being reposessed next month HELP

emmasmum01

without going into too much detail my friends house is being reposessed next month, his partner has left with their child and he's filling to go bankrupt. just wondered if the council would house him and how he'd have to go about it. He'd also been made redundant 3 months ago (he's in the car busines) so is out of a job too and to top it off, with everything thats gone on he's also got quite bad depression and is under the doctor for this. He really is going through a bad time
he also has another 2 children who he has contact with and has them to stay weekends would this help his case at the council? he'd obviously like to carry on having all the children at weekends so as to not distrupt their lives too much and he'd be heart broken if he couldn't have them to stay over because the council gave him a bedsit for instance.
Any information would of much appreciated

Lightattheend

I had a repossession order and have been rehoused by the council but my rehousing took a longer than normal time due to a series of errors at the council. However I had managed to delay my repossession by making a payment each month so might be worth asking his lender about that.

Regarding housing, I would just get him to approach the council ASAP. From reading these boards I've seen that every council is slightly different. My local council had a 'homelessness advice and prevention' department so see his local one has something similar or just go to the housing office, taking a copy of his court repossession order as proof of the urgency. Speed is really of the essence here as, being council offices, they are slow to process things. However I believe they usually have emergency housing of some sort until something more suitable comes up. I would think they take access visits in to account for permenant housing but can't be sure as I have no experience of that side. I'd also advise talking to someone like the CAB as they may be able to offer more advise as well.

Lightattheend

Another thought - is the date you and him are thinking of for repossession the date on the original order or have the lender gone back to court to apply for the next stage already?

Pammybun

Well, I can only speak for what happened to us in SCOTLAND, but we were repossessed by GMAC last year.

Basically once we got the date to get out that was that - although we did apply for an extension from them of two months and were granted two weeks.

We had already been to the council with the repossession date (they will not class you as homeless until you have the date to get out) and were then classed as "priority homeless by them - however their waiting list for people in this category is approx 3 months!!!!

We had already put our names down for all the housing associations in the area and their situation was worse as their waiting lists were, for people in our situation, in excess of 18 months!!

Basically being homeless does give you quite a number of points but not as much as say homeless and with a medical priority or, as it transpires being medical priority and overcrowded. As far as my local area is concerned the thing you really want is to be a medical priority which is pretty hard to get as it involves you needing to be rehoused as if you aren't it would cause you severe illness.

Our only choice in the end was to badger private landlords - this was not easy but it did end up with someone looking at the bigger picture and letting us rent their house.

It is sad to say that having since spoken to the housing associations again they have told me that really we did not have a snowballs chance in hell of getting a house with them unless me, my husband and two kids were sleeping in boxes on the street.

We are still on their waiting lists as our private tenancy is just month to month (due to landlords circumstances) and as such we are now classed as "unsecure tenancy".

So, in advice to your friend I would tell him to get down to every single housing associationm, council etc that he can and to be prepared to take anything eg bedsit in a grotty area. There is such a shortage of housing that he will be lucky to get anything - failing them helping he should really be finding out about emergency homeless units.

I am sorry to be bleak but it is not aas easy as just popping down to the council and getting a house. The other thing is that because he is on his own he will prob just be offered a place in the homeless hostel.

I wish him luck.

Pam

Stressedscottish

Hi there. Does your friend have anything in writing outlining his contact arrangements for the children? I have a friend who was looking to get rehoused in my LA in Scotland and he was advised that they would only consider him for a 1 bed property unless he has written proof of contact arrangements. He didn't at the time and so was told that if he was lucky enough to get a 1 bed place he would then have to try to find someone willing to swap so could take a long time! Sorry if this isn't what he wants to hear but best to be prepared. The other thing is that although the LA have a statutory duty to rehouse someone when they are homeless this is only for 28 days. Also if they don't have a property available even a bedsit you could end up in a B&B. Hope he manages to get something sorted soon.
Cheers
SS

punkgirlyuk

Is your friend seeing a Doctor regarding his depression? If he is seeing a counseler or doc etc then this could help with a medical priority case for housing. Countact the council direct and they will get someone to look into whether he would be priority, can still take weeks though while they decide so as mentioned before, he needs to get onto the councils/associations etc now.

Pssst

If he is a single male he comes bottom of the pecking order. I dont rate his chances.

nuttyp

hi, well in our area it seams a bit hit or miss. I know of a family with 2 children and they were advised to try private lettings. Then 2 days later my daughters friend who's 17 and has a 3 month old baby got her dad to 'evict' her !!! and they have just offered her a 2 bed flat and are currently arranging some help with furniture etc etc. Makes a joke of everything really - the family unit would of appreciated the flat a whole lot more and they are currently active in looking for work. The same cant be said for my daughters friend - her opionion is that she shouldnt be even made to go to collage let alone get a job.

I wish your friend loads of luck and make sure the agreements for the childrens access and residence with him is in writing. If he has any solicitor letters use those as well and make sure his doctor confirms his condition with the council.