Landlord selling rental property but have no money to move!!

ladyrider260

Hi.
I am a single mother on I.S to one child. The rental property I am in (which was supposed to be a long term let!) has now been put on the market after living here for just a year. I've just left an abusive relationship and have had no time to get myself back on my feet, so there's no way i can afford a deposit. We used the rent deposit scheme to get this place but the money has to go back to the council, so I'm stuffed.

There is only 1 rental property available in the town where I live and I have first refusal....here's the issues I face:

1, If I move to a different town, most of my support (such as my health visitor, doctor etc) will disappear due to moving out of the town.
2, The estate agents I rent this property from were really understanding when we moved here as a family and helped us as much as possible. The new estate agents are very professional and have people knocking at their door for this property, so they won't take any messing around.
3, I haven't been given notice to give me more time to find a property, I could ask for it but am worried that, like the last time, sorting out the deposits will take an age if I can get the RDS again.

I need about £1,350 all together. I don't want to lose this chance as I may have to move away from my support and my family which is NOT a great idea right now.

Has anybody got any suggestions please?

Jowo_2

Shelter and Women's Aid should be able to offer good advice to you about your potential future homelessness - their websites have good info on this process, plus how a local council should handle a homelessness application.

Your local council housing department should also be able to tell you the process should you not be able to find onward accommodation or if they have a list of local LHA friendly landlords.

Often, they tell the tenant to ignore the notice which forces the landlord to take the tenant to court to regain possession of the property. This process is known as gatekeeping. Simply put, they can't offer accommodation to every low income tenant that is served notice by the landlord so tend to step in when the tenant is much closer to homelessness.

Can you transfer the current deposit to the new rental property under the council deposit guarantee scheme? Won't you be able to access health visitor/GP services at the next location?

When does the fixed term of your AST end or do you have a periodic tenancy? Have you been served as S21 (sometimes served at the outset of the tenancy?

hannahO_2

ladyrider260
I'm sorry that you are in a difficult situation but panic not! This could be a gift in disguise.

Basically, you are technically been made 'homeless' since your private landlord is selling out. Therefore, since you are a single mother too, you will be on a priority list if you apply for a council housing.

I suggest you to make an appointment with Citizens of Advice Beareau (CAB) asap and discuss what you need to do according to the procedure in your local area. Also talk with your local council to find out more information on how to apply for a council housing in your situation. Chances are that your landlord has to serve you a notice and also give you a simple court eviction order so you still have time before you have to move out.

All the best

ladyrider260

Jowo wrote: »

Often, they tell the tenant to ignore the notice which forces the landlord to take the tenant to court to regain possession of the property. This process is known as gatekeeping. Simply put, they can't offer accommodation to every low income tenant that is served notice by the landlord so tend to step in when the tenant is much closer to homelessness. I don't want to risk bad references by ignoring the notice, but I see what you're saying.

Can you transfer the current deposit to the new rental property under the council deposit guarantee scheme? No, asked that. It has to be a whole new 'claim' if the landlord/agent is different.
Won't you be able to access health visitor/GP services at the next location? I can but these will be complete strangers who do not know me or my past/current situation. The people who are supporting me now have done for some years now.

When does the fixed term of your AST end or do you have a periodic tenancy? AST. It was for 6 months and is now a rolling contract.
Have you been served as S21 (sometimes served at the outset of the tenancy? No idea what that is but I haven't been served notice as of yet. They wanted to 'give me time' to find a new property but I have been told numerous amounts of times that it's the landlord wanting rent up until they find a buyer and then they'll hoik me out!


I have spoken to a nice lady at the housing advice centre who has asked me to bring various documents in so they can look at my case, so that looks hopeful

Jowo_2

As you have a periodic tenancy, and if it is a monthly rental cycle, the landlord must serve you two months notice and its expiry must coincide with the rental period. The Shelter website has a section on how a periodic tenancy can be ended.

This means that if the landlord does get a buyer, you should get two months notice, perhaps closer to three depending on how closely it is given to your rental period.

Jowo_2

hannahO wrote: »

This could be a gift in disguise.

Basically, you are technically been made 'homeless' since your private landlord is selling out. Therefore, since you are a single mother too, you will be on a priority list if you apply for a council housing.

It can be a gift but can also be a nightmare, too, depending on the shortage of council properties in the area.

as per the gatekeeping process I mentioned before, many councils will defer helping a tenant until the landlord has gone through the courts to evict them which angers many landlords and is bound to frustrate one who finds out that it is likely to jeopardise the sale of their property once the buyer establishes they can't get vacant possession for many months. The council should not instruct tenants to stay put but regularly do this - clearly they can't house everyone served with notice to quit.

and while councils do have a statutory obligation to assist the homeless and must prioritise those with children, i'm not sure there's an obligation for them to give them social housing but as I don't work in this field, I'm open to challenge on that one.

hannahO_2

Jowo wrote: »

It can be a gift but can also be a nightmare, too, depending on the shortage of council properties in the area.

as per the gatekeeping process I mentioned before, many councils will defer helping a tenant until the landlord has gone through the courts to evict them which angers many landlords and is bound to frustrate one who finds out that it is likely to jeopardise the sale of their property once the buyer establishes they can't get vacant possession for many months. The council should not instruct tenants to stay put but regularly do this - clearly they can't house everyone served with notice to quit.

and while councils do have a statutory obligation to assist the homeless and must prioritise those with children, i'm not sure there's an obligation for them to give them social housing but as I don't work in this field, I'm open to challenge on that one.

Jowo
I agree with you that it IS a nightmare for the time being but this lady is a single mother and she's got to weight out the hassle of possibly going through these kind of situation every 6 months (this is possible with private landlord) or face the disruption now and put up with it for the sake of gaining assured (life-time) tenancy agreement plus considerable rent difference in years to come. I have often been in a situation of 'beggers can't be a chooser' and as we don't know her financial ins and out, she'll only know what she can afford to risk.

The council is obliged to provide this lady with housing since she will be homeless with a child (priority). She may be housed in a temporary accommodation or B&B depending on what is available on the day she becomes homeless. They will then house her in a permanent accommodation once anything suitable comes up which could be some months away.

ladyrider260

My financial situation is zero. My ex partner wouldn't allow me to work (and before the snide comments come, unless you've been in this sort of relationship you do not know what it's like, so don't even go there!) and as the split is fresh, I haven't had a chance to get myself back on my feet financially. The house I live in already takes £100 a month of my money as that's the difference between the LHA and my rent, the other house is £50 extra, thus taking up over 2 weeks worth of income support before my bills are even touched.

Social housing is council housing, which is what they would put me into should there be anything, but the criteria for being top priority is beyond ridiculous and currently someone who got a job in this area and had to travel 30 miles or more to work every day would get a higher priority than me!

This isn't about getting council housing, I just want to be able to get a bit of help to move without it being messed up by a slow system. I certainly don't want an eviction order against me as this would ruin my chances of ever renting privately again.

Jowo_2

Womens Aid or Shelter remain your best bet to help you understand your options, particularly as you are a victim of domestic abuse.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/families_and_relationships/domestic_violence

http://www.womensaid.org.uk/

Many people and particularly the experts that you speak to on this topic do actually understand that the abuse doesn't have to take the form of physical violence.

Often the partner controls the woman by non physical means, particularly through financial means which is designed to make them dependent and disadvantage them economically.

Sadly, it is not uncommon on these forums to find women who have been gravely disadvantaged by the behaviour of their partners. For example, a few weeks ago, a woman posted here that she was facing huge arrears and potential eviction from her private rental, despite the fact that her ex partner got a 40k payoff as a redundancy payment and she'd paid off his debts in the past, he cut off child maintenance. He'd also falsely informed the benefits office and tax office that she'd committed fraud.

paulofessex

I would suggest that you have a good search on Shelters website for information relating to support from your local social services. If all other avenues of housing support have been exhausted and if a person has a child they can request an assessment of need under the Children Act and in some cases finacial support can be available for rent deposit etc under Section 17 of the Childrens Act. Of course each social service department have a duty to protect public funds and will often try to fobb people off by denying that this type of support is available, some heartless social workers will attempt to scare people by saying things like we only have a duty towards the child, so foster care is the only help. Of course that is an empty threat as they know foster care costs more and no family court would let this happen.

I would expect any homelessness department to referrer a person with child/ren to social services should a homelessness application deem no support avaiable under the Housing Act.

Shelter - Support for families with children

gabby71

yes, definately try Shelter - or Google 'rent deposit help'.

I spoke to a few different places a few months ago when I was looking for help with a bond and months rent in advance, but because I was working I did not qualify for a loan from them - personal circumstances mean that I cannot get a loan of any kind - luckily my family helped me in the end
There is also a scheme where certain landlords and letting agents enter into an agreement with the local council who will give them a guarantee of some type instead of any actual money changing hands, however, you can only rent a property through the landlord/letting agent is part of the scheme.
I'm sure if you trawl through some of the sites on the internet you will see what I mean.
Good luck. x

Gab