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Housing - Rental
Jumanji_2
Posts: 108 Forumite
You probably know about our housing situation... I moan about it enough. We have written to our local MP about it, and he has in turn written to the council, and then sent us a copy of the reply.
It's all very well someone offering to pay the deposit for us, but we can't afford the monthly rent that is out there in the private market anyway! All we can afford is £350 - £400, unfortunately there is nothing out there for this amount.
Also, we got in contact with the council over a month ago, they only sent a medical form to me last week after I rang up and asked why my medical condition is on our file when it was quite clear in our application. We're also sending them a copy of our Personal Budget to show how much we can/can't afford. This has all gone Special Delivery today, so will get there on Tuesday.
Can anyone think or come up with anything else we can do to help our case? I'm so scared that we're going to be homeless in a months time. As it is, we're having to stay in the property after our Notice runs out, and force our landlord to go to court to get an eviction order! All because they won't help us until after 10th May, when we should be out the house by, but won't be.
I feel like no matter what we do and how hard we fight we're going to end up on the street. Please, any help or advice?
Mr and Mrs Jumanji have been in regular contact with the Housing Options team in respect of their situation and are justifiably concerned about their future housing position. To date they have been working with one of our Homelessness Prevention Officers to establish the various options available to them, in the event that they are unsuccessful in being able to secure alternative accommodation, they will be invited to make a homelessness application to this authority.
With regards to any such homelessness application made, it would have been explained to them, that whilst they have the right to make one, as they do not have dependant children they will not automatically be classed as having priority need for housing, other factors such as their physical and mental health will need to be assessed to determine this.
The Housing Prevention Officer will have carried out an initial assessment as to whether they are likely to be considered in priority need and have indicated that they may not be, this is not a final decision; however it is felt important to make applicatns aware of possible outcomes from their homelessness application.
In the event that they are found not to be in priority need, I am afraid our only duty towards them, is to continue to provide advice and assistance to help them secure accommodation on their own behalf, to which end a referral has already been made to Fareport Fund A Home, an organisation that offers rent deposits to non-priority households.
With regards to any such homelessness application made, it would have been explained to them, that whilst they have the right to make one, as they do not have dependant children they will not automatically be classed as having priority need for housing, other factors such as their physical and mental health will need to be assessed to determine this.
The Housing Prevention Officer will have carried out an initial assessment as to whether they are likely to be considered in priority need and have indicated that they may not be, this is not a final decision; however it is felt important to make applicatns aware of possible outcomes from their homelessness application.
In the event that they are found not to be in priority need, I am afraid our only duty towards them, is to continue to provide advice and assistance to help them secure accommodation on their own behalf, to which end a referral has already been made to Fareport Fund A Home, an organisation that offers rent deposits to non-priority households.
It's all very well someone offering to pay the deposit for us, but we can't afford the monthly rent that is out there in the private market anyway! All we can afford is £350 - £400, unfortunately there is nothing out there for this amount.
Also, we got in contact with the council over a month ago, they only sent a medical form to me last week after I rang up and asked why my medical condition is on our file when it was quite clear in our application. We're also sending them a copy of our Personal Budget to show how much we can/can't afford. This has all gone Special Delivery today, so will get there on Tuesday.
Can anyone think or come up with anything else we can do to help our case? I'm so scared that we're going to be homeless in a months time. As it is, we're having to stay in the property after our Notice runs out, and force our landlord to go to court to get an eviction order! All because they won't help us until after 10th May, when we should be out the house by, but won't be.
I feel like no matter what we do and how hard we fight we're going to end up on the street. Please, any help or advice?
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Comments
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Do you have anyone helping or advising you with this? If not you might like to contact https://www.shelter.org.uk - they may have a housing advice centre near you or will be able to direct you to specialist advice. I dont remember reading any other of your posts so forgive me if anything's been covered before. I dont know about your health situation but do you receive any benefits for any conditions? If not, dont forget you may still be entitled to working tax credit. If you are on a low wage you may still be eligable for housing benefit - have you made a claim? Above all dont voluntarily leave your property. It's bizarre but if you do the council can find you intentionally homeless and refuse to house you. Of course this is assuming they accept they have a duty to house you in the first place. There's so much to consider when making a homeless application you really need to talk to an expert and find out the pro's and cons of everything. If you do have a Shelter HAC near you or other law centre then you will get specialist help with your case.~A mind is a terrible thing to waste on housework~0
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chugalug wrote:Do you have anyone helping or advising you with this? If not you might like to contact https://www.shelter.org.uk - they may have a housing advice centre near you or will be able to direct you to specialist advice.
Thanks I will call them on Monday.chugalug wrote:I dont remember reading any other of your posts so forgive me if anything's been covered before. I dont know about your health situation but do you receive any benefits for any conditions? If not, dont forget you may still be entitled to working tax credit. If you are on a low wage you may still be eligable for housing benefit - have you made a claim?.
Sorry, it's all been covered in Debt-Free-Wannabe... We've both just gone bankrupt. I suffer from severe depression and anxiety. About 90% of the time I can't leave the house, and if I do I have a panic attack. I've put in an application for Incapacity Benefit, but that was over a month ago, and I chased them up on Monday. We're not entitled to working tax credit, or housing benefit because my partners job brings in more then £88.15 a week.chugalug wrote:Above all dont voluntarily leave your property. It's bizarre but if you do the council can find you intentionally homeless and refuse to house you. Of course this is assuming they accept they have a duty to house you in the first place. There's so much to consider when making a homeless application you really need to talk to an expert and find out the pro's and cons of everything. If you do have a Shelter HAC near you or other law centre then you will get specialist help with your case.
I just feel so guilty staying in the house. We've had to write off nearly £300 of arrears in the bankruptcy, and have our landlady keep our deposit, and now we're costing her £150 for filing court papers to get us evicted! I feel really horrible.
Will definately contact Shelter on Monday though and see if we can arrange an appointment to talk to someone or something. Thank you so much.0 -
Hi Jumanji,
It's great that you have the bankrupty case behind you now, well done the both of you, now you have to get a house.
Possesion is 9/10th of the law, you stay were you are until you get yourselves a house.
Jumanji....... :mad: it is time to show your teeth! And stand up for yourselves! You also have rights!
Visit CAB and see what advice they offer you on this.0 -
Jumanji I've sent you a PM
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I'm not very knowledgable on housing issues but all the advice given sounds very useful. What I thought I'd suggest in case it's not been suggested is how about a houseshare? I suppose everywhere's different but from my own circumstances I know that there are loads available in London. My boyfriend moved there last year for work but could not afford very much. He's now got a gorgeous double room in a lovely 3 bed flat for £310 a month in central London. I know that it wont be very nice going from having your own home to sharing one, but even if it's only to put you on for a few months until you can get a permanent place sorted it's better than being homeless. It's a good way of getting a nice place for little money as you're sharing the cost of rent and bills0
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Johan wrote:Hi Jumanji,
seing that everybody that enters this country oneway or another gets handed a house and benefits.
Not true. If you are on about asylum seekers if they are granted asylum they become the same as everyone else and are treated the same. If they are childless non priority homeless they have to leave whatever temporary accommodation they may have been offered and find their own.
Jumanji
Sorry for the slight sidetrack above.
If you've been referred to Farepoint Fund A Home they should be able to advise you on affordability, housing benefit etc. I run a similar scheme and we do. If you haven't contacted them yet I would do so.
I hope you've been able to talk to Shelter and they've given you some good advice on whether you would be eligible or not for council housing as homeless and in priority need. Availability of council accommodation varies from area to area and each council can define 'priority need'. For example in the county I live in you would be unlikely to be found priority need.We're not entitled to working tax credit, or housing benefit because my partners job brings in more then £88.15 a week.
I don't understand that bit as its not as simple as that. Housing benefit is based on what is a 'reasonable rent' in your area for a property suitable for you as a couple. So that would be one bedroom accommodation as you have no children. What a reasonable rent is varies from area to area. In our area its about £425 a month. Its then based on what your income is as well.
So as an example say you had a couple and one of them worked 20 hours a week bringing home £100 and they had no other income/savings. If they put in a claim for housing benefit for a one bedroom property costing £425 month (and that was a reasonable rent for the area) I estimate they would be eligible to around £96.06 week housing benefit.
Either Shelter or a benefits advice service should be able to do you an estimate like I just did above. If you know the reasonable rent for your area I could do one for you if you give me more details (age, hours of work, partner's income, any other income). If you want one pm me if you want to keep it confidential or post if you like.I live in my own little world. But it's okay. They know me here.0
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