MIL being made homeless

rchddap1

For those who can't remember my MIL's home is being repossessed next week. Unfortunately things have taken a turn for the worse and I need advice on what she can do for herself and her kids.

1. Technically being made homeless next week. However, she has been in touch with shelter and they have told her that she can talk to the court, pay £30 and they will allow her to stay in the house for another 52 days. Assuming this is true does the court have to agree to this, or is there a chance they could refuse and under what sort of conditions are they likely to do so?

2. She has been in constant contact with the council. Now the council (in their wisdom) have decided that they won't help her, that is, provide her a house. This is because she took on a mortgage in her name, when she couldn't afford it on her own. At the time her OH was running a business (again in her name). Unfortunately OH did a runner and completely destroyed the business leaving her with no income and bankrupt. As a result she can no longer pay the mortgage....and as the mortgage is in her name alone they are saying that she has made herself intentionally homeless. Is there anything else the council has to do or could be 'encouraged' to do so that they have somewhere to go?

3. She has 2 kids one 15 and the other 17. Can the 17 year old get council assistance, even though she is not 18 yet? Also, what might happen to the 15 year old if her mum can't find a home for them all?

4. She also has 2 dogs, 2 cats, a pond full of fish, and a very noisy bird. if the worst happens and she is thrown out of her home what is likely to happen to the animals? Is there an organisation she can approach that won't put them down?

5. If her house is taken from her I assume that it would be illegal for her to go back onto the property to retreive some of their belongings? Further detail on this would be useful so that we can 'encourage' her in the right direction.

I can't think of any other queries at the moment, but anyone's suggestions gratefully received.

We live quite some distance away and only have 1 very small room spare. The rest of her family are closer, but have lots of problems themselves and are ignoring or avoiding the situation. We don't know how we are able to help her and thought that you folks could at least give us some pointers.

hjb123

Has she been to anywhere like the Citizens Advice Bureau for any help? They should be able to give some really good help and point her in the right direction and give the correct advice

hjb123

In response to the other questions:

The 15 and 17 year old: The 17 year old may be able to move out and class herself as homeless but the 15 year old I wouldnt have thought will - you will have to get clarification of this from your local CAB

The pets: It would depend on where she was going but maybe it would be better in the long term if she were to take them to an animal shelter and explain the situation to them there?

The belongings: Couldn other family member such as yourselves store some items for her?

The best bet would be to get down to the local CAB pretty sharpish and get their advice.

rchddap1

hjb123 wrote:

Has she been to anywhere like the Citizens Advice Bureau for any help? They should be able to give some really good help and point her in the right direction and give the correct advice

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. She says they were about as much help as a chocolate fireguard.

rchddap1

hjb123 wrote:

The belongings: Couldn other family member such as yourselves store some items for her?

Great idea....tried that last weekend when we were down. Told her that we could keep some of the important things and then bring them back in a couple of weeks when we were down next. She didn't seem to hear us though and wouldn't allow us to take anything.

As for the rest of the family looking after some stuff....I think she's worried she won't ever see it again.

CAB will do nowt. Council will do nowt.

whatamess_2

Hi has she been in touch with the rspca. Most regions have a team of volunteers that will be able to give advice re the pets. Our region has a foster service. Do hers?
A friends sister was repossed a few years ago they changed the locks whilst she was out. She had to get permission from the mortgage company who then had to inform the baliffs for her to go in and get the cat. :eek:
Has she contacted social services they may be able to offer some advice.
Regards Messy

hjb123

Is she not for accepting help off family then or something? You would of thought that she would want to be prepared or want to let you help out or something!

Have you tried your local Welfare Rights service instead then? I tried them before I found my local CAB was more helpful - maybe in you MILs case it might be the other way around!

rchddap1

Trying to get her to contact social services at the moment. Hopefully she'll talk to them on Monday.

As for the RSPCA...she wouldn't want the animals to go anywhere where they might put them down.

And as for accepting help of family....we've had a problem of head stuck in fast drying concrete for a while, but we're not giving up. We can't, she means so much to OH that it isn't something we're capable of.

november

rchddap1 wrote:

1. Technically being made homeless next week. However, she has been in touch with shelter and they have told her that she can talk to the court, pay £30 and they will allow her to stay in the house for another 52 days. Assuming this is true does the court have to agree to this, or is there a chance they could refuse and under what sort of conditions are they likely to do so?

Sorry don't know the answer to this one but she could go back to Shelter and ask. IMHO they are the best for housing/homelessness advice.

2. She has been in constant contact with the council. Now the council (in their wisdom) have decided that they won't help her, that is, provide her a house. This is because she took on a mortgage in her name, when she couldn't afford it on her own. At the time her OH was running a business (again in her name). Unfortunately OH did a runner and completely destroyed the business leaving her with no income and bankrupt. As a result she can no longer pay the mortgage....and as the mortgage is in her name alone they are saying that she has made herself intentionally homeless. Is there anything else the council has to do or could be 'encouraged' to do so that they have somewhere to go?

She could appeal. Again she could do this with the assistance of Shelter.

3. She has 2 kids one 15 and the other 17. Can the 17 year old get council assistance, even though she is not 18 yet? Also, what might happen to the 15 year old if her mum can't find a home for them all?

Yes the 17 year old can make a homelessness application to the council in their own right. In fact they can do it because they are 17, if they were 18 they would probably be found 'not priority homeless ie not vulnerable. New legislation has confirmed for councils that homeless 17 year olds must be accepted as vulnerable.

Social Services would have a duty to the homeless 15 year old. This may mean they will help the mother. It may mean they opt to take the 15 year old into care. Case law has confirmed they can do the latter to stop 'people taking advantage of the system'. I'm not saying I agree by the way nor can I see how it makes any sense, its not in the 'best interests of the child' and it doesn't even make financial sense - it costs a fortune to keep a child in care.

4. She also has 2 dogs, 2 cats, a pond full of fish, and a very noisy bird. if the worst happens and she is thrown out of her home what is likely to happen to the animals? Is there an organisation she can approach that won't put them down?

As someone else said the RSPCA although personally I would check a local animal shelter first as some RSPCA branches will put down animals that are not housed within a certain time. Look online for one in the area that states it never puts a healthy animal down.

5. If her house is taken from her I assume that it would be illegal for her to go back onto the property to retreive some of their belongings? Further detail on this would be useful so that we can 'encourage' her in the right direction.

Not sure. I think it depends on who's got it and if they let her back in. I think once she is technically supposed to be gone (according to the court) belongings can be cleared by whoever owns the property. In fact I think you can be charged by whoever clears it for clearing it!

If the council doesn't accept a duty to house her then they wouldn't help her either with storing belongings or kenneling for pets. If they did accept a duty they would.

As it looks like she will probably be looking at private renting I would suggest she checks this site to see if there is a rent deposit scheme in the area if/should she need help with a deposit.

http://www.nrdf.org.uk/map.asp?cat=20

Also as you say she needs to contact Social Services

And I would suggest going back to Shelter again to see re. date for leaving and if she can appeal against council decision of finding her intentionally homeless.

rchddap1

Thanks for the link, but her town isn't on the list. Besides, she doesn't have the income to rent privately anyway.

Good to hear that the 17 year old would be okay come what may.

Worrying about the cost for clearance, but there's not a lot that we can do about that.

elona

How about contacting her member of parliament who may be able to pull a few strings.

Telling her story to local newspaper - "Family out on streets etc!" May shame the council into doing something.