help with housing please!!!!

roaminghippy

right this is a bit of a long story so hang in there
we currently rent a private house (buy to rent scheme which i would advise to avoid) the landlrod currently wants £130 a week for a 3 bed house in port talbot. We can not afford this as my partner and i are on bennifets due to ill health. We claim housing benifit and council tax benifit but it doesnt cover all the rent. The house is in a real bad state of repair , the fire hasn't been serviced in 2 years , our heating doesn't work , a few of our windows don't close (they look like there about to fall off) and a few you can't open as they will never close, we have leaks in the bathroom that come in to the kitchen , the toilet is leaking and the electrics really need sorting out. here's where it gets complicated

our contract ran out with our landlord over a year ago , when we asked him for a new one he fobbed us off and we still haven't recieved one.
he turns up with out notice and is really narky and intimidating
I have contacted enviromental health for advice last year and they did say they would contact the landlord if he doesn't sort things out but we may get evictied if they do


we have had advice from cab (1 yr ago)and they sugested we move
the council refused to give us a house as the landlord wouldn't give us a reference and i owe rent to a housing association ( which cab told me not to pay as it wasn't a priority debt)

we are affraid to ask the landlord to do repairs as he will kick us out and we can't get a council house ( i rang again today with same responce)we could get a refuge type accomidation if we end up homeless but i dont want to put my son through that as he has behavioural problems

we cant afford a private house again as there rents are through the roof

we really arn't secure here and we have a 7 year old boy to consider and our health is deteraiting alot partly due to stress

can anyone give advice on what to do for the best?
any help appreciated
Rhiannon

roaminghippy

any advice on organisations that could help (other than ones listed) would be greatly appreciated
thanks in advance

Millburn_farm

talk to your local housing department; about how rent paid to DWP tenants changed back in April; i.e. married couple 1 boy 1 girl need 3 bed house; mean-average rent in your area = (just say) £140/wk that's what you get on a new tenancy; if you pay £100/week you get to keep/save the extra; if you want to live in a high rental area, say £175/week you have to pay the extra. ....... your local office can give the www. address where you can access your local mean/average rental amount; which will let you know when looking at the adverts if a property is in your ball park; this will be a £££££/pennies amount now, since the change in legislation this April; and nothing to do with the property

BTW; as a landlord; I have an obligation to keep my property to an acceptable standard

sorry; not my most intellagable answer;