renting advise needed

youngfreeandsingle

Hi, my partner of 11 years left me 3 months ago, he owns the house we lived in but said i can stay in the house and pay him rent. I work part time as i have a 12 year old son. I put in a claim for housing benefit but i was denied it because of the previous relationship i have had with my "landlord". I have signed a 6 month rental agreement with a letting agency. I have paid 2 months rent so far and third month is due soon. I have no intention of giving the rat 1 more penny of my money after what he he has done to me. What will be the procedure if I don't pay anymore rent , how long will it take for him to have me removed from the house, will it be expensive for him to do this and how will it affect me when it comes to renting in the future. Thanks for any advice you can give me.

clutton_2

if the son is his, then you seriously need to go see a solicitor to find out about any statutory rights you may have to stay in the house anyway...

you need to be thinking what is good for you child, not seeking revenge on your ex.. getting evicted just to make his life difficult will be cutting off your nose to spite your face.

if you get 2 months in arrears with your rent he can take you to court very quickly and have you evicted, this will mean you will have a CCJ (County courty judgement) which will make it exceptionally hard for you to get decent private accomodation in the future.

Paul_the_Painter

If you were ever married to him, your son would be treated as a "Child of the Family" and your ex-partner would have responsibilities with regard to maintenance etc.

If your son is his - even if you were never married - he will have to pay something.

You MAY have a claim on part of the house if you have paid towards it over the years.

This MAY include arrangements such as he paid the mortgage - you paid the bills.

I am no expert - but you will need to answer some questions - possibly to CAB/lawyer



1. Were you ever married to him
2. Who is the father of your son
3. Has the father ever paid child support
4. What bills were in your name
5. What other costs of the house did you pay

If he is not the father, you were never married, and he paid all the bills, and they were all in his name you are onto a bit of a sticky wicket.

But that doesn't mean you can't get Housing Benefit, do you have proof you have been paying him the rent? Have you paid a deposit? Is the rent a market rent for the house (i.e. roughly the same as similar properties)? Would he kick you out if you didn't pay rent?

What they are trying to stop is a "contrived tenancy" this is where a tenecy has been created with the sole purpose of getting housing benefit.

An example would be that daughter comes back from university after her finals and moves back in with Mum. Mum has no intention of ever throwing her out, but they write up a tenancy agreement so that they can get £60/week off the council. That is not going to happen!

The council is looking at your situation from the outside and seeing a mum and kid (they don't know who the dad is) living in ex-partners house - Does he have any intention of making his son homeless?

If they think the answer is that the arrangement is contrived - they will initially refuse, but you are able to appeal. Get proper advice first though. Keep calm.

If he decides to evict you for non-payment of rent it will be months before you are evicted.

You must first be 2 months in arrears, then he has to go to court, you can go too. Judges don't like evicting kids, he/she will probably give you time to sort out arrears. If you still pay nothing he has to go back to court, get a posession order, which you could ignore, then he wil have to the court baliffs round to evict you (that's all they can do, they can't grab your stuff, just take it out the house).

From not paying your first lot of rent, to actual eviction, 3 months would be stupidly fast. Most landlords would bank on 3 months to evict a difficult tenant from when they were 2 months behind.

Also bear in mind he is an amateur landlord (although using an agent - are they managing the property as well? or did they just supplt the agreement?) so he may well get the form of the notice incorrect (don't tell him if he has!) and you get to court and the magistrate throws it out anyway!


Get good advice - try and persuade the council to pay HB


I should also ask what happened between when you signed the agreement and now? you should not sign a rental agreement with the knowledge that you can't afford it.

Also don't get evicted just to annoy him - it is not worth it.

Can you actually afford the rent?

Did you take on the tenancy hoping that HB would pay? That is not generally a good idea.

Try not to let emotions get in the way of what should now be a business relationship.

Fang_3

youngfreeandsingle wrote: »

Hi, my partner of 11 years left me 3 months ago, he owns the house we lived in but said i can stay in the house and pay him rent. I work part time as i have a 12 year old son. I put in a claim for housing benefit but i was denied it because of the previous relationship i have had with my "landlord". I have signed a 6 month rental agreement with a letting agency. I have paid 2 months rent so far and third month is due soon. I have no intention of giving the rat 1 more penny of my money after what he he has done to me. What will be the procedure if I don't pay anymore rent , how long will it take for him to have me removed from the house, will it be expensive for him to do this and how will it affect me when it comes to renting in the future. Thanks for any advice you can give me.

Is your son his?

youngfreeandsingle

Fang wrote: »

Is your son his?

No he is not my sons real father but has been there since he was a baby, so i have no rights to the house even though i have contributed financially for 12 years, lm such a fool.