there may be trouble brewing for us

BitterAndTwisted

Gallstones wrote: »

Also, regarding the car, my husband is a mobile PC repair technician and no car = no income so we were stuffed either way. We also have a disabled child and I have a disability which means our car is crucial to us.

Who are your husband's clients? If he's a contractor he should not be getting payment-cheques bounced. If he's dealing with members of the public he should be receiving/insisting on being paid in cash on the nail.

Cash-flow and non-payment is the biggest burden/handicap to the self-employed. People who can pay and will pay do not take exception to being asked to pay in cash once a job is competed. Only those who intend to default do.

Gallstones

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

No, you don't HAVE to have a four bedroomed house if you have four kids!

It sounds like you may be living well beyond your means in the current economic climate. I suggest you have a really hard think about just how large a property you actually need for your family and one which you could afford more easily. Few could stay sane living quite so close to the edge of disaster as you are.

I second the suggestion of visiting the Debt-Free Wannabe part of this forum and filling in your SOA and see of other members can help you reduce your monthly budget to something more affordable but if your rent is high and your self-employed husband's income becomes more unreliable, there could be only one answer

Our rent is 550 a month for the house which is pretty cheap I think - I have 4 kids, 15, 10 (girls) and a boy 8, and another girl at 15 months old.

The two older girls spend a lot of time in their room, their room is TINY - basically a single with bunks and they have to step aside even to get a wardrobe door open. The boys room is a single and the babys room is a single. I can't put the boy in with the older girls (age, puberty etc) and I can't put him in with the baby because of his disability and eventually also the age gap - a baby could easily get choked or hurt with some of his smaller toys. Added to that me and the hubby need somewhere to sleep, we have a front room and he uses the back room for his work and to store stuff. I know a four bed house sounds posh and expensive but this is a terraced house on band A council tax near a main road.

thanks for the advice about the SOA but to be honest I'd be to ashamed to put our affairs on there. We could do with a bit of help cutting our shopping bill down though so I might checked out the moneysaving old style forum.

m0bov

Why not get one of those wireless credit card readers to take card payments? I would never take a cheque unless it was backed with a cheque card and under £50, or take cash like others say.

jjlandlord

Gallstones wrote: »

Our rent is 550 a month for the house which is pretty cheap I think - I have 4 kids, 15, 10 (girls) and a boy 8, and another girl at 15 months old.

The two older girls spend a lot of time in their room, their room is TINY - basically a single with bunks and they have to step aside even to get a wardrobe door open. The boys room is a single and the babys room is a single. I can't put the boy in with the older girls (age, puberty etc) and I can't put him in with the baby because of his disability and eventually also the age gap - a baby could easily get choked or hurt with some of his smaller toys.

Which begs the question of why having 4 children, then?

OT, and perhaps judgemental, but key imho.

DVardysShadow

jjlandlord wrote: »

Which begs the question of why having 4 children, then?

OT, and perhaps judgemental, but key imho.

Not many options to reduce the number and keep the Original Poster engaged in the discussion ....

boo2410

Please don't be ashamed to post up a SOA, there are millions of people in your positon all over the country, they are not judgemental and may be able to help you.

motherofstudents

boo beat me to it, I was going to say don't be ashamed of your present situation. It is what it is, the main thing is that you try to get yourselves a bit more organised. I agree £550 isn't a huge rent for a 4 bed house. Check out as advised above and you may find you can save money somewhere so that you can improve your finances.

WhiteHorse

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

No, you don't HAVE to have a four bedroomed house if you have four kids!

It sounds like you may be living well beyond your means in the current economic climate. I suggest you have a really hard think about just how large a property you actually need for your family and one which you could afford more easily.

More to the point ... can the taxpayer afford their lifestyle?

Kynthia

If you are going to be on your own with the children when the LA visits tomorrow and you don't feel comfortable, particularly when he's so agressively chasing the rent, ring in the morning and cancel. Don't let him pressure you into the supposed inspection without proper notice. However show you are taking this seriously by proposing an alternative date for the inspection and suggesting that one of you come into the office to discuss the late rent and plans to deal with this. Then I would suggest you write a letter saying the same as it shows you're serious and can be used as evidence of your reasonableness in the future.

At the moment, if you look at it from the LL/LA side, you've not paid your rent and you keep giving dates that you will and then still don't pay. LA has kept trying to reach you by phone but you're not answering, he's visited the property but again you don't answer the door even though you're there and he's asked for a short notice inspection which you agreed to. I'm not saying the LA is perfect, he sounds rude, but things can look different from the other person's perspective.

As far as I know the LA can come to your front door without notice and speak to you if you answer. They just can't try to come in. It was wrong of him to pressure you into a viewing without proper notice but you can say no.

I hope you manage to catch up with your rent okay.

tbs624

m0bov wrote: »

Why not get one of those wireless credit card readers to take card payments?

The OP would need to specifically apply via a bank's merchant services section to be able to do this and there is of course a cost implication. Unlikely to be agreed in the current circumstances.

As you later say, cash is best