kerrier council are throwing my family on the streets

dktreesea

Running_Horse wrote: »

Should really have done that months ago when giving up a secure home in Surrey.

While I have every sympathy, imagine you are a family in Cornwall having spent years on the waiting list because outsiders have priced out locals from buying anything. Then someone arrives on holiday, decides not to leave, and tries to get priority for precious rare local housing. I would be fuming.

Well, I would much rather live in Cornwall than Surrey. Why should being poor influence that? Are you suggesting that someone who lives in an awful area but has a house shouldn't try to improve their lot and that of their family by moving to a nicer place?

I would have thought you become the local council's responsibility on the homeless front from the day you move to an area and decide to settle there. Cornwall is one of the best places to live in England. If I move to Cornwall, have somewhere to stay initially, but then can't find a suitable place to live and get evicted by the landlord (after all, it's the landlord who evicted this family, not the nan, from what the OP has said) so become homeless, surely it's the local authority's responsibility to help?

Most people who move around move from a place where they had secure housing. Are you seriously suggesting that the new council doesn't have to help you because you once upon a time used to live "somewhere else"?

Running_Horse

Being poor has nothing to do with it. Going on holiday, and deciding to stay, and hoping to get housed ahead of families with local ties who have lived there all their lives has everything to do with it. Why should locals who grew up there be forced to move away to make room for them? I can think of a dozen expensive touristy towns I would love to turn up and live in, but life isn't like that. Councils have no responsibility to house any anybody who happens to turn up and demand it, especially if they have given up secure housing elsewhere. Sounds like the council have done more than they needed, but there is just not enough housing, even private housing. So it makes sense to look elsewhere.

Wee_Willy_Harris

dktreesea wrote: »

Well, I would much rather live in Cornwall than Surrey. Why should being poor influence that? Are you suggesting that someone who lives in an awful area but has a house shouldn't try to improve their lot and that of their family by moving to a nicer place?

I would have thought you become the local council's responsibility on the homeless front from the day you move to an area and decide to settle there. Cornwall is one of the best places to live in England. If I move to Cornwall, have somewhere to stay initially, but then can't find a suitable place to live and get evicted by the landlord (after all, it's the landlord who evicted this family, not the nan, from what the OP has said) so become homeless, surely it's the local authority's responsibility to help?

Most people who move around move from a place where they had secure housing. Are you seriously suggesting that the new council doesn't have to help you because you once upon a time used to live "somewhere else"?

She left suitable secure accommodation, in the form of a tenancy, to move her, her partner and a child into insecure accommodation which was unsuitable to meet the families needs. She knew this would not be a long term solution when she moved there and knew the accommodation wouldn't be suitable for her family so, no, she isn't homeless from Auntys house in Cornwall as it was not her last "settled accommodation".

mrstrw

You need to go to a solicitor ASAP. Preferably a solicitor with a housing department and family department.

Check out the Law Society website although I have no idea if Cornwall is a legal aid blackspot.

Wee_Willy_Harris

mrstrw wrote: »

You need to go to a solicitor ASAP. Preferably a solicitor with a housing department and family department.

Check out the Law Society website although I have no idea if Cornwall is a legal aid blackspot.

I think the options she needs to look at ASAP have already been mentioned. Unless the solicitor also rents out houses, of course.

Mum_of_3_3

PasturesNew wrote: »

Right now, your best bet would be to buy a big tent. It's peak season... look for somewhere in September.

There is no housing in Cornwall, the lists are huge, the prices high... and it's the peak season.

Many people live in tents/sheds/garages as there's a shortage of somewhere to rent because landlords can get more money if they rent them as holiday lets at 4x the amount. But you should be able to get a winter let come September at least.

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

Why stay in Cornwall - you only went there for a holiday for goodness sake.......

There are no houses available in the area - so move. You don't want to change schools - well, you were happy to do that when moving into Cornwall - didn't you consider accommodation then?

Do either of you work? Having an income will increase your options

Running_Horse wrote: »

........While I have every sympathy, imagine you are a family in Cornwall having spent years on the waiting list because outsiders have priced out locals from buying anything. Then someone arrives on holiday, decides not to leave, and tries to get priority for precious rare local housing. I would be fuming.

Unfortunately OP, I totally agree with all the all of the above posters.

I grew up in Cornwall and all of my family and lots of friends still live there. I know lots of people who are born and bred in Cornwall and would love (and deserve) council housing, but because they are so few and far between they stand hardly any chance of getting them.

Most people in Cornwall rent privately and use LHA to pay for it completely or as a top-up.

When I was expecting my first child my dh and I had discussions about moving back to Cornwall, but we decided against it because rental properties are mostly seasonal and the 'property price to wages' ratio is very high. Also a lot of work is seasonal or poorly paid.

Cornwall is a wonderful place to bring up children, however without some disposable income it's not a fun place to be. For the reasons above and also because we think our children will have a better future here in Somerset we decided against it.

At the moment you and your family have no ties anywhere, so why don't you start looking for jobs all over the country and move where the work and housing takes you?

I have a friend who has come out of a violent relationship and it was hard work for her and her children to start over, but she did and I'm sure you will too. However, like her you will have to take charge of your life and start sorting things out for yourself and your little ones.

Good luck to you and your family in the future.

M_o_3

PasturesNew

Cornwall has a SERIOUS housing shortage, with lots of overpriced houses snapped up by investors/Londoners and rich people, solely for holiday letting or their own 2nd home. There are very very few jobs.

Housing waiting lists are massive.

Hundreds of people/families turn up every year expecting to be housed .... they find out soon enough it's simply not possible.

The OP has also picked an area where it's very rural, very remote, virtually zero chance of getting a job ... it's just not sensible. It looks nice, but you can't live somewhere just because it looks nice. You need to live at some point and it becomes a trap as the costs/distance to do anything are too great.

Running_Horse

Incidentally, this is exactly what we did when I was a kid. Turned up in a northern town, booked into a B&B, and got a council house after a period in another B&B owned by the chairwoman of the council's housing committee. But it was on the roughest road of the roughest estate, and was a real dead end decision, and we had moved back into private renting in a nicer part of the country a couple of years later. I know what it is to grow up in chaotic circumstances, and hope the OP makes the right decisions to give her children some stability. She needs to decide what she wants long term, and make the right decisions to make it happen.

PasturesNew

I'm surprised the OP can't find anything to rent in the area. Doing a rightmove search, centred on Camborne + 10 miles, cheapest 3 bed is £525. Assuming the OP qualifies for a 3-bed place, LHA in the area is £667/month and in that area, on Rightmove, there are 7 under that amount within a 10 mile radius of Camborne (which is in the middle of Kerrier). One even has sea views.

Here's one with half price application fees and benefits accepted with a guarantor. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-26596123.html

Redruth has a good town centre these days - and a railway station on the main line, giving access to up country easier.

arby

have you found or looked for work in the area? it would help any long-term plan.