How soon before I'm homeless? Urgent

Ashwagandha

BigAunty wrote: »

Right, well, it's only going to be a rough guess or average anyway.

So if the landlord proceeds to the next stage and applies for a PO on the 5th March, the court case may take place around mid to late April.

Perhaps, the date the PO would take effect would be late April to mid May.

According to Shelter, "You may be able to ask the court for more time before the possession order takes effect. This can only be done for up to six weeks and only if you are suffering great hardship." So you can't take this delaying strategy for granted so I haven't factored this in with my rough timings.

If you still remain in place and ignore the PO, perhaps it may take somewhere like 2 to 4 weeks for the landlord to get the bailiffs to enforce it, so perhaps this is heading towards early June to mid June? Happy for some other posters to double check my estimated timings but the OP must realise that there are lots of variables that don't make this reliable.

EDIT - I don't understand any process where you can actually adjourn the original intended date of the hearing like the Shelter representative said, I wonder if this is by complaining about the lack of repairs or something? Anyone know what delaying tactic a tenant has to delay the start of the court case?

I was too nervous to pay proper attention but she said that since I'm under the care of the Community Mental Health Team any judge would be very likely to give me longer to get out of the property if it came to that. She also said if my psychiatrist felt I was unfit to attend the hearing a letter from him might bring about an adjournment if needed. She said it's very important that I do attend the hearing, if I'm unable to resolve this before it gets to court.

Ashwagandha

BigAunty wrote: »

How do you plan to hold down a job in a malnourished state?!

I can eat very cheaply...go vegetarian etc. It would be worth it to get out of this mess

The thing is I don't even want to stay in this flat so maybe I should calm down and focus on moving

BigAunty

Ashwagandha wrote: »

..

The thing is I don't even want to stay in this flat so maybe I should calm down and focus on moving

Were you definately not entitled to housing benefit or are you under the age of 35 and therefore found that you were only entitled to a shared property rate which was very much less than your rent, for example?

Ask Shelter or see their section on homelessness to see if the local council have any obligation to assist you. See also the local council website about homelessness.

In some cases, the local council will not have any duty to assist if there are rent arrears if they could have paid but did not because they regard the person as having made themselves homeless. In other cases, if the arrears were outside of the homeless person's control, the council should still assist.

Unfortunately, if you are in England, single people without dependents get much less help because other groups are given priority by the local council. In some cases, if the single person is considered to have a disability or vulnerability of some kind, they may get more help.

Shelter should be able to advise and ensure the local council are following the correct procedures.

Ashwagandha

BigAunty wrote: »

Were you definately not entitled to housing benefit or are you under the age of 35 and therefore found that you were only entitled to a shared property rate which was very much less than your rent, for example?

Ask Shelter or see their section on homelessness to see if the local council have any obligation to assist you. See also the local council website about homelessness.

In some cases, the local council will not have any duty to assist if there are rent arrears if they could have paid but did not because they regard the person as having made themselves homeless. In other cases, if the arrears were outside of the homeless person's control, the council should still assist.

Unfortunately, if you are in England, single people without dependents get much less help because other groups are given priority by the local council. In some cases, if the single person is considered to have a disability or vulnerability of some kind, they may get more help.

Shelter should be able to advise and ensure the local council are following the correct procedures.

I'm 39. I can try contacting the council again. But I'm not holding out very much hope at this point.

If I get evicted it would presumably make it near impossible to obtain a private tenancy in future.

BigAunty

Is helping their clients with housing within the remit of the Community Mental Health Team or do they have solely a medical service?

The benefits forum on MSE may be able to identify any entitlements for you and perhaps any organisations that could help you with them, such as this one. I believe somewhere on MSE is information about coping with debts and mental health.

http://www.rethink.org/living_with_mental_illness/money_debt_benefits/index.html

theartfullodger

If becoming homeless intentionally (government rules not what normal people mean...) then council do not have to assist. Intentionally homeless includes being evicted for not paying rent or mortgage.

Cheers!

mulronie

Ashwagandha wrote: »

Yes he can do that. I'm confused as to why he didn't just serve the S21 straight away

Some landlords prefer the S8 route because the judgement includes a money order - i.e. the judge will give the landlord possession, and order you to pay the landlord the rent owing to the date of possession.

The S21 route does not include this - while it gives the landlord possession, he would need to file another claim against you for the money oweing.

Also the S8 route needs 2 weeks notice, whereas the S21 route needs 2 months.

mightymouse

Basically it's £1000 a month for a falling apart flat in an unsafe area

post 7

I would be interested in further details re this comment and if there is any merit to it then you might need to see a solicitor

Ashwagandha

mightymouse wrote: »

post 7

I would be interested in further details re this comment and if there is any merit to it then you might need to see a solicitor

Why would a solicitor be interested? Overpriced nasty flats in unsafe unsavoury neighbourhoods are common in London.

Ashwagandha

BigAunty wrote: »

How do you plan to hold down a job in a malnourished state?!

EDIT

If you manage to remain in this property by thwarting the S8, how do you plan to mitigate the very real risk that the next dip in income sees this whole cycle repeated again, perhaps by S21 which can't be sabotaged by the tenant?

You may find the landlord will not let you stay on past the fixed termeven if you've made up the arrears - how are you going to pay off the slightly less than 2 months rent owed by the date of the court case, then your rent for the rest of the fixed term, and then save up enough to pay the fees, deposit and first months rent on your next place?

I'm not going to pry about the reasons why you won't share a property which may slash your living costs by half but have you got a strategy whereby your lifestyle matches your income rather than your preferences?

Well until now I'd managed to keep up with the rent for 4 years and 8 months without issues, so