Housing pregnancy advice

[jxoxo]

Hi,

I am 8 months pregnant & have a 6 year old son. I am now a single parent as at the start of my pregnancy I found out my childrens father was cheating with another woman who he has now left us to be with and shown no interest in us since.

The property I'm in at the moment is a very small 1st floor council flat they will not move me as it is 2 bedrooms and I am not classed as high priority. I have been on house swap for last 8 months and had no interest as it is very small with no garden. I need to move as there is no way it is suitable for two children the cot will not fit in my bedroom or my son's room as it is a box room.

I am thinking to go Private for more space for the 3 of us but was just wondering what would happen if the landlord decides after year tenancy or a few years that they want the house back and I can't find another suitable property in my price range can I then go back to the council?

Would I be classed as homeless with my 2 children?
Could I get emergency housing or be housed back in a council property?

I've heard from a few people that once you leave the council it is very hard to get housed with them again (but not from anyone who has done it themselves)

Please help!

By giving up a tenancy we're referring to you moving out of your current social housing property to a private rental without the backup savings to move again if for whatever reason the landlord decided to sell.

You can't just say 'I'm not having it / I'm not willing...'

You have secure housing in a country where lots don't. You can't mess about with it.

OP are you actually reading the replies or just waiting for the green light to say that yes things will be fine.

You think you’re in a shit situation now? Do you really want to have your kids living in ONE ROOM with communal facilities? Or do you just not believe it will happen?

Do what you want, but you are in for a shock once you leave that secure council tenancy bubble.

Believe me I do understand what it's like to live in housing which is too small, it is crap, but it is better that than a one room B&B I get that it must be frustrating if you'd been banking on getting out and getting a place of your own and now that dream is gone.

Really though your best bet long term would be to stay on the lists, make the best of your current situation, keep saving. If you're already in private rented (in potential future situation) then you will be bottom of the priority list for rehousing PLUS bottom of the waiting list since once you leave council housing and apply again, you don't get to rejoin the queue in the same place.

I also mentioned if you know dimensions of rooms and are willing to share we could advise whether you may be eligible for a larger property once your baby is born, which might bump you up the list - but not if you leave it and rejoin, you go to the back of the queue.

You could take the risk and go to private renting since some people get lucky and find a long term contract, but I think it would be very risky without knowing you have the financial means to move if you did need to.

I'm reading the replies but didn't ask for space saving advice or for judgement at me choosing to have another child.

Just wanted to know what's happened to people who have left council to go private etc.

281,000 were recorded as living in temporary accommodation last year, with 4,500 sleeping rough.
This is the reality of the housing situation in this country- you are not living in an ideal world.
If you don't want to believe the many, on this thread, who have offered you good advice, give Shelter a call.

What does your landlord say about moving you to a larger property? Smaller properties are in demand with less rent, esp with the bedroom tax. Have you looked at trying to get your property reclassified as a one bed. If the room is too small for 2 children, there may be a chance of this.

It's your choice but it wouldn't be smart to give up your secure council home for a private one where rent is liable to go up likely forcing you back to the council but in a worse position before, most likely inadequate accomdation like B&Bs. Surely with your waste of space boyfriend gone there must be a bit more room than before so what was the plan before you found out the affair, how were you planning to manage with 4 people in there?

The housing waiting list in Greater Manchester is 120,000 households and this was last year. Homelessness is increasing year on year - it's getting worse. If you get out of the queue but want to join it again later, you go to the back - in say 2-3 years, that waiting list is likely to be even longer. In reality that means if you give up a council tenancy, you won't get one back - not in the space of your children's childhoods.

He didn't live with us due to space

And you’ve been told what will happen. Don’t you believe it?

I know people who have been in emergency housing so yes I do believe it. It hasn't been ideal of course but it hasn't been for years. I can only apply for overcrowding once my son is 10 which is for another 4 years

Nobody is judging - were cimmenting on a situation you asked opinions on.

Did you think we'd all say "Yes, go for it - the housing situation is all made up and there'll be an ideal property waiting got you if the grass isn't greener?"

I was on the council waiting list in 2009 after leaving an abusive relationship. They put me at priority 2 because I was at risk of violence. After 2 years of getting nowhere near the top, I took myself off it because I was lucky enough to be able to borrow money from a family member and get a private rented place which had turned out to be stable, so I was lucky. This was 10 years ago when waiting lists were much smaller AND I was in a medium town, not a city, AND I was priority 2 - and still after 2 years I was nowhere near the top.

I live in Manchester and it took us 7 years to get a housing association house as we privately rented a house with enough bedrooms for us all. We never really expected to get one at all but thought it was silly not to be on the list, then were offered two. There are lots of threads on here about how you can be forced to stay until the bailiffs arrive to qualify as 'homeless' in the eyes of the council. You would also potentially be nowhere near school even if you were housed.

My main question would be how would you afford a private rental, having been paying for a small flat at social rent? Just that the LHA doesn't cover much in lots of parts of Manchester.

Also, Trafford Housing Trust let their stock on 'affordable rent' (80% of local) as they become available rather than what they traditionally charged for that property. This leads to the council charging more than private landlords in some streets! My point is that there are ever fewer truely social housing properties available.

If you're pregnant and newly single then how will you even afford private housing?

Even if social and private rents are the same in your area, jumping to a 2 bed house from a tiny flat will be a big increase. And it is highly unlikely any private housing is the same rent as social. Jumping to a 3 bed private is likely to be a huge increase. And if you take on a rent that you clearly can't afford and are evicted for none payment, the council are quite likely to say you are deliberately homeless.

Even assuming you can get a private tenancy when presumably you'll be on maternity pay, if you do get evicted from private rental, and the council agree to rehouse you, there's every possibility you could spend ages in a b&b only to be rehoused in a 2 bed tiny flat again. They aren't going to give you a 3 bed

When were these people in emergency housing and what was their situation? Were they under the same council/area? Be careful about assuming that something will work exactly the same for you, because it might not.

Have a look at the channel 4 documentary on council housing - it is bleak (and some of the later series were rather benefit bashing) but unfortunately realistic about how things actually work and how long people have to wait.

Not at all but don't expect any judgement on me choosing to have another child. I'm in the situation and will have a beautiful daughter simple as.

I plan to go private as I know I will be stuck here for years otherwise hopefully I will get somewhere stable & won't need to come back to council but seeking advice incase that has to happen.

Thank you BertieBotts

People may wonder why you made the choice to have another child in a very small flat when you say yourself there is little prospect of you being offered a bigger place. I don't know why people would make that choice and make life even more difficult for themselves.

It's nothing to do with judgement. It is simply puzzling.

People don't need to wonder this is my situation not theirs. No point in shoulda coulda woulda. I am here in this situation.

Just asking for advice on anyone who has gone private before.

If the private landlord wanted to sell then you have no rights to go back to the council...you can ask but probably won't get. Been there.

oh and private lets are VERY insecure. I rent privately...have done for 15 years and sometimes a landlord will tell you they have no plans to sell and then a year later....guess what? They're selling.

PLUS it costs a fortune to move into private lets as deposits and months in advance are a LOT. And if you keep getting into that situation it's easy to find yourself with nowhere to go.

I can defo see why you want to go private - I think a lot of us are just wary because of having bad experiences - as I said, I was lucky, but I've seen friends go through it and it's hell and so, so stressful.

One point - have you actually tried going around and enquiring about private rentals? My experience (and my friends') is that getting a private rental when you are a lone parent is like pulling hen's teeth. Firstly, 90% is out of your price range. You probably can't afford to run a car (I did not even have a licence at this time) which massively limits where you can reasonably look, because you need to be able to access shops and transport etc. If your child is in school this probably limits you further because you'd need to be in reach of their school or consider moving them. And then when you do find a few places which seem acceptable you apply for them and 99% of those will metaphorically slam the door in your face and say "No DSS" or just give no reason (but it's because you're a single parent). If you're working, they'll do an income check which you'll fail, because your income is likely to be low. But you'll have to pay for it anyway. I kept getting right up to the final stages and then I'd be rejected, even when we found a guarantor (who needs to earn 3x the rent, which felt impossible), even the one which made me agree to sign a student contract where I'd have to pay 3 months' rent at once instead of one. Eventually gave up on agencies, because none of them had anything, and spent three solid months contacting every ad I found in Tesco, in post offices, in newspapers, which was within my price range and any area vaguely within reach of a bus stop and eventually found one. It was so stressful and made me so ill. I did love that house once I got it. I can't imagine how awful it would have been if, a year or two into the process, I'd have had to do the same thing again.

Friend who went through this more recently spent about 6 months doing the same, was totally desperate about to be evicted and then a farmer at a local village took pity and agreed to rent her a tiny old cottage (I know this sounds like something Victorian, but it happened last year!) - it was in a right state and the hot water/heating is properly ancient and didn't work properly for the whole first winter, during which she had a newborn (!) because it was so poorly maintained. The property was probably illegal, TBH, but she didn't dare report it because she was frightened of the alternative. Thankfully she has managed to get the heating sorted now but it was an awful time and I was so worried for her. And again that was after months and only happened in the end because she had links with that village and it's the kind of place everyone knows each other - and technically they only agreed to rent it for a year or two - but she still doesn't have anywhere else to go. The council only have retirement properties in that area, and it's rural! Supposedly loads of properties in rural areas, but not the case.

Friends are in private

They have to nice every 2/3 years which costs money

Landlords want to sell
Landlord wants to rent to family

They keep having to live further away from school and 5 year old has to catch the local school bus alone

You need to have huge savings to do this and then find furniture doesn't fit - not close enough to work or school.

I think you need to rethink and keep trying