Homeless

redzhell

Early last week, my partner & I have had to move out of our home due to his brother's racist comments. We think he may be bipolar although he doesn't want to consult the doctors so we have been putting up with his temperamental moods over the
past year. He has only started to make things difficult for me emotionally around 3 months ago when he says upsetting things indirectly but I just tried to ignore them. He has not spoken to me for a few months even though we lived in the same house and quite often slams things when he sees me i.e. slamming plates on the table whilst I'm doing the washing. Things finally got out of hand when he said some really nasty things which has completely devastated me and cried the whole night and decided we had to move.

We are now temporarily staying with my partner's other brother who is a student along with his girlfiend who is also a student. We have spoken to them about the possibility of moving in at some point but not this early as they will have guests over the coming weeks who will use the bedroom we are currently occupying so we will be left with nowhere to stay at probably next week or so.

I have applied for JSA yesterday as I am not working and we only have £3,000 between us to live on for the meantime. My partner is also a student so he can't receive benefits.

Is there anyhting I could do or apply for to help us? When we do eventually move in with my partner's brother and his girlfriend, the discussion was that they would pay for the rent and we would pay for the bills and food but I don't know how much our savings would stretch. I am also doing a course to start a new career in accountancy so I would have to dip in to the savings for travelling expenses when I need to sit an exam as I am currently on a distance learning programme.

My apologies for not making sense, I just wanted to put into words what the current situation is as I am really scared of not having a roof over my head. My partner and I were professionals with good careers last year and now it seems like everything's been taken away from us .

Oldernotwiser

You need to be aware that, when you move in with the brother and his girlfriend that you, as the only non student, will be responsible for all the council tax, although you'll get the 25% discount.

If you are planning on claiming means tested benefits, your partner's student finance will be taken into account. Sorry.

[Deleted User]

i know its not easy atm but could either or you get part-time work?

Lexxi

Could you speak with someone like shelter or the local housing authority to see if you are able to secure your own accomadation? Or could you use any of the £3000 for a deposit on private accomadation?
The split on the bills doesn't seem fair, also are they going to dictate what food you buy? What if you buy Oldstyle to stretch the money and they want brand names and ready meals?

Kimitatsu

You would be more secure having your names on the tenancy agreement, that would mean that although you are liable for the rent, you would be eligible for housing benefit and council tax benefit whilst on JSA. It would also mean that you could not be evicted if you had a falling out for any reason.

If you have £3000 in savings then I would strongly suggest that you used that to put a roof over your heads, either as a deposit or to pay rent on the house that you are currently in - qualifications are useful but if you are doing a distance learning course then you should be able to take a little longer over it if you need to.

If your partner is a student then the college should have a hardship fund to help him with the costs of books etc and a counsellor and accomodation officer to help with issues such as this, I would recommend that you get him to access this service too.

bestpud

I agree you need to get a place of your own.

Tbh, you don't seem to have thought this through!

Apart from you being hit with a large council tax bill:

If they need the room for guests now, what will happen when you live there and they want people to stay?

What happens if the other brother starts making waves? That leaves the second brother in a potentially awkward situation.

I can't see how the split of bills will work either. It sounds like they want it that way to ensure the tenancy remains fully theirs but do they have permission to sub-let anyway?

You have savings so get yourselves a place of your own or get a double room in a house share but you will be better off making sure it isn't all students living there.

Is your partner getting the full student support package? If not, he should next year.

If you can't work and study yourself, maybe you need to put your studies on hold for now and get a full time job. You can pick it up again when your OH finishes...?

Your OH could do with looking for a part-time job too imo.

Jowo_2

What kind of accommodation/tenancy type did you have at your last property - was it a place owned by your brother (i.e. you were his lodgers)? Or were you tied in to a tenancy agreement with a separate landlord and you gave them the correct notice to quit?

The Shelter website has a good section on dealing with homelessness.

redzhell

Thank you all for the advice. Hope I answer all your questions here:

I have been looking for full or part-time work since last year but we lived in the middle of nowhere so jobs were hard to come by specially when I do not drive. The nearest town was Norwich and I was looking for jobs that would've taken upto 5 hours travelling each day to broaden my horizon so this course I'm doing is not a hindrance in terms of looking for employment.

My partner is doing a course before he starts his PGCE with the Open University which he is doing equivalent to full-time. Been trying to load up the OU website this morning to have a look at any hardship funds they may offer but no luck so I'll try again later.

The landlady of the other brother came round yesterday to sort some things out in the house and has stated that she is happy for us to stay here as long as the rent gets paid.

For the bills and food, it would work out that we would pay around £300 less than they would for paying the rent although we are aware that some of them would go up based on 4 people usage.

The other accomodation we left was actually my partner's parents' home. They said they would phone us when they have spoken to their son but I cannot see us moving back in there as the place is completely isolated and getting a job is my main priority.

bestpud, thank you for all those scenarious you've thought about. You are right, we hadn't thought this through as we literally had 12 hours to pack our stuff to get away from the problematic brother but we will be looking at all those suggestions people have kindly given.

Kimitatsu

The OU definitely have a hardship fund to help with books. If you contact the student office they will be able to help point you in the right direction.

Can I also suggest that you speak to the Job Centre about help with transport if that is one of your main issues? Either that or could you move closer to a main population centre where it would be easier to find work? You have a small financial cushion and I think you need to look at all of your options and see which one will be best for you, even if that means moving away temporarily.