Soon to be homeless

BigAunty

dseventy wrote: »

I also checked your post history and you seem to have had a lot of advice about housing, LHA and being homeless. Hopefully the situation you find yourself in is not that much of a surprise?

I think what the OP wants is someone on this board to tell him he is a high priority homeless candidate who will be immediately catapulted into social housing in the borough.

Given the borough, Westminster, has a notorious shortage of social housing and high demand, no-one can make this promise to him but just tell him the council's general statutory obligations.

Hopefully now we have once again reiterated the huge demand on their services versus the small housing stock, with thousands in temporary accommodation and hundreds of existing homeless candidates for Westminster Council to process, he might temper his expectations a little or perhaps direct his enquiries to the homeless department or Shelter for expert advice as he's constantly been advised.

He might get a council flat there straight away but then again, he might have to spend a considerable amount of time in temporary accommodation elsewhere. No-one can tell him where or how long this will be, just advise him what the council is obliged to do.

If time is of the essence and location is more flexible than one of the smallest and most costliest boroughs in the country, and he is flexible about private accommodation, then Westminster council will help find him another private tenancy either in the borough or elsewhere.

dancingfairy

Has your landlord actually served you with a S21 yet? Sometimes they are served at the start of the tenancy so do check. It is basically a notice saying they want the property back (a no fault notice). Even if they did serve it at the begining of the tenancy it may not be valid.
I can't see why you can't just go on to a rolling contract to be honest. Refuse/stall in signing the new contract and your contract will just continue as it is but on a periodic basis (assuming that the S21 hasn't been served yet). The landlord can't just put the rent up they have to do it in a specific manner with the correct paperwork. In the meantime you carry on paying rent at the current level. This then forces the landlord to either go for eviction or to accept a regular paying tenant and puts the ball back in their court.
Have you spoken to the landlord about your situation? Can you compromise at all - perhaps a small rent increase (but one that you could afford?). Do make sure it is actually the landlord you have spoken to and not an agent because agents try and persuade the landlord they can get extra rent whereas a landlord might prefer to have a longstanding tenant and not charge top dollar.
IS the rent comparable for the area you are in?
Have you reapplied for housing benefit/getting assistance with this?
It seems to be that your best bet is to try and negotiate to stay where you are.
Best of Luck
df

BigAunty

The OP lives in Westminster where the new LHA caps introduced in April 2011 means that the local council will pay up to £250 per week for a 1 bedroom property.

I don't know what the original LHA rate would have been - £300 or £400 per week, perhaps. The Shelter website indicates that the average loss per tenant per 1 bedroom place each week is £73 from the LHA changes.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/campaigns/why_we_campaign/local_housing_allowance#lhatable

As it's the most expensive area in the UK, realistically what is happening is that private landlords are shunning housing benefit claimants.

So the OP is one of many who have been caught up in austerity measures and must move.

Just assuming that the OPs landlord gets the full £250 per week and has raised the rent by 15%, then the tenant faces a shortfall of £37.50 to find out of their ESA, an enormous sum, though currently met by discretionary housing benefit.

I don't think the OP has any realistic option of negotiating with his landlord who presumably can easily find working tenants to pay £300 or £400 rent each week, far higher than the LHA limit.

zudecke

dancingfairy wrote: »

Has your landlord actually served you with a S21 yet? Sometimes they are served at the start of the tenancy so do check. It is basically a notice saying they want the property back (a no fault notice). Even if they did serve it at the begining of the tenancy it may not be valid.
I can't see why you can't just go on to a rolling contract to be honest. Refuse/stall in signing the new contract and your contract will just continue as it is but on a periodic basis (assuming that the S21 hasn't been served yet). The landlord can't just put the rent up they have to do it in a specific manner with the correct paperwork. In the meantime you carry on paying rent at the current level. This then forces the landlord to either go for eviction or to accept a regular paying tenant and puts the ball back in their court.
Have you spoken to the landlord about your situation? Can you compromise at all - perhaps a small rent increase (but one that you could afford?). Do make sure it is actually the landlord you have spoken to and not an agent because agents try and persuade the landlord they can get extra rent whereas a landlord might prefer to have a longstanding tenant and not charge top dollar.
IS the rent comparable for the area you are in?
Have you reapplied for housing benefit/getting assistance with this?
It seems to be that your best bet is to try and negotiate to stay where you are.
Best of Luck
df

Hi,

I have not been served nor have I ever had a S21.
My landlord loves me, but is convinced he can get more money for the flat (which is probably true!)..

I was paying £350p/w, for which was covered by LHA. Since the cap reducing it to £250p/w and coupled with the fact he's raising his rent to £390p/w has completely priced me out.

And as I mentioned before, yes I applied and was awarded with discretionary housing payment to see me through my tenancy. They said that they would have ONLY considered continuing the discretionary housing payment if the landlord agreed to bring the rent down, which is not the case. But yes, the rent he is proposing to charge is comparable with other properties in the area.

Thanks for your reply nonetheless!

Mike

zudecke

The council have identified my situation as me being made involuntarily homeless.

The question now is, will they find and offer me a council property?

As mentioned before, up until 2 years ago, I have worked full time since the age of 18 and NEVER claimed benefits before.

I've lived in Westminster for 30+ years and have multiple friends and family in the area who look after me, not to mention physios, oesteopaths, doctors and the like etc.

kj*daisy

Unlikely tbh. You will be temporarily housed in emergency accommodation, Westminster council and the like have been looking at shipping people up north for temporary accommodation when the proposed changes to housing law come into force, they can't do this yet - but it indicates they really are not interested in finding people long term housing in their borough. You will be in temporary accommodation which is likely to be hostel or b and b until you get permanently housed, which could take years in Westminster even with priority as homeless. There are also changes to the law planned that means they will be able to discharge their duty by finding you private accommodation for 12 months rather than have to find you a council place. You may find moving somewhere cheaper would be the best way of finding settled accommodation that is decent.

Edited to add: the abov only applies if they find you are in priority need as well as unintentionally homeless. If u r found not in priority need they won't even temporarily house you.

BigAunty

zudecke wrote: »

The council have identified my situation as me being made involuntarily homeless.

The question now is, will they find and offer me a council property?

...

What is 'involuntarily homeless' - that's a status I've not really heard about. Have they told you they have accepted your homelessness application and have they told you that you a priority for social housing? Have they already told you that you may go into temporary accommodation and that it may be outside the borough (the leaftlet suggests this is a possibility for some tenants).

Why ask us - ask them!!

As per the Shelter and advisory leaflets from Westminster council, if they deem that you are in priority need (not just unintentionally homeless), then they have a statutory obligation to house you along with hundreds or possibly thousands of others in the borough, hence the reason why many are in temporary accommodation outside the borough and recommendation to consider another private tenancy.

No-one here can tell you whether your bad back will be considered a physical vulnerability that puts you in the priority bracket - I imagine they review each application on a case by case basis. So have they told you that your illness or ESA status means you are defined as in priority need?

Also, no-one here can tell you if they will insist that you stay put until your landlord has issued you with an S21 and perhaps taken you to court to regain possession of the property. This gatekeeping practice, trying to cut down on demand by insisting that tenants ignore the notice from a landlord, is viewed dimly by local authority ombudsmen and housing charities.

Although, if they have already classed you as homeless, perhaps they are being a lot more proactive these days and less punishing to tenant and landlord in cases where there is no realistic prospect of the tenancy continuing and where the court will definately find in favour of the landlord in a possession case.

You are already probably aware that if you cherish the security of a rare social housing property in Westminster, you will have to play the long game and insist on your rights, if you have a right to social housing, making do with temporary accommodation perhaps elsewhere before one is allocated. Surely you must know by now that there are hundreds of homeless and thousands in temporary accommodation that the council is obliged to help who have made their homeless applications a long time before you.

Therefore your chances of immediately securing social housing in the borough is tempered by the fact there are many people with an equal potential priority status to social housing, some of whom have presumably been in temporary accommodation for months, if not years.

spendaholic66

Once you are in B&B you do become more of a priority but not top priority particularly as you live alone and it seems have no responsibilities to speak of. When a property becomes available that the council deem suitable for you, you will have to accept it, and it may not be in your borough. If you do not accept it you will lose priority and the council no longer have any obligation to house you, as if you were that desperate you would take what was offered, and I guess practically they don't have time for fussy customers. You should also note that if you don't take what is offered, at their discretion they could also remove you from B&B.


NB. All of this happened to a friend of mine 2 years ago and this information was correct then, but it may well have changed, I doubt it though.

spendaholic66

PS your rent a week is more than mine a month! I had to move from the town I grew up in and lived for 24 years to be able to afford to pay rent, so I can't see why the council would treat anyone differently.