1 month to find somewhere to live! Scared.

Anonymousse

Hiya,

My partner and I just received a letter from our landlord saying we need to vacate the room we rent in 1 month's time. We both claim JSA and housing benefits (we both hate it and are desperately looking for a job and now looking for a home is added to the stress, so please no judgement) so no doubt this will greatly restrict who we can rent from.

Just need some general advice please or maybe some of you have been in a similar situation? Not sure where to turn and scared we won't find anywhere and will be living on the streets.

Helpppp!

RAS

What sort of tenancy? When did it start and for what period?

BitterAndTwisted

Does your landlord live in the property with you, meaning that you are lodgers rather than tenants?

Anonymousse

RAS wrote: »

What sort of tenancy? When did it start and for what period?

Private tenancy. Started Sep 09. Contract was originally 1 year but we moved to another room in the same house and have been there up till now.

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Does your landlord live in the property with you, meaning that you are lodgers rather than tenants?

Landlord does indeed live with us.

BitterAndTwisted

In which case your landlord could have chosen to give you 48 hours notice. is there a reason why they have asked you to leave? if you can't appeal to your landlord's better nature you're going to have to borrow money or use an overdraft to find a new place.

savingmummy

I would maybe try the local council for advice, if anything if you are in the position where you are not finding a home they may beable to get you a temporary place to stay to keep you off the streets in the short term.

westlondonbuyer

People hardly ever get rid of lodgers they've had for a couple of years. You usually know within the first six weeks or so if you're going to be able to live together.

So what's changed?

Have you fallen out? If so, I'm afraid you'll have to eat humble pie and try and make things up - anything's better than being homeless.

Are you behind with the rent? If so, you need to catch up PDQ - do you own any items you could sell at a yard sale, on gumtree or on ebay? Could you borrow money from friends or family?

The_Palmist

how much rent you been paying and which bit of country are you in ? someone might be able to suggest a place to rent.

tbs624

Welcome as a newbie poster

It's clearly an stressful situation for you both to be in.

As the others have said, you are classed as a lodger rather than a T because you have a residential LL.

Would your current LL give you a reference, or has some form of dispute arisen between you?

Did you pay a deposit for your current room and is there any reason the LL may want to propose deductions from this? If you have no/little savings, and there is likely to be a delay in your deposit repayment, then your local Council may be able to help with a "bond guarantee" so that you don't have to fiind deposit money upfront.

Is your credit rating intact? If it isn't, do you have anyone who would be prepared to act as a guarantor for a new tenancy/lodging?

If there is a local LL association it may be worth your contacting them for info on LLs who self-manage their properties so that you don't get slammed for LAs spurious "admin fees". Your local Council may also have contact info for private sector LLs, especially if they run LL accreditation schemes You could also put up your own "accommodation wanted" ads in shops etc in your area, or in your local newspaper.

Have you considered looking for work that has a live-in option, such as within the hotel industry?

tbs624

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

if you can't appeal to your landlord's better nature you're going to have to borrow money or use an overdraft to find a new place.

Is it likely that a couple on JSA will have an overdraft facility?

jamespir

you need to phone shelter they may be able help