I'm going to be homeless and can't find a landlord who accepts housing benefit

[xFlowerBeanx]

I don't really know where to turn to.
Been living in my private home (beside where I grew up ) for past 12 years. So I've lived in this area my whole life (I'm 40) and now I face having to move away from my beloved area. My landlord is selling the home and I have searched extensively for a new rental property to no avail. There's barely anything on the market , i have searched within 30 miles and phoned different agencies, theres hardly anything available right now and the only ones that are available the rent is absolutely insane , almost double the rent in my area and everything is professional tenant only or no pet. I do have a pet and couldn't face giving him away . He's my only companion that gets me through daily life as I'm stuck in the house all day every day by myself most of the time. My partner does works full time , but we do get a percentage of housing benefit paid and then we have to pay the rest because I'm not in employment and weve no kids under 18. Like we don't get full housing benefit if you know what I mean , but we do get a contribution towards it.
I have quite poor health ( M.E. Diabetes. Endometriosis and arrhythmia i
and I really struggle with the day to day things and I just feel so discriminated and depressed that no landlord will rent us a home because I don't have a job. I'm a good tenant, ive never caused any hassle and we've never missed a rent payment ever. I'm so scared I don't want to be homeless. I don't have anywhere to go. I don't have any siblings or any living relatives I can stay with. I don't really have any friends either because my illness have prevented me from going out and meeting people .
I've spoken the council and they can place me on a list ( but there are not many local council houses, in this area of the adjoning towns. Majority have been bought ) but we won't be giving priority housing because we don't have enough points. This angers me so much, just because I don't have children means I don't deserve to have a roof over my head?
We can't afford to buy, he gets minimum wage and we just manage to get by as it is.
I'm literally feeling like my only options are either being homeless or killing myself . It's so unfair that governments allow landlords to refuse tenancy to someone who has an illness . I hate how people who claim housing benefit get categorised as terrible tenants. Don't landlords ever take into consideration that no everybody who dosent work isn't just sitting around being a bum by choice . I'm so stressed out my anxiety is so bad I can't sleep and I can't stop shaking in fear of what's going to happen.

And people wonder why the rental market is so hard nowadays..

OP is there nothing you can do work wise, like WFH? If you can't work do you get disability benefits to help you? Not sure on your partners industry, if they offer overtime?

Talk to your council again about if they have any landlords with available properties.

I am a landlord and have had the same tenant for the past 6 years who is fantastic. We were put in touch through the council who drew up a tenancy agreement for us, and her housing benefit is sent to me directly from them. When I first approached the council about renting they had three sets of people to send to me for viewings where they could see the property and I could meet the tenants myself to choose. They obviously kept some sort of list of people who needed this sort of arrangement.

I hope you find what you need very soon

Whilst I appreciate this isn't your priority, but this country has gone from having an ample supply of privately rented property to utter crisis point.
Reasons are the government removed all what they saw as tax breaks, but which make investing in property and claiming costs reasonable. The second is this piece of legislation that is the utter nail in the coffin. lettingaproperty.com/landlord/blog/renters-reform-bill-2022/. So one of the great ideas is that landlords will be pretty much forced to allow tenants to have pets...for which experience tells me that it costs a fortune refurbing a property to a decent standard after someone with a dog has rented it

We have several rentals. All a high standard, and all properly refurbed after each change of tenancy (rare). With this legislation we are now looking at selling them all and investing elsewhere. All our tenants are lovely, have been in the houses years and are gutted at the possibility. I am clear with them why

What needs to happen is MPs understand what their stupid acts and consequences are. All they are doing is turning up availability of property to sell at the expense of those who cannot afford to buy. I suggest you email your MP and tell them your thoughts. Whilst Labour ones didn't implement the tax changes, they have been very supportive of such attacks and seem to support this bill as well

Have you tried local housing associations?

I live in a block of flats where the housing association is the freeholder and they have housed people with disabilities and mobility issues in the ground floor flats.

Alternatively you might have to stay put in your current property until evicted so that the council places you in temporary accommodation first and hopefully in a more permanent home.

I would stay quiet about the pet. Again, in our buildings our leases say that she should not have pets. But I know that many people have cats and dogs in the flats...as long as the animals are quiet I don't see any issues.

Frankly the housing situation is appalling in this country so you need to do all you can to get what is best for you and your family.

The alternative is to move to a different, cheaper area but that might not be possible if your partner needs to be fairly close to his place of employment.

I am really sorry you find yourselves in this situation. Whilst Banks may stipulate a condition of the mortgage being that Tenants claiming HB are not allowed, I am not sure that could be enforced legally as it may be discriminatory.
However Landlords will work on percentages and the chances of a Tenant in receipt of benefits falling into arrears IS higher.
As a Landlord it took me 14 months during Covid to get my property back via the Legal process and cost me £££.
The situation will get a lot worse for Tenants if we get a Labour Govt. The Shadow Chancellor has said that tax rates on unearned income will increase and rental income is classed as unearned income. CGT will increase. This, in addition to the changes in EPC requirements will cause many Landlords to believe that it is just too difficult to be a Landlord any longer and will sell their prooerties. Some people may argue this is a good thing as there will be more more housing stock available for people to buy and this may well be the case but what about the people who cannot or do not want to buy?
None of this helps your case and I am sorry I do not have an answer. If your Landlord is selling, might he consider selling to a BTL Investor? It would be worth asking him. You sound like very good Tenants.

I'm a LL and would far rather pets than children . Ime cats don't scribble on walls or spill Ribena on carpets and well behaved tenants have well behaved dogs.

My bank also don't allow HB tenants and I think the problem is association in that although OP is a good tenant it's all about risk and a lot of HB tenants aren't

The alternative is to move to a different, cheaper area but that might not be possible if your partner needs to be fairly close to his place of employment

The sad truth is that they might have to move home and job. We work in a city that has had an influx of Londoners and people from the south due to high rents where they've come from. All the ones I know have found employment pretty quickly.

Employment is at an all time high.

you can walk out of a job and straight into another presently.

full time housekeepers for holiday inn are being paid £11.50 rather than £9.50 on NMW as companies are struggling to find staff

cheapest apartment is £625 with must around £825

so they’ve needed to increase pay or people move away

As a PP said, employment is at a high. Is your partner able to find better paid work, do you think? I appreciate that this may not be possible. Could you manage a very part time job?

It is possible that the buyer will want to rent out the property and will be pleased with reliable tenants in situ. I’d ask your landlord to speak to your good payment record and care for the property, and hope that any BTL buyer didn’t have a mortgage.

The various new rules around BTL seem to have impacted lower-income tenants hard.

Thank you for your replies.
I've already been in touch with with the council and they've placed me on the list, but I won't be given priority housing and the only option Where I live is quite rural, only small towns and villages. The council can't offer me a house that they don't have. I know that there's alot of people currently waiting for housing and they all plead their case of homelessness as its the only way to get higher on the list. Like I said in previous post , there's hardly any council housing left. Most houses are bought up and if they aren't building then that leaves a severe shortage. The fact I don't have children will no doubt leave me far down the list of priority.
I've been in touch with a charity who can't help me find housing because they said they are inundated with calls every day and aren't in the position to take anyone else on. All the did was give me a number of a crisis line for support , like that's not going to help in my position. My landlord gave me 3 months to vacate and I don't think I'm in a position to give him any hassle since I need his reference. The only area I know of that there is occasional housing that comes available that they place poeple is an estate that notorious for crime, violence on a regular basis and has a serious drug issue but again im not even priority to live there. That makes me feel great!
There's no temporary housing , they seem to be regularly full of foreigners to be honest. I'm not sure what kind of work I could take on , I certainly couldn't take on housekeeping as suggested. My me varies in severity and its extremely debilitating, I can barely get out of bed some days and can only manage light duties on the best of days. If I push myself too much I end up in a severe state for days which leads to complete bed rest.
I waited years on a list to receive any help for my pcos and endometriosis and things have got so bad that I'm awaiting removal laracopsy surgery. Every day is agony in my lower pelvis and everyday I sit with a water bottle to ease the pain so I'm not sure what the hell kind of work I could take on. I have ibs also and the stress and anxiety of it all has flared it up really bad that ive been on the toilet for days. Sorry tmi but I'm just trying to clarify I do have numerous health problems and working is not possible at all and the reason for not working is definitely not by choice. I know there's the stigmata alot of people just assume someone claiming benefits and not working Is just too lazy to work. I left school at 14 because of my m.e and as a result i dont have any qualifications. I'd love nothing more than to get out and meet people and socialise every day. I haven't had much option to meet people in life ,my partner is my childhood friend, i dont really have any other friends to discuss this with. My partner only has a very small group of friends who can't accommodate us either. health problems mean i live accordingly to how im feeling on that day. I get income support but it dosent even cover the bills since a large chunk still goes towards my rent. My partner is the only mainly paying for the heating electricity and food now since everything has went way up. I certainly couldn't afford to pay anything more myself.
I'm not sure what more partner could do to be honest. The mortage they offered him wouldn't even buy a collapsed house nevermind a functional house.
I don't believe employment is at a high , its quite difficult to find work. Not alot comes up in towns and villages.
He changed his job 8 months ago to be nearer to me to help me , it took a few years to find work come up in the area that was offered to him . His work now is very understanding of him needing time off when I'm really unwell and taking me to hospital appointments ect not alot of workplaces are understanding with that sort of thing and it's going to be hard for him to find a suitable job that works around me. He switched back to this job , he did take a job which paid slightly more money but switched back at start of year since they wouldn't give him time off when my appointments came up.
His mother home isn't an option either. There's no room for us as his brother lives at home.
He has autism and dosent communicate and would literally scream for hours if theres too many people in the house. I don't have any relatives myself.
My only brother passed when we were children. My mother mainly cared for me until she passed and now my partner is the only one left who can do this. If I had any money I'd buy a mobile caravan as a temporary solution but I don't even know where I would park that. I literally feel like I've no options.
I don't understand why the government don't think there needs to be priorty finding given to more houses being built. Everyone should have the simple basic right to have a roof over their head

Sorry, I know nobody can really help my situation but I just really needed to vent.
I really appreciate everyone who took the time to write a message

Could you both rent a room in a houseshare with others? I know it's not ideal but might be an option if there's nothing else.

I know your state of health is none of my business but DH was diagnosed with IBS years ago.

It turns out that the GP didn't follow the NICE guidelines for diagnosis and we've recently discovered he has an allergy to Sulphates. If he avoids these he doesn't get any IBS symptoms. If your GP didn't do things like rule out Coeliac it might get worth going back.

Losing your DB so young must have been awful for you too. Weee you offered counselling and support at the time?