Council forcing to private rent when homeless!!!

[mollybbb]

Hi just looking for some advice and wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation. I went to my local council around to months ago with my 1 month old baby as I was living with my partner and his mum and we had a falling out and he asked me to leave, I went to the housing to say I was homeless and needed to be housed, they are offering me to private rent through the council instead of putting me in temporary accommodation and waiting for a council house. I have expressed that I would rather wait for a council house as I don't want to be in the same boat in a years time with my baby if the landlord decided to evict me and they expressed that I don't have a choice in the offer that they give me?
Just wondering if this has happened to anyone else or if anyone could give me some advice thank you.

Our council rent from private landlords and you are guaranteed a longer tenancy. Maybe look into it and find out if it's something your council offer. My friend had a property left to her and she's signed a 5 year contract with the council and she's guaranteed her rent from them and they take care of the upkeep.

You say 'forcing you to rent privately' like they have an obligation to provide you with a council house. How is that not entitled?

They've ensured you're not homeless so let that be enough.

There are literally no properties available.

The wait for a council house in my area is 2-5 years. And that's not even as long as some areas.

Exactly what I thought too.

Private rented accommodation is a perfectly acceptable solution for millions of people, why are you any different?

Your council will have a scheme which will help pay your deposit, arrange all the tenancy etc for you, all you'll have to do is sign it and move in. This is much more help than most private renters get. Yes, it's not a tenancy-for-life council property, but hey, it's a bloody sight better than temporary accommodation.

This attitude really pisses me off.

I would take the accommodation that’s been offered as you can’t carry on sofa surfing with a baby.
I don’t know your situation but longer term it would be best for you to study and work to improve your life rather than depend on others. Good luck.

Is this really well known common practice?😮

The system is broken because of people like the OP.

"Breaks up" with her boyfriend.... Grandma of the child "throws them out". OP goes and gets a lovely new house and miraculously falls back in love with her boyfriend and they get to live on benefits for eternity in their lovely council house.

RIDICULOUS!!

Stop having children in ridiculous situations.

@tetralaw
Yes it is. I had a work colleague supposedly throw her pregnant daughter out so that she was homeless. She went into emergency accommodation. Her mother dropped her there last thing at night and picked her up first thing in the morning. She was given a housing association town house after 6 months and she and her boyfriend and young child moved in.
Her mother was quite open about it. However that was 15 years ago. There is far less social housing available now.
Net immigration figures for the UK in 2023 were 672, 000. Equivalent to a city the size of Sheffield or Cardiff. There is no way on earth that an equivalent number of social housing units can be built each year. The housing crisis is at crisis point.
MN has a lot of posters advising others on how to jump the queue but it is not fair and not right.
Bear in mind most migrants are here because they have been invited by the NHS or other urgent key worker vacancies. They deserve housing.
So many posters on here just don't get the fact that there simply are not enough houses to go round.

Couldn't agree more

I just wanted to add, in a years time you MIGHT face eviction from a private landlord, less likely if it is via the council, but if you go into temporary accommodation (ie a tiny room in a hostel with shared bathroom facilities and nowhere to cook etc), you WILL still be there in a years time. In fact you will probably still be there in 5 years time.

What was your plan when you and your boyfriend planned and had a child? Was it always planned that you live as a multi-generational house? Why aren’t you private renting in the first place?

Of course it's entitled!

They have offered you a place to live which is safe for you and your child. Saying it's not exactly what you wanted is churlish!

Many people would like a council house, there are not enough to go around.

People are competing for private rental which they are paying full market rate for and being relieved that they have somewhere suitable to live.

I apologise if my assumption is incorrect, but this will be subsidised private rental I assume.

So in the very competitive rental market, some one who can afford it will not get that home because you are in need as you are currently homeless. That is how the system should work, a net to support those most in need - but for you to stick your nose up at it is ungrateful and entitled.

The council won’t pay the rent for her, but they’ll have found an affordable rental which universal credit will go some way towards covering it, if not all of it. But that’s how it is for everyone else, being homeless just means the council help find you a place quickly if they can rather than leaving you to search and apply for private rentals yourself. So she gets the head start again other tenants who aren’t homeless but are looking for a new place. Apparently that’s not enough though because she is as entitled as all hell.

Definitely make an appointment to speak to someone at Shelter but don’t expect a council house anytime soon. If you refuse to consider a private rental then you could be in danger of being declared intentionally homeless. I don’t know where you live but most councils are hard pressed to find temporary accommodation and often have to locate people miles away. As other posters have said, you could end up in a hotel or hostel, miles from where you live now, with no cooking or laundry facilities. This is very harsh but it’s the reality nowadays.

Net immigration is only that high as we have had our freedom of movement restricted by Brexit (voters).

@tetralaw
It may only be that high because of Brexit but Brexit isn't going away anytime soon. I campaigned really hard to stop Brexit and I have been on marches asking that Brexit be overturned. It is not happening. We are stuck with Brexit that has caused so many problems.
Invited immigrant workers into this country to fill key roles is growing. How long can the UK sustain 672,000 new workers ( and rising ) each year? The housing crisis will get worse and worse.
Rising divorce numbers and increasing numbers of single parents mean separated parents need two houses rather than one.
There is more pressure on housing than there has ever been.
A quick Google tells me that 231,100 new homes were built in 2023 in the UK. Notice the 400,000 shortfall in new homes compared to net migration numbers.
It is such a problem.

Struggling to understand how the Father of your child is forcing you to sofa surf with a young baby. Is this legit?

Hey Molly, I'm literally in the same situation as u with my two kids under two. I honestly literally can't afford to private rent. If I could then I would've moved out of my mums before she could kick me out (she's been telling me to get out for ages). I just couldn't though because I couldn't afford it, and then I ended up homeless when she kicked us out. The council are saying I have to go to private rent and that they don't provide social housing and "that's not how it works" I've tried so so so hard to express my compulsions and convince them I literally say the same thing everyday but they are not budging!! Now they have put us in a temp two bed house until they find us a rented property 😔 any updates on your case? What have they/you said? Any luck? Praying for you and all those in the same situation as us Xxxxxx

To all those struggling to find homes

Please Don't vote for any right wing parties

@mollybbb @Queenxxx

I have been through this twice. On my first eviction section 21 no fault eviction. I went into temporary accommodation. For a while a private rent was found . And I had to accept it. The council can legally end their duty once they find you a home even if its private.

Just a year later I was given another section 21. And ended up in temporary accommodation again. This time I litterly prayed this would not find me a private rent. Thank god they did not. But had they done I would have had to take it. I just didn't want to go through a 3rd eviction.

I was in temporary accommodation for around 6 years.. some people are waiting 14+ years depending on area and their banding and size of accommodation.

I do get where your coming from but sadly you have to take things as they come. I hope things get better

they are offering me to private rent through the council instead of putting me in temporary accommodation and waiting for a council house. I have expressed that I would rather wait for a council house

You've said you would rather wait for a council house

Google tells me
How long is the waiting list for a council house in the UK?

It's difficult to estimate when you will receive an offer of housing - it depends on the number of properties available to let, the level of priority you are based on your application and the length of time you have been on the register. This can be up to 10 years.

I think you don't understand the extent of the housing crisis for councils. Where I live the waiting list is up to 13 years for a 2 bed property and there are up to 400 other people all bidding for the same property. I've just got a 1 bed property after 3 years on the list and there were 297 other people all bidding for it. There simply are not enough council properties for you to just wait in temporary accomodation for years until a flat materialises.

If they have a duty to house you it doesn't mean they have to house you in council property or put you in temporary accomodation, it just means they have a duty to house you and putting you in private rental will be deemed to have done their job. Thousands of people have the same dilemma of no security with private tenancy unfortunately but unless something dramatic happens there's no reason you should be in the same boat in a year.

The borough next to mine are offering properties hundreds of miles away and if you refuse you are deemed to have made yourself internationally homeless.

Sorry don’t get this.

Keir Starmer has said he will build council houses to only house immigrants whether legal or illegal.

The tories believe in home ownership for all.

Before 1997, there was no such thing as “buy to let” mortgages, and yes property was expensive but not as it is now.

Pre 1997, it was really only the highest salary taken into consideration as once children come along, as any new parent knows - children are expensive.

Unfortunately now, the country is now in a position that we have landlords expecting to make a living from renting out a property or two, not accidental landlords who want to hang to a property they didn’t expect until children are old enough/or retirement.

i hope that everyone who is in temporary accommodation, be it beautiful houses, converted factory units, flats that are too small find their dream council property in exactly the right location.

Unless u are extremely lucky, it appears now people are given one way train tickets to places 100s of miles away to a council house, and the councils responsibility is over, languish in temporary accommodation for years, or go private.

The quote you have attributed to Keir Starmer is a lie. Why do tories lie so much?

https://fullfact.org/online/keir-starmer-fake-asylum-seeker-quote/