18th september we are on the council housing list & i have been speaking to them on & off now since about april, i only have 25 points & we need 95 they have said.

I get on really well with the landlord & he has been very nice & understanding but he does want to move back into his property & is hoping to on the 18th BUT i have phoned the council again today & they have told me come the 18th i do not have to leave & he will have to take me to court la la la la i do NOT want to go to court, i am extremley down & really struggling with this how situation i dont know where to turn but i honestly have sat here today & thought i can not go through this anymore...

My HV still visits me at home because i have PND & i see my docotr about twice a month i can not take this stress its wearing me down & i feel like running away, it has put trmedous amount of stress on mine & dp's relationship.

I have tried everything i have even written to the MP he was very nice & he did try but the council just fobbed him off.

So what the hell can i do now? i just can't go on like this.....

There is 2 things she has stated in the email that have baffled me & i dont know what the hell to make of it, also my options are just crap & when they bring the new scheme into the picture at the end of september..well i have no bloody chance.

Is anyone around to help me?

Phoned that women this morning who wrote to me & all i can say is it the most ridiculous sytem i have ever heard of, i have only slept about 2 hrs & have been being sick, i just can't go on anymore.

When i said to her this is really affecting me & my kids she told me to phone social services WTF? is she mad.

I have just phoned Dp & totally broken down in tears, he is going to phone them up & tell them exactly how it is & what he thinks of the situation.

I may as well go & live in a bloody dustbin because i think this is where you have to be living to even get noticed.

I think they talk utter bullshit & i have lost all faith in these people.

I give up

Jeez i thought my council was bad but yours is ridiculous

you must feel like shit and big cyber hug to you

This woman is fobbing you off. You should be able to see a homeless officer. You are being made homeless and have no viable options.

I know what you've been through at the moment but you really really need to get yourself and your kids down to the office and make a scene.

Have you got all your support letters yet?

Try your local branch of homestart.. do you have kids under 5? If you have they will help you . They are fantastic although I do appreciate that it may differ from area to area. I never would have got my situation sorted if it hadn't been for homestart.

CAT me if you need to. I just hope you get somewhere. Please please don't give up

to Scoobydooooo

i am 2 registered with woking council who aree useless i hav lived in about 20 places in the last 5 years which they are aware of they forced me into private renting saying that it was my only option and that i would be on the top of the list wen hometrak comes into place which ive know be told was untrue am i am still likely to stay in private rented.... dont let them force you into this it makes thing alot harder landlords are not willing to let you change anything ive been on the register for 4 years havent been offered a thing but i see a lot of young girls moving from there parents home straight into council property. listen to me i probally sound reallly old im just 21 but have been living alone sice 15 and no offers of property to those who need it and have been waiting the longest time. One idea for you is to keep going into the offices and speaking to the housing advice all the time n stress to them that what i do....... good luck
i thought hometrak would be running by now start of sept they said

Hi,

Thanks for your replys, i am feeling slightly better today.

Dp phoned up yesterday & made it clear i am struggling & he told her how it is. he said he was ok on the phone but wanted answers.

Emma can't believe you have been pushed into rented, dp has told her rented is no good because we just can not afford it, he has said if we have to go into rented we will have to live apart.

Homtrak crap is coming into place at the end of september & at the moment we are inn band E but next week i have to go to the council offices & have an interview which will be taped to say i am homeless she said although i am on the homelessness list i have not actually had my interview or my written desion but once i have had this we will be in band D so i did have an appointment booked for the 14th but we are away from the 13th in the evening because it's dp'd grandads funeral on the 14th, so i will have to phone today & rebook it.

I know exactly what your saying about people moving from there parents home straight into houses, all they are doing is getting there parents to write a letter saying they are unable to live at there house anymore & hey presto they have a house

I may have to look into this homestart, i have never heard of it & don't know what it is or what they are all about, can you shed some light sheepgomeep?

It's my sleeping that is really getting me down the pills are not even working now.

By the way Emma she did say to me that if the council put you into private rented like they have you then when the new system comes into place you will be in band D if they did not help you into private rented you will be in band E or F depending on circumstances. I think we are all due to get our packs & info in the post very soon.

I must go because Dd is awake now will pop back later & also CAT you sheepgomeep if thats ok?

course you can CAT me scoobie

type homestart into your search engine and it will come up with the homestart website. I'm not that good with links! Also if you speak to your hv she may be able to refer you (if there is a homestart in your area) but you can also refer yourself.

Homestart differs from area to area, I got a volunteer who comes to the house for a couple of hours every week, to help me out and I went to the family group too, not sure if thats in every area though.

I've just looked on thier website and it looks like there is a homestart branch in your area .

Thanks sheepgomeep i am just off to the park with my kids because they are very bored but i will be back on in about 2 hrs and will have a chance to have a look then

Sorry i did not pop back on here, i did look at the website though & also discussed things with dp, i have decided i am not so sure i want someone coming in my house at this time. It's very hard to explain but since being depressed & having PND i have shut myself off from everyone apart from immediate family, i think with the pressure of knowing someone was coming to my house i would panic every time they were due. I may call in the future but just don't feel i can at the moment

I have had to cancel my homlessness appointment for the 14th because of dp'd grandads funeral but i have it on the 15th now.

I am feeling "ok" today not great but not to bad, i slept better last night i was shattered though, i think i woke at 4am till about 6am then dd was up at 8am so not to bad.

I have got to go to the shops at some point today & i just have such low confidence i am finding it hard, just waiting for dd to wake from her nap then we are off.

Hi scoobydooooo how are things with you now???
I understand what you say about not wanting someone in your hose on a regular basis.
I was just the same.
My HV referred me to homestart and when they finally phoned me i started to get panicky at the thought of them coming round.
I couldn't go through with it.

Sorry to hear about your partners grandad, thats added more upset to all your other problems.

If you don't receive your letter by today, then call the council and ask if they've posted it? Tell them you were worried as you'd not received it.
If they've not yet sent it, tell them you'll go in and pick it up so you don't have to wait any longer.

Also, next time you go to the council and they start talking about other people on th waiting list, politely tell them that you're really not concerned about other people. Especially ones that you don't know!!!

Tell them that you're only concerned for your family.

Say that other people are not your problem.

If they try to force you into rented again, i know you already told them that they'll have to pay the rent as your partner will live elsewhere,
tell them that most landlords will not accept DSS payments and that this will make it even harder for you to find somewhere to live!!!!

Keep at them and do not let them win.

hi yes they first told me that i should go into private rented and when hometrak comes in place i would be high band due to time on the housing register and being in private rented but that aload of crap the last person said that i have just 10 points and that that was to be reflected when im in the band im given so finally after all this time im just waiting to see what happens spoken to so many of there adviser and managers i wrote a letter saying everything that im not happy and the serious of my move i recieved a letter 7 days ago saying they were reviewing my case so i dont know they make me mad sometimes playing aroung home2 get pack soon im alway trying to search for the website but i cant find it so its not working yet

Hello all just a quick update, i have my interview for homelessness on friday & my health visitor has said she will come with me, she said she never does this & it's a one off but she can see how desperate i am so wants to come & give me a helping hand which is very nice because it would have been daunting going on my own.

Also remember i said i had written a letter to the housing manager, well it's been about 2 weeks & i thought he had just ignored me but today out of the blue comes a letter to which he apoligised about the conflicting advice i had been given, explained all the law to me & what the council like me to do. He then said because of my circumstances he would give me another 50 points so now i have 75 instead of 25 & will automatically be in band D when the new scheme comes in, i need 100 points for a 3 bedroom place so i am 25 off, i am still pursuing my medical points because i was only given 15 but my docotr feels i should be in the middle bracket with 40, my doctor has written to the councils doctor so i have to wait to hear from her is well.

It's all looking up a tiny bit at last.

I now how to deal with the fact i have zero confidence & don't even like leaving the house, tonight we are off to dp's parents 200+ miles away which is going to be a big thing for me but i have to do it because it's dp's grandads funeral tomorrow

I have a nice chilled bottle of rose to drink before hand though
Hopefully this will help on the confidence front & dp can drive us there, with me hiccuping along the way

hi hope all is going better for you was the guy who helped you called mike.. keliher.. i was told i need 100 points for a 2 bed i now have 65 extra 50 too coz all that gone on and the amount of times ive moved plus them forcing me into p rent i guess still not enuf hopefully if i get band d i will have a little chance of my bis wining a house but i doubt it. i was told i was in f but spoke to manager again who looked at my file and how long on the hosing reg plus i had to send in all accomadation list for past 10 year was suprised it was 86 places

ive havent even had anything back 4m them to say im in d band i also told them that they had told me familys in private rented would be high priority in the banding stystem......................we shuld get packs soon website will be working on 25th septembber .fingers crossed and bidding cycle should end 2 weeks after this date hope all goes well for u

Hi Emma, i have been in today to do my homeless application, she said the hometrak thing starts on the 26th & that all propertys will be there for 2 weeks, she said Band D is nto the best to be in & probably wont get us far in the first few weeks but hey ho we got to try, I told her that mike had written to me & given me an extra 50 points which she said is NOT allowed & that it is not the councils policy la la la la I said well he is the housing manager & i now have it in writing so it's been done

I actually only need 95 points for 3 bed so i am still 20 short but points mean nothing anyway come 26th, she also said only bid on propertys that you are prepared to live in because once in them it is higly unlikly you will be able to move after that.

I now have to wait for my written decsion for my homless application & go from there, i know the decsion will be yes because she has already told me by what i have said i am classed as homeless, they just have to investigate for themselves but i know everything thats been said is right so....

The only crap thing about the banding is that say 10 people from Band D bid on a property & no one from Band C or above does then they have to look at each one of those 10's circumstances & see who situation is the worst. I suppose because i am classed as homeless i have to be somewhere nr the top unless like she said there is someone living in a 3 bed top floor flat & has had to have there legs amputated & there is no lift then they would win over me obviously.

I am going to pack some more stuff up & what for my information pack which she said will be sent out next week at some point.

Goodluck & keep in contact let me know how you get on

hi scooby doo
hope that works out okay for you ...i dont know why they tell everyone different things..hope ometrak sorts it out got loads of problems here in my private rent cant afford it anymore being one behind on everything!!! never mind see what happens with that new scheme i guess. have u heard anything about like changing areas completly just moving to another county council wondering what avalible and that best luck emma

Hi Emma,

Yes i have asked about moving countys there answer was there is housing problems in the whole of the south east, the only place you can move is north like wales & further as they don't have shortage of houses.
We can't go there because of dp'd job otherwise believe me would move to where dp's parents are.

Tell them you are struggling with the rent i think you really will have to kick up a fuss, we are still going to keep complaining & keep pushing it's all you can do.

Apparetly there are 3000 people on the list at the moment all wanting a house, so we are up against alot on the hometrak scheme, from what she was telling me though it looked like there was no much hope for me getting a house through that so looks like we will be going into temporary accomadation first.

Going to get onto the housing manager again & keep on & on as it's our evicition on monday.

CAT me if you want & we can keep in contact or if you have Msn we can chat there.

Take Care x

i dont understand the council mayb they have more propertys if ther system didnt give it to those that dont really need it.. i think people that have been waiting a long time deserve priority. they said to me the complete oposite that i should not care what i bid on as lond as its 2 bed not care wat it looks like and where it is ect. in other word i should bid or what no one else will then mayb ill have a chance ... yeah right,,,, they told me it was 25th of september now its 26th hope it does actually start working this month o at least will no what it like,,,
my msn is

[email protected]

Me & dp were having a discussion about the council & some of the things this women has thrown at me, we have come to the conclusion that they are not being proffessional at all this is why dp is going to phone the housing manager & explain all things we have been told which in our eyes some of it we should not even know & also it's nothing to do with us & our housing.
I thought that having people in these serious situations with housing they would be very proffessional but it does seem that they make the rules up as they go along & that they give alot of conflickting advice, i did write this in my letter to the housing manager stating that all this confickting advice was really confusing me, he has out lined the law to me with regards to my eviction but this is because i asked him to do this.

I have added you to msn your not on at the mo.

It is hard though to give priority to people who have been waiting a long time unless they are homeless at risk or have a life threatening conition because there is always going to be the people who are all those 3 things above & homeless & obviously people in more servere situation will get priority.

She did say to me that they do not even know if the scheme will work well but they have to try, she said london have done it & it has worked for them, surrey heath have & it worked for them & so have guildford but it was not working to well for them, she said they way woking are working it is different to all 3 of those places so we have to wait & see...

There is already 1 loop hole in the system though which has been missed which is if people are in temp accomadation like b&b or half way houses there is no time limit for them, she says some people actually like living in these places & choose to stay there for like 2 years + which at this time the council can do nothing about so this is taking up all there temp accomadation, which is not good. They are going to sort it though & she said it should be sorted by march 07.

oh i do hope it works i was in temp accom for 5 years bfore they forced me into private bnb hostels bedsits all that crap the last place was so bad rite b4 i went into private place got closed down after i moved out coz a woman was attacted there with a sword.. temp accomadation is mostly bad frpm what ive experienced im fed up of not havin my own place and being stable. cant do anything in my private rent ... elec comp is gonna fit me with prepay meter coz i owe so much but this will break my tenancy agreement.i just am on the last sting if u no wat i mean been goin on so long now its good we can acces the internet though so we can keep checking for wen the website is on, been on woking council website not much about it only what weve already been sent out. emma

Blimey sounds really bad i really do hope you get somwhere sounds like you much deserve it now, if you have children'child & are in temp accomadation they are not allowed to keep you any longer than 6 weeks so not sure why you were kept for 5 years that is terrible.

Where abouts have you stayed in temp accomadation? Dp is going to fight all the way now, he is at the end of his tether, he is going to be throwing human rights & everything to them so we will see...

It's a real crap siutation to be in though isn't it? all you want is a home for yourselves & your kids & to be able to live a stable life.

i have a son 14months was in temp accom b4 i had him as well all over the place was in bnb and hostel for a long time have never been offered anything was in a temp flat but i was more bedsit then flat and mine was gettin broken in to all the time lots of bad stuff happening there that wen they told me about private rented and that this was my only choice to get housed thjey didnt really care that the place was so bad ive tooken in information of all trhe places ive lived since 16 and info about the place i was in before private rent and that i had no choice but to get out of there bcoz it was unsafe for myself and son and debt info coz of deposit for here and bills and that but dont no what will happen.. i hate my private rent everything way too expensive.....
buy the way rent on a 3bed council house is 300.00roughly plus council tax maybe 100 more a month..
so for a 2 bed that i need both should be like 350.00 a month that would give me the chance to pay off everything i no and work.. but housing asscoiation rent is higher than the council... i think im just goin to bid on "UGLY" property that look like no 1 would want mayb ill have a chance then but would have to do loads of work i eveb told them i dont mind what u give me i will make it my own .i just wanna settle in lofe if u no wat i mean, feel like ive been on hold a long time....
i used to go down to the council all the tine and pester them i was there just a few days ago and i said i do not understand y i have not been housed and that they have all my info,, more has happened in life but cant really say on here.and try dropping names of people u no have been housed and u feel u should of before them like what i was sayin before people just moving out of family homes and gettin a place. i didnt have this option as i was in care all over the place/

another thing to stress to them is that yoyu need affordable housing take in all paper proof of this anything from cab..
just stay on there case i guess..
i said lots and lots i no council get me a bit aggregated some times wen i think back on it all...
i even tryed applying to housing asscoiations on my own no luck 4 me but it could be worth a try i just typed in housing ascoiations surrey in google then emailed some but most was either council had to nominate me or didnt have the sort of prop i needed but this could ll be different because of hometrak mayb u dont need to be nominated anymore
emma

oh i forgot went to the doc to write me a letter told them everything said it was stressing me out
all they gave me was sleeping pills havent changed in kept the perscription in case anything comes of it
still waiting for the med form u have to fill out your self and c what happens with that

Do you actually have any medical points? they base the seriousness of your mental health on your medication (which ever you are on & dose) & they also base it on if you see a counciller or any other proffessional.

We should get our information packs this week coming so i will let you know when my turns up or vice versa, it will tell us all about it, what band we are in & what size propertys we can bid on & how it will all work.

I still have this strong feeling it is going to be a very long process, i dont have time on my hands now, my landlord has said he really does want his property back by the end of the month & that he is going to see a soli then too, i really did not want to go down this route but looks like i have been pushed into.

Blimey i don't wish this up on anyone i have been fighting now for 5 months flat out its very tiring & emotional don't you think?