Homelessness & Croydon Council

BarbaraJ5

Hi Terry, I am trying harder than i can think. No i have had to pay for three separate companies, supplying me fuel(dual) for 3 months. I had been signed up to EDF, NPower and Southern Electric all at the same time. I dont know how that happened because all i did was do a price comparison quote online for fixed fuel for 3 years, because i have a baby and wanted some type of consistency with the bills. I was horrified when i received letters from both EDF and Npower because i was with Southern Electric at the time, demanding that i pay 300+ for supplies for 1 month. I was paying 50.00pm for both gas and electric with S. Electric for almost 1 year, so couldn't understand how i could be using that much worth of fuel. I wrote to trading standards after not getting a satisfactory reply from the companies involved. T.S investigated and said there must have been miscommunication, but i still had to pay the bills, which totalled over 700.00.


The full amount was being paid up until the end of last year. It was during this period that i discovered the arrears, asked the letting agents for a rent statement(which i never got) and found out about the arrears. They weren't able to provide any explanation and still hasn't till this day. The CAB helped me work some of it out, but they too, struggled to understand it. It took 3 months for both myself, CAB and HB to make sense of the payments and it was finally resolved in June. I was paying the shortfall from January, but the figures HB gave me then were wrong.


I am reducing the arrears and will contact the letting agents again. They have not replied to the other messages i've sent or aren't available when i call, which is very weird. I just want to know the balance, so that i know what i can do to reduce it even further.

BarbaraJ5

Dunroamin wrote: »

Even fools are supposed to support their 5/6 children - have you involved the CSA?

You're right, but he chose not to live in the UK, but Africa where he knows no one will trace him.

embob74

londonbabe73 wrote: »

Also why is your 18 not working ? You can go to college and work maybe even postpone college for a year and help out the family

This is very bad advice! As soon as you turn 19 you are not entitled to access free education unless you have not studied at that level before. If the OP's 18 year old child left college to get a job with the intention of returning later they would find they may have to pay approx £1500 a year to study :eek:
Of course if the course is not really going to lead anywhere and the child could actually find a half decent paying job then it would be an idea - not sure if the cancellation of child benefit, tax credits, housng
council tax discount would even equal what an unqualified 18 year old could earn anyway?!

embob74

I've been down the homelessness route and it's not a good one so you will need to stay strong.
I do wonder why you are paying arrears if the letting agent has never asked you to? And paying 3 fuel providers at the same time? I don't wish to offend you OP but is there anybody who can help explain things to you as you don't appear to have much of a grasp on basic financial matters.

BarbaraJ5

BigAunty wrote: »

Children are not taken away by social services when a household becomes homeless, not sure why you think this....

I advise you to contact Shelter about whether you are obliged to stay put until your landlord has got a court order for possession - their website makes clear that this practice should not take place.

The local council ombudsman has contacted councils in the past to demand that they stop this practice where it is clear that the landlord will get possession. Some landlords have taken their councils to court to get their court fees refunded because they've ignored this advice. You should be able to get more info on this, including the actual guidance issued, on the housing forum on MSE or on the Landlordzone website, which you can quote back to the council via your MP.

You could contact your local MP if you are not happy with the way you are being treated and you feel it is contrary to the council's obligtion. Your MP is there to serve you.

Many HB claimants wonder why landlords do not generally accept them as tenants and your post illustrates why - they are more likely to get into arrears AND they are harder to evict because a council will tell them to ignore the landlord's notice.

You should tell your local MP how the advice to stay put until the bailiffs are scheduled is one reason why finding a private tenancy is so hard for HB claimants - landlords do not want tenants who won't leave when they are served notice so it stands to reason why they are so unpopular - it's the actions of the local council.

But anyway, the info on the council website indicates that many of their homeless applicants are willing to put up with temporary accommodation because they know the council must give them social housing so they hang on in there rather than look for a private tenancy.

BigAunty, I will take a look and make some notes. I really am not happy with the advice given by the council to remain in the property pass the notice date, but i have no choice. I don't think its fair nor is it right for the landlord to go through this unnecessary stress, as well as my family because of the way the councils work. Fair enough, we get why they advise us to stay put, but i wish it wasn't the way it is. I also think this type of situation puts off landlords who would possibly give HB tenants a chance, but because of the stress associated with eviction from people in this situation - is most like a deterrent. If i had a property and was considering renting it, knowing how much i thirst knowledge and information, came across cases as such, would definitely not accept people on housing benefit. I had a house many years ago, which we let to an agent, who then subleased it too immigrants. These immigrants then had mattresses on the floor where families were sleeping with young children in what looked like a 1/2 way house. It was left in pristine condition and wrecked by these people after. My neighbours complained about the mess on the road, nappies, rubbish etc and were not happy with us for doing it. It ended up costing us 4k to put right in order to move back in and i know from that experience that i would never go there again.

I have looked for other private rented, but because i dont have the 2 months deposit and rent in advance, or i don't have a work checkable history, or the fact that i'm claiming HB as well as extortionate agent fees - don't stand a chance of finding anything in my borough. Therefore, have no choice but to sit tight.

I will look into what you advised above, so thank you again.

BarbaraJ5

BigAunty wrote: »

I'm with Dunroamin on this one - his feelings are separate from his obligations and it's a shame that his spiteful and stingy approach is one reason why his children are facing homelessness. See the CSA website to understand the percentage of his wage he is obliged to handover to you and sod his bloody feelings on the matter.

DunRoamin - sorry missed that part of your post, but as BigAunty has also commented, i'll address both questions.

I totally agree with both of you. Its his children that need the support not me! This man is so pathetic, because he doesn't have a job and calls himself a businessman, yet never has money for his son, who has called him and asked for money for school shoes. He got his brother to send my sons 30 pm for 2 months, then that stopped. He knows that the CSA will not be able to demand anything from him as there is no jurisdiction in Africa. I had hell getting my children back from them in africa after they went to visit and the UK embassy, nor the Hague convention couldn't do anything.

Nothing to lose checking out the CSA website, so i will:)

BigAunty

BarbaraJ5 wrote: »

....

The homeless team(agent) told me that if we were put in B&B we could be placed outside the borough and for up to 8 months. I have never heard that, and know that the C.C is being taken to court for having single parents in a B&B for 7 weeks. If that's the case, when did this 8 month wait in B&B come into effect, or was the guy talking from his rear end as i suspect?

.

They make this clear on their website

http://www.croydon.gov.uk/housing/optadv/homeless

Whether or not they are permitted by the homelessness regulations to move someone out of the council area, I don't know, but I do know that councils can't magic up council properties out of thin air - yes, they have non-negotiable statutory obligations to the homeless and no, there's not much they can do if they don't have the infrastructure to match demand on their services.

You are jostling with more than 500 other households in temporary emergency housing arranged by Croydon council, not sure you think that the council can dish out accommodation to all at once within its boundaries. 500 plus households. like yourself, who all seemingly cannot find their own private accommodation and are all presumably certain that they should be housed asap and have no understanding why it takes so long, even though there are so many of them and their numbers grow each week.

http://www.thisiscroydontoday.co.uk/Minister-brands-Croydon-Council-doubly-illegal-B/story-17042235-detail/story.html

http://www.thisiscroydontoday.co.uk/Croydon-s-homeless-asked-leave-borough/story-16493165-detail/story.html

BarbaraJ5

thorsoak wrote: »

The reasons your ex gives for not supporting his children are a prime example of why he is your ex! Regardless of how he regards you, he is the one abandoning his children - he has a legal and moral requirement to support them - you shouldn't have to bear the whole burden yourself.

Please contact CSA and get whatever support for your children the law states he must pay.

Thorsoak, You are completely right. I don't care about him or what he says about me, but don't take it out on the children. They didn't cause him to screw up everything he put his hand to, but that's his problem. I can't force someone to be something they're not and he's proven over and over again that he's not a good father, nor is he a good human being. My children are not a burden, and will never be. If i didn't have them i'm not sure i'd be on this crazy planet, but i think you meant well with that part, so no hard feelings:)

BarbaraJ5

BigAunty wrote: »

Homelessness procedures are NATIONAL.

Many councils do not meet their obligations but all councils have to follow the same housing and homelessness laws.

Councils have very, very little discretion in how they operate their homelessness processes and social housing allocation. Their services may be patchy and some areas under very high demand with scarce supply, but not one council can wriggle out of how they approach their obligations on a formal basis.

I'm not saying that they are good at fulfilling their obligations, just that they can't operate differently from other areas.

Ok. I get you, but i'm not sure what you're advising me to do with this information....Should i write to the MP complaining about having to stay in the P.R house until the bailiffs come? Sorry, if i'm a little befuddled.

BarbaraJ5

embob74 wrote: »

This is very bad advice! As soon as you turn 19 you are not entitled to access free education unless you have not studied at that level before. If the OP's 18 year old child left college to get a job with the intention of returning later they would find they may have to pay approx £1500 a year to study :eek:
Of course if the course is not really going to lead anywhere and the child could actually find a half decent paying job then it would be an idea - not sure if the cancellation of child benefit, tax credits, housng
council tax discount would even equal what an unqualified 18 year old could earn anyway?!

Hi Embob,

Wow! Didn't even know that, but doesn't it sound crazy? I would not encourage him to leave college to find a fulltime job, especially when it will not allow him the education he needs to gain a good qualification, which in turn will set him up for fulltime employment with a great career opportunity in the future.