Can anyone advise me on my rights?

HHock

I'm 25 and have been staying in my nans spare room for the past year, she has a council retirement property in hertfordshire. I have always lived in London and after leaving my mums house (overcrowding) I rented a room in a house, then moved in with my boyfriend, stayed on various friends sofa's and finally ended up where I am now! I have certainly gone from pilar to post.

My query is, I stay at my best friends house a couple of times a week as she lives a little nearer to work/college and also at my boyfriends a couple of nights as I have no one other than my nan in the area that I actually live, however my friend has just been offered a new property as she has a baby and can no longer live in a studio flat - Can I stay in her studio flat when she has gone if I am registered on the housing register for that area? I don't want any freebies, i want to pay rent but I bid every week for a property and have no luck.

My nan is letting me stay as she feels obliged but she has asked me to start looking for alternative accom and there is no way in hell I can afford to privately rent whilst I am studying full time.

Can I just say I have worked full time since I left school at 16 and have never claimed a penny in any type of benefit, I have not had a proper home for 4 years now and it seems like there is no help for me, do I have any rights to this council property?

BitterAndTwisted

It's not the tenant's decision about what happens to a council property once it is given up and it's not possible to be the tenant of two separate ones either. Why do you think that your friend might not have to give up the studio-flat?

Jowo_2

You have no rights to this council property and you probably already realise this is the case. If the council discover your friend has moved out without notifying them, they will take legal action to repossess the property, as you are probably already aware.

It will go back into the pool for relet to a person who has higher priority than yourself or who has been bidding longer, as I'm sure you know how choice based letting operates by now.

Speak to Shelter about your options - they may have a local drop in centre, otherwise see their contact details on the website.

PasturesNew

No, you will have no rights to that council property. There will be people who have been on the list already for some time, waiting for the next one to become available, and they'll be a higher priority than you.

At the moment, you've got a nan, a bf, a friend and three virtual homes. That's quite good going!

If you work, why can't you rent privately like anybody else would have to do?

Fire_Fox

Why can't you afford to rent privately plenty of London students do, have you looked at shared houses? As a mature student you should be getting a full maintenance grant, full loan, exemption from council tax, half price Oyster card, and be able to earn up to £6500 tax-free. Are you not receiving this?

BitterAndTwisted

Have you looked into Unite? They've just opened a massive development of student accommodation in my neighbourhood but there are quite a few all over London. I can't seem to get any prices from their website alas which may not bode well.

tbs624

HHock - welcome to MSE as a newbie poster. It will come as little comfort to you that Crisis , the charity which helps single homeless people, estimates that the UKs "hidden homeless" population ( those not sleeping rough but without a fixed address) may be as high as 400,000 and that "sofa-surfing" has become more commonplace in recent years.

As others have indicated, you can't effectively leapfrog over others on the housing list who will have a greater housing need than you do, just because your friend has managed to get a new property and will be vacating the current one.

You mention being "nearer for work/college" & you say that you have worked full time since the age of 16 so you are maybe not a full time student who would be eligible for designated student housing?

If you can afford to pay rent you *can* look at the private sector. If you are on a low income you should be able to get help from the Council in the form a bond guarantee so that you don't have to cough up a deposit on top of advance rent when you first sign up.

As well as the possibility of a room in a shared house, you could look for home owners who let rooms out to lodgers - see spareroom.co.uk and other similar sites.

Unfortunately, there just isn't enough provision of social housing to go round and there *will* be others who have a higher priority than you do. As well as Shelter, as suggested by JoWo, and Crisis, as above, you could go and have a chat with the council's Private Sector Rentals Officer for some advice. Also contact the local LL association for a list of their members - if you deal direct you are less likely to be charged the extortionate fees levied by the majority of Letting Agencies.

Read through Joe81's "sticky" up at the top of this board, for those new to renting.