Help with relocating

lucie19

Hi having tried all the universities in the South West to do my PGCE I have now applied to a London University.
If I get in I will need to move myself and two children into the London area. I think I can get housing benefit due to being a lone parent. Does anyone know of any help I can get to relocate? We are currently on our local councils homeless list due to being dropped in it from a great height by my ex. Would the council be able to speak to another council to house us?
Please anything you could think of would be great. I need to do this course in order to get out of this horrible situation and support my children.

Jowo_2

Shelter may be able to give you free expert advice on whether your homeless application can transfer to a new area, whether or not you need to qualify for a local connection to be eligible. They have general information about how homelessness applications are considered and the local council's obligation to house certain groups of people.

what kind of accommodation do you have at the moment and what kind of tenancy do you have?

does the university in London have an accommodation office or welfare officer that can give advice to students? do they offer any family housing?

If you qualify for LHA, you can seek private accommodation in London within the broad rental market rate and eligibility that you fall within. Many tenants struggle to find accommodation because not all landlords will accept students or LHA claimants - can you offer a guarantor? do you have enough savings for a deposit.

lucie19

My brother lives in the borough of Richmond upon Thames would that be a local connection?
I am living in a privately rented house which we could afford before my DH left but now the rent is too much for me since the LHA does not cover all of it. I have no savings and no way to save them. I am working part time due to childcare issues so all my income and more is swallowed.
It is for this reason and others that we are on a homeless list i.e. we are potentially homeless although I will never allow that to happen I would rather go hungry.
I will try the uni and give shelter a call so thanks for that but if you have any other thoughts they would be welcome

Jowo_2

Give Richmond upon Thames council a call about the local connection thing, or ask your local council how it works. I came across a reference that this is definition is covered within the following legislation - S199 of the Housing Act 1996.


My understanding of the homelessness process and how local councils deal with applications is that they regard anyone who has left their previous property when they did not have to do so (i.e. before being evicted by the courts) or were responsible for their own eviction (such as rent arrears caused when they could have but did not pay rent) as making themselves intentionally homeless.

Also, that the standard definition of homelessness that compels the local council to intervene is when a person has no security of tenure beyond the next 28 days.

At the moment, its clear that you will potentially become homeless should your landlord serve notice on you, and the local council does have an obligation to assist those with children who are facing homelessness, but many council's won't help until the homelessness is imminent rather than just potential.

Has your ex stopped financially supporting the family?