eviction

misspriscilla

A lady I know has been divorced by her husband, the court has given him custody of the children, but she can see them whenever she wishes, and added that she must leave the house, if she returns he can call the police and have her arrested. She has nowhere to go , so she is sleeping in the woods in a tent. Are there any facilities available on a Sunday where she can stay? She doesn't have any money. If there is anyone with experience of such a matter I would appreciate hearing from them

black-saturn

Surely she can go to her local housing office and they will give her a room in a hostel at least. No one needs to sleep in a tent unless theyre on a budget holiday or a member of the scouts.

She should also go to the CAB and ask them for help sorting this out. You dont say if she was a joint owner of this house or not but if she was she will be entitled to half the house proceeds and similarly if she was a joint tenant she will still be entitled to live there.

magentadreamer

She needs to go to her local councils homeless person's unit ASP -they should be able to help and advise her.

mummytofour

She can go to her local council and they will get her a hostel place.
My friend was living in a tent and he was given a flat of his own it did take 3 months tho, however he has a home for life now.

november

black-saturn wrote:

Surely she can go to her local housing office and they will give her a room in a hostel at least. No one needs to sleep in a tent unless theyre on a budget holiday or a member of the scouts.

Harsh truth? Yes people do sleep in tents and in shop doorways. Not because they want to but because no-one has a duty to house them.

Depends where you live in the country as to the availability of council housing and hostels. For example in the county in which I live women without children would have zero chance of getting council accommodation and there is only one homeless hostel.



On a Sunday? Try looking online to see if there are any homeless hostels in the area if you don't know. Someone would then have to contact them direct to see if they have any vacancies. What you need is an emergency direct access hostel - one that takes people on the day and that the person can contact themselves. Not every area has them (we don't here).

On Monday. She could make a homelessness application with the council but unless it is an area where there is lots of council accommodation that may not help. She is unlikely to be 'priority' homeless which means the council wouldn't have a duty to help her as homeless. She can however make a housing application to go on the council waiting list. Dependent on where you are affects how long that list is.

However it is still worth going to the council. If they don't have a duty to house her they will have one to advise her. This means they could refer her to other agencies in her area e.g. a hostel (if there is one) or deposit bond scheme (if there is one).

Another agency who will know about housing in her area is Shelter. Their website is here: http://england.shelter.org.uk/home/index.cfm. They are, IMHO, the best free independant housing experts

You can phone Shelter for free homelessness advice on 0808 800 4444. Lines are open seven days a week from 8am to midnight. That is the IMHO best thing to do today.

Bossyboots

black-saturn wrote:

You dont say if she was a joint owner of this house or not but if she was she will be entitled to half the house proceeds and similarly if she was a joint tenant she will still be entitled to live there.

You have missed the point that the husband has a Court Order for her to leave and from the description, it sounds like an ouster injunction so she would have had to leave immediately amd cannot return.

Depending on her circumstances, there is every likelihood that the council will have no duty whatsoever to rehouse her.

misspriscilla

If I understand it correctly an 'ouster injunction' involves a case of violence. There was no violence. He convinced his lawyer that he didn't want her around the house anymore, for reasons she said were blatent lies. When she tried to say this in court the judge told her to be quiet and speak when she was spoken to. I might add that she has free access to the children which makes the eviction notice even more difficult to understand. I don't know what her position regarding the tenancy was.

hjb123

This must be difficult for her but her best thing will be to get advice from her local Citizens Advice Bureau or Welfare Rights Service who will be able to help her. Does she have no family or friends that are able to help her out for the odd night until she can find somewhere?

jobbingmusician

Whereabouts in the country is she?

Rather than staying in a tent she could look for a DIRECT ACCESS HOSTEL. I just googled this and got a list of DAH for various areas in the country*. If you are talking to her today you might like to do this to see if you can come up with somewhere for her to stay tonight...

*I'm not promising they are nice, though

jobbingmusician

PS If she is in London, theCentral and Cecil Housing Trust specialise in housing for homeless women, and they used to have a DAH in Waterloo.

twink

please give the lady a hug from me what a position to find yourself in and what must her children think!