Where do I start ? no point going on !

Debt_Free_Wannabe_6

Hi there,
Sorry to hear the situation your in at the moment and hope things look up for you........ .

I would give you advice but I live in Australia and things here are different to where you are situated.

Sending lots of good luck vibes your way

lynzpower

Can't_Get_Straight wrote:

THank you so much for all your advice. Today feels worse as I am told what I didn't want to hear, hence still being awake at this ungodly hour.
I called the Council regarding housing and they cannot help me. Reason : Our rent is high for this rented property and when we took it on, our landlord and ourselves filled out the forms at the Council office with a Housing Officer. She said we would get the majority of the rent paid through Housing Benenfit and would need to apply for a top-up for the rest as we are low income (Income Support, husbands illness) We followed advice and today were refused the top-up after being here 3 months, so now we have been told that what is left over, we have to pay to the landlord as HB won't cover it and it amounts to £525, which means we are now £525 in arrears with our landlord. When we are evicted next month, we would still be in arrears and according to the Council that constitutes us as being "Intentionally Homeless" and therefore they will not house us, under any circumstances, with children or not !!! I called Shelter and they cannot deal with intentionally homeless claims that are as clear cut as this, as we are in arrears and it is clear on paper that this is true. We cannot pay these arrears let alone anything else, as we are on minimum income and struggle from day to day. To make things worse my Child Benefit was not paid today and when I called the CB Office, they said it was a simple error and I would get double next week, but that doesn't help me now !!! I really need to try and do something about the horrendous debt we have as no-one will house us ever, and the Council won't help.

I'm now very, very scared of being on the street with my children again. So much so I even called Social Services to see if they would support me i trying to get council housing, but they said they have more pressing cases to deal with !!!

Very scared and feeling worse than yesterday. What do I do ?

OK let me see here
The council said they wont help you- can you clarify whether they let you register as homeless. Regardless of the HB issues at the moment, they should have let you apply as homeless, in fact its illegal for them to refuse to let you apply. Can you clarify this for me.

So, am I right in reading this that the 525 is the difference between what HB paid and what the landlord wanted? You were le to believe that HB would pay all of it, they havent, adn the 525 is the difference over the 3 months you have been there?

There are some regulations in housing called "reasonable to occupy" http://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/housing/advice/2483.asp this is standard advice, not sure where in the UK you are. I would say that it is not reasonable for you to occupy this property, as you cannot afford it, therefore you are entitled to housing assistance and you are not IH. Lots of my clients have avoided intentionally homeless decisions by pulling this one out of the bag. So the council should not have told you you could be found IH when clearly they are interpreting the law to suit them.

IF you are eventually found IH, you have the right of appeal for 21 days.

If you find yourself on the streets, pitch up at the housing dept and demand that accomodation is found, they haveto provide something, as there is "priority need" children and A parent with illness.

Why shelter have chosen to act like this Ive no idea- reasonableness to occupy is a pretty standard thing in homelessness I cant believe that they have overlooked it. Call them back and read out to them what Ive written. Im not a housing expert by an means but I know the basics and this is one of them

Re: Social services. Legally, they cant help you until the point of crisis. Additionally there is no explicit provision in childrens social work re:housing. However, under S17 of the children act ( which is what most ssd use daily) the wording goes like provide whatever help & support needed to ensure childs needs are met. Or something. I should know that one word for word :rotfl: This can mean a) jumping in and organising accomodation for you/
b) fighting with housing department ( this is the main one) or something else.

Anyway, my thinking cap is on, do come back to me if you want any more
lynz
xxx

elona

Have you contacted your M.P.?

They can be very helpful in geeing up housing depts.

linniestorm

Brilliant advice from lynzpower, but just wanted to add about some facilities that might be available in your area if you're looking for someone to back you up with the powers that be.

Here in Lancashire as part of the Youth Service we have what are called Information and Advice Centres (like a CAB for young people) and we deal with and advocate on behalf of young people and adults all the time (cause of their location we get all ages so there's no restriction on who can use it).
You might want to check with your local council to see if there is anything like this locally, there should be a worker in there that can help with phone calls and meetings if you feel you want someone with 'the knowledge' there on hand.

Best of luck!

sanfrancisco

I don't know how to help with the housing situation. BUT, when you get yourself sorted and housed, I would get my credit record, list all the debts, then go Bankrupt. You have nothing to loose and a lot to gain. You will both get healthier (hopefully depression will lift), and you will get your sanity back. Seriously, its not worth it. Wipe the slate clean, so you can get some sleep again.

Someone tell me to go and write my essay....

lynzpower

Write Your Essay San Francisco_now!!!

leni

Things will have changed but I remeber us being made homeless when I was 10 and we had to live on my aunts living room floor for 6 months until the council finally gave us a house in an area my mum "liked"! Our house was reprosessed because my mum wasn't paying the mortgage because my dad was/is an alcoholic and choose to drink all his earnings away, on the few times he did bring food home, my mum stock piled the freezer and took on a cleaning job to get us by!

Sadly I have no real advice but just to say I really feel for you, having been a child ina similar situation not so long ago, I can give you faith in saying that it never had a negative affect on me in any terms!

Also the debts run up by your previous partner, was that longer than 6 years ago? have the debtors made any conect to reclaim the money in the last 6 years? or are you paying them? I may be wrong but think I've read on here before about a 6 year rule, and if they've not contacted you about the debts in 6 years they you can basically write them off!

I'd go back to the council and demand to be seen and put on the emergency housing list, have you contacted CAB?

Can't_Get_Straight

lynzpower wrote:

OK let me see here
The council said they wont help you- can you clarify whether they let you register as homeless. Regardless of the HB issues at the moment, they should have let you apply as homeless, in fact its illegal for them to refuse to let you apply. Can you clarify this for me.

So, am I right in reading this that the 525 is the difference between what HB paid and what the landlord wanted? You were le to believe that HB would pay all of it, they havent, adn the 525 is the difference over the 3 months you have been there?

There are some regulations in housing called "reasonable to occupy" http://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/housing/advice/2483.asp this is standard advice, not sure where in the UK you are. I would say that it is not reasonable for you to occupy this property, as you cannot afford it, therefore you are entitled to housing assistance and you are not IH. Lots of my clients have avoided intentionally homeless decisions by pulling this one out of the bag. So the council should not have told you you could be found IH when clearly they are interpreting the law to suit them.

IF you are eventually found IH, you have the right of appeal for 21 days.

If you find yourself on the streets, pitch up at the housing dept and demand that accomodation is found, they haveto provide something, as there is "priority need" children and A parent with illness.

Why shelter have chosen to act like this Ive no idea- reasonableness to occupy is a pretty standard thing in homelessness I cant believe that they have overlooked it. Call them back and read out to them what Ive written. Im not a housing expert by an means but I know the basics and this is one of them

Re: Social services. Legally, they cant help you until the point of crisis. Additionally there is no explicit provision in childrens social work re:housing. However, under S17 of the children act ( which is what most ssd use daily) the wording goes like provide whatever help & support needed to ensure childs needs are met. Or something. I should know that one word for word :rotfl: This can mean a) jumping in and organising accomodation for you/
b) fighting with housing department ( this is the main one) or something else.

Anyway, my thinking cap is on, do come back to me if you want any more
lynz
xxx

Thank you so much for taking an interest and replying with this advice. My heads' a little clearer today after panic set in, but have spoken to the Council again today and asked them about what you said and it's like this ;

I CANNOT register as homeless until I AM homeless. So homelessness only comes into effect on the exact day of eviction. They would then assess with a Council Housing Officer whether we are IH (which they are still saying we would be as we should not of taken this house on even though we asked them first about HB cover) As they deem us to be IH they would not provide any form of temporary housing for us as It's our fault we are in this situation.

I enquired about Housing associations, but as I had already guessed, they only do referrals and will not refer people who are IH as they then pose a risk of being non-rent-payers or something like that. The way she explained was similar to credit. If you've defaulted, they won't recommend you basically, and you cannot apply to them direct. They only take referrals through the Council from people already on the list.

I asked about going on the housing list anyway and have done that now, although the day we are evicted, I will have to make a fresh claim for being homeless which is not the same !!! We have no chance of being housed from the list before this as they don't consider anyone on less than 90 points and we she calculated roughly that we would have only 29 as we are adequately housed at the moment.

I called Shelter again and they say the same thing pretty much. As it's a clear case of IH (on paper) they could not help us. I called twice just to make sure and spoke to 2 different people who told me the same thing.

The housing officer would not comment on the fact that she was the one who said we would have our rent paid by HB, so bsically it's her word against ours about that now it seems.

I mentioned in my first post that we were homless before. That was because when we were evicted as our landlord sold his house, we applied then as homless and the Council (in the next council region) found us IH then as our landlord said we were in arrears and he was not selling his house, although he had nothing in writing, we had bank statments proving we paid etc the Council beleived his word and left us homeless. Social Services nor Shelter helped then neither. That old landlord never applied for any money from us as he knew we did pay and were not in arrears, and the day we moved out he put for sale signs up and we took pictures for the Council, but they still denied it. A year later after many, many appeals and going to our MP we moved to this region 4 months ago and stayed with my cousin for a couple of weeks, whilst the last appeal was going through. They contacted my old landlord who said he was selling his house but didn't want to admit it at the time as he was selling to a relative and wanted the mortgage kept in his name, so avoiding probs with his mortgage company. Anyway, we then found this house through a friend and the Council (1 week later) write to tell us that they had overturned the first decision and accepted us as NOT intentionally homeless. I was exstatic. Then I read further on and they said that as we were now housed, we were no longer in need of authority housing and therefore taken off the list. I disputed this and they refused, saying I would have to make a fresh claim if and when I even became homelss again. Well here I am again in the same situatoin, and they are refusing me again for another excuse. The last time was pure hell. Trying to collect correspondence and return phone calls and letters when your in a tent one day and someone's floor the next, all the while towing my children with me. I went to the coundil offices and did the silent protest thing about being housed and they threatened me with the police until closing time, so it's not as easy as that.

How can I prove that the housing officer said our rent would be paid ??

I'm so sorry to ramble, it just seems the panic sets in every day when I have thinking time and I really need advice as what to do now. I don't know who to contact. We do have a local advice centre but only for under 21's and I'm nearly 35. I can't even get my landlord to put in writing that they are selling as the woman is afraid her ex husband will find out and it's part of the divorce settlement, so she won't put anything in writing for me to prove it either. Lynzpower, you seem to know quite a bit, is there any other way I can convince them that we are not in the wrong. I would really value your advice :A

Thank you everyone again for advising. I am taking it all in and trying to see if there are bits I can use to resolve this. Every day this and my mounting debts seem to be getting to me. With regard my old debts I don't know if they chased me as I said before, I left that property, moved away and destroyed everything from my old home after my depression hit after my first child.

Can it get any worse

calleyw

I can't offer much if any advice as you have a lot of issues going on.

I know it will effect your credit record for a while. But I agree with sanfrancisco going bankrupt maybe your only route.

It will help relieve the stress of owing so much money and allow you to concetrate on your health and getting homed.

I am sorry but I can't believe that the council are claiming you are making your self IH when you are being kicked out because they want to sell. And it is there muck up in the first place of you being in arrears.

I don't understand this country when your are really at the end of tether and your back is against the wall they don't want to help. But if you know how to play the game and fill in the forms etc you get everything chucked at you.

What am I paying my taxes for if it is not to helps others on hard times to get them back on their feet. Also so that one day if I ever find myself in their place I have something to fall back on.

All the best. Also I know it is easy for me to say. But at the end of the day it is only money and they can't have what you don't have.

Do contact someone like CCCS or payplan they are god sends for people who are in the brown sticky stuff.

Take care.

Yours


Calley

Jules_getting_straight!

I have friends who were in a similar situation to you. I won't go in to the details too much, but I just wanted you to know that they went to the Citizens Advice Bureaux who gave them help and advice to find a house and reduce their debts. They are now paying back what they can afford each month, and although their debts won't be clear for some time, they feel that they can see light at the end of the tunnel and are certainly much happier now than they have been for quite some time. If you haven't already, I would recommend seeking advice from CAB.

I hope you can sort out your problems. Remember, however bad it seems at the moment - things will get better!

Jules