I've been evicted from my flat.

ZapZoidberg

I'll post a bit about how I got here later, for now I am getting advice from CCCS and want a little advice pre SOA or budget sheet.

I am very kindly being put up by friends, but I need somewhere to live. I'd like to know what I would reasonably be allowed to spend if renting somewhere.

I take home 1300 monthly, am single no CSA, I've got no outgoings except the usual bills and @50000 worth of debt which, as you can guess from above hasn't been getting paid.

I was living in a mortgaged property and household bills and mortgage were up to date, I got a bad business and that's how the debts arrived. it was a decent sized one bed flat.

Does this mean that I need to look for one bed flats in the area? Or can I look for two up two downs or two bed flats in other areas?

Is six hundred pounds a month too much? I'm becoming aware of the SOA and I'm concerned that my potential decision to apply for bankruptcy may leave me absolutely skinned unless I think carefully about outgoings.

I know what bills etc will roughly expect to be. I've been meticulous with my budget before looking at what is left for creditors but I can't work out what my budget should be for renting. I don't want to appear to be a cheeky sod to the OR or judge by living in a place that is deemed to be nicer than I deserve.


I'm thanking people in advance for reading this,

Zap

skylight

Oi. What do you mean "nicer than I deserve"??? What is it you think you deserve???? I don't want to hear talk like that. I want to hear some fighting talk.

You deserve a life. You deserve a fresh start and you deserve to give yourself a break.

You can rent whatever you like. Okay, yes it needs to be reasonably priced so the £2k a month penthouse is out. But if you can get a nice 1-bed in a nice area for the same amount of money as a 2-bed in a not so nice area then whats the difference?? If £600 a month is average for property rentals in your area, then it cannot be questioned by the OR.

The only thing to bear in mind, is that *if* you were to lose your job and have to claim housing allowance, as a single person needing only a 1-bed then your allowance will be based on that. So if you have a 2-bed then you may have to find the difference. This is only an *if*, but in this current financial climate, it may be worth considering.

And if you are going BR, then don't even bother worrying or thinking about creditors. They are not your problem.

ZapZoidberg

Thanks Skylight, what i'm getting at is... fully kitted out city centre apartments are going for 800 which I could manage, ignoring creditors, but at a push, and this makes my disposable income low. where I used to live rents were 500 ish and I wouldn't have been living there had it not been for my circumstances.

skylight

Dont worry about disposable income. Is £800 average for the town?? have a look on rightmove.co.uk as it gives you an average for rentals in your area and then find a flat to match If the average is say £725, then the OR is not going to question £800. If you need fully furnished, then you need it. It would cost more in the long run (well, your BR year anyway) to get a cheaper place and kit it out.

I am a bit loathe to say carry on as you would not being BR, but that kind of defeats the point of BR - you do need to cut back; else we wouldn't be BR in the first place! But if you would never have been in a £500 flat to start with (I understand as there are places in my town I wouldn't be seen dead in, they are cheap for a reason) then keep to the middle of the road, so to speak.

peachyprice

I agree with Skylight, just because you're going BR doesn't mean you have to live in a hell hole. Find something nice within your budget, in a safe, clean area of town. The OR cannot make you live somewhere grotty.

ZapZoidberg

Thanks again Skylight,

Here's a long one...deep breath...

I've been living off virtually nothing for the last four years and I suspect that if I present my outgoings exactly as they have been for the past four years then a judge will either tell me that my problems will not be solved through bankruptcy or that I have a chunk of disposable income that will satisfy creditors, although the latter appears to not be the case. I can't carry on like I have been, I had more disposable income when I was fifteen, i'm forty.

I've always been good with money and have been able to save money in every aspect of my life and I know that i'm cutting corners or being super thrifty. So I'm not planning on going nuts and I accept that my poor business has left me owing people money for services that they provided that I couldn't pay for.

I'm in a weird place, because if I follow general budgetary advice and am permitted to live off the acceptable amounts then, on a day to day basis I'll be tons better off.

I've been evicted from my place, I'm desperate to find somewhere to live quickly, if the only place availble for me to move into tomorrow is fifty/a hundred/two hundred quid above the average will the OR tell me to move out. To be honest after what happened to me on thursday that's not a problem.

And this brings me back to my original posting. This process, whatever it ends up being, is freeing up more money for me to eat and clothe myself .

The reason I didn't move home, have broadband, sky tv, a working oven(!) or state of the art appliances for the past four years etc is because I budgeted myself to live without them.

Is there a likelihood that an OR or judge will say that I don't need these things because I have functioned without them for so long. And so am I being a cheeky sod by even hinting that I may want a life with these things in it, and a nice flat which I could manage very easily on my wage, if I didn't have creditors?

Maybe as I start solving problems lots of my concerns will be dealt with but I don't want to end up in the same situation working only to pay creditors and living like Dr. Zoidberg (from cartoon Futurama) in a skip scraping bits out of discarded pizza boxes for my tea.

Sorry for the length of this but you kinda know what I'm going through, cheers.

peachyprice

Zap, when you fill in your forms the only information you put on there is your list of creditors, you income and your outgoings as they are at the time of BR. You don't tell the judge how you have been living in the past.

Once you get to the next stage, which is the OR interview the examiner will look through your bank statements, but not to see how you were living, he/she will only be interested in how your debts have been accumulated, nothing else.

I think you're reading into things a bit too deeply. All the OR is intersted in is how you got into debt, that's all they need to report to your creditors, nothing else. The fact that you have a change in lifestyle is irrelevant, many many people use their time as BR to have a complete overhaul in their life, home, career, relationship, etc., and it's allowed.

Puckoon_2

Be very carefull about renting something over the local authority rate. I am renting for £375 per month and have recently lost my job. The rate for my area is £320 per month (ridiculously low amount impossible to rent anything in this area for that price) so I am having to make up the difference with Jobseekers allowance. Council dont see me as a priority, Housing associations do not want bankrupts and I'll will never get the 6 months rent up front for another private let. Heres hoping I get a job soon.
Dont forget to check the local authority rate for your area!

ZapZoidberg

cheers peachy and skylight, I think that in the end it's going to be alright.

I know I've still got a lot of stuff and stress to encounter before I get there. But when everything hit the fan on thursday my friends couldn't have done any more for me.

This website has been an unbelieveable source of comfort thanks to people like you.

Zoidberg

RAS

One thing you could start to do is put up your "likely" statement of Affairs.

Remember that people who are made bankrupt are not allowed Sky in the I&E but may be allowed a cheap holiday and are allowed things like dry-cleaning and medications. if you have bene living off nothing for years, you may need some help making sure you are realistic, because there will be no credit to take up the slack.

Alos at least one poster here (Neko?) was allowed to move from a dump to a decent place byt their OR, which reduced their IPA.