8 weeks to go and need a house

[LadyGray17]

My partner and I are getting desperate.

We currently live in the cold and damp conservatory of his mum's 3 bed house. The house is too small for the 5 adult occupants and is really unsuitable for a baby.

We applied to be put on the council list back in October when we discovered I was pregnant and our income was low due to me working as an apprentice. I have since left that job due to complications with the employer and have been unsuccessful in finding alternative employment because of my growing belly. I am claiming maternity allowance bit our income is still low.

The council has told us that we are in the lowest priority despite having inadequate living space that will be worse once the baby arrives, and that they will only house us when we declare homelessness.

His mum has also now informed us that they house is being put on the market around the same time our baby is due because she can no longer afford it, meaning the family will have to downsize and my partner and I will have nowhere to go. But until that happens, the council don't care.

We've looked into private renting but every application has been declined in favour of another tenant, probably because I am not working and I feel so guilty for that. We are having to look at properties way above our budget and relying on Universal Credit coming into play once we move, as explained by the agent. We were denied help because we live with family, but now I'm claiming maternity allowance, I fear we won't get the amount we were offered when we made our first claim.

How can we afford to live on £1500 a month when the local rent ranges between £800-£1000? Do I pester the council? Do I pester the job centre? My partner is working so hard and reassuring me that it will work out, but I've lived independently before and barely survived on £1300 without a child in the mix.

I'm scared we'll end up in a hostel with a newborn and I'm already suffering with depression due to feeling completely useless...

That’s not quite how private tenancies work. If you put down a holding fee then the house is bound to you unless you fail credit checks (and even then it is bound to you until you choose a course of action) in which case you can get a guarantor and crack on with it.
I suggest this is what you do

Also if you really need a home and can’t afford one where you are then you’re likely going to have to move out of the area. I would have loved to live where I do now back when I couldn’t afford it but I had to live within my means.
Probably not what you want but a couple of miles away or so is better than being homeless

That's how they work if several applicants have handed in forms around the same time. Just yesterday we were told we had lost out to another applicant because the landlady chose them. We got our application fee back because it wasn't our fault, if we had failed checks, this would not have been refunded. They hadn't done the checks yet because the landlady didn't want to continue with our application I'm favour of the other couple.

And the problem with moving out of the area is my partner's work. He doesn't drive and we already live and hour's drive away from his workplace. We wanted to move closer so that he could walk to work and not waste money on petrol.

Then you need to find a proper estate agents and not that one. A holding fee is to do just that. They sound dodgy.
And perhaps he can commit to a longer walk? Maybe a bus? I assume you drive then? And unfortunately travel is an expensive part of some incomes, it would likely work out cheaper than the extra rent so it isn’t a waste of money.
It’s a crappy situation but you can get out of it. Good luck!

Yeah, I wasn't overly impressed with the agents, but I don't know the area so my partner is choosing the houses. Buses are an option, but considering where we are now, only a few come through per day and none early enough to get him to work in the morning. There's a high chance I will need a c section, so during my recovery, he will have no way of getting to work as he currently relies on his mum. Also my mum (who lives 150 miles away) is freaking out about me being so far away from the hospital should I go into labour and be alone in the house. The rest of the family live in the city but we live in a tiny village an hour away. I don't know if I'm just being paranoid because of the shit I went through in my previous tenancy, where my ex refused to help with costs then left me to deal with it by myself causing me to get into debt. I'm already looking for jobs to start in November when my MA expires but then we have to worry about childcare too. I'm just so worried that we're not going to be able to afford to just live...

You will get child/working tax credits won’t you? Plus child benefit. I’d go on a benefit calculator to work it out. You can definitely do this, it just seems impossible right now

Lots of letting agents take a holding fee and then the LL gets to choose who they want. I used to get it a lot. It is totally dodgy especially as it would take a good week or two to get the holding deposit back. There's not a great deal you can do when you're beholden to letting agents.

No advice to give i'm afraid OP but good luck.

I've checked a calculator and it says were entitles to some things, but not until we move out of our family house. Except child benefit, but as I say the house is being sold so we can't stay for much longer. I'm looking into private landlords, but they are so difficult to come across.

Have you tried websites openrent or thehouseshop? The former gas private fee free rentals abd the latter has private landlords from what I remember. Have you tried going to CAB for advice?