Private renting question, advice needed

teabag29

Thanks for the replies guys. Ok let me explain further, I currently live in Leicester in a small 3 bed council house (we are a family of 6 and another on the way so very overcrowded). I am a carer for my daughter who has a catalogue of special needs, I have worked recently but had to give it up (largely due to my daughters needs). My husband has worked all his life. I also home educate her as we could not secure a SEN at school and she was having a terrible time. I get carers allowance/dla for her.

We nolonger get along with my family which is why we moved here in the first place (they fell out with me for reporting a family member who was in effect abusing his daughter and I was not prepared to stand by and let it continue, they are very unreasonable and alcohol dependant, we are much better off without them in our lives). They are making life difficult for us and we have so many bad memories here and i am starting to feel very depressed.

My husband suggested a while back a move to Blackpool, not everyones cup of tea but we really like it there and the kids love it to. We have found a big 4 bed house thats only £525 a month (we pay £350 at the minute) with a family run business who have alot of properties. Its through a letting agent and they are looking for a long term let, the total cost to move in will be £1300 with all fees/deposit etc.

My husband has been told they are 80% sure they can transfer him (they have the same company in blackpool) but if not the property does accept dss (with the above upfront costs), this would not be for long I know my husband will not have a problem finding work and im hoping i can maybe get a part time job around his hours. I truly believe this move would do wonders for my depression and the childrens freedom (really not easier for the younger ones living with a child with extra needs) and give us a happier life......... the only thing holding me back is that ive never private rented before and heard some terrible stories about it. Just very scared that if things went wrong (eg landlord selling up/ complaint made about my daughter if she has a meltdown as she can be noisy etc) and we couldnt find somewhere else in time what would happen to us?

would we be made homeless and what would happen to the children, would they be taken into care if this happened? would the council be able to help us or would they not help because i gave my tenancy up........ hopefully it would never get to that but obviously im concerned

Person_one

You wouldn't be doing your children any favours in the long term by moving them to Blackpool.

I have to agree with everybody else that you'd be mad to give up social housing for private rented, especially in your vulnerable circumstances.

Annisele

Short version: I think you'd be mad to give up a secure council tenancy unless there's so much wrong with the property/area that you've been given medical advice that you should move.

Longer version:

teabag29 wrote: »

Just very scared that if things went wrong (eg landlord selling up/ complaint made about my daughter if she has a meltdown as she can be noisy etc) and we couldnt find somewhere else in time what would happen to us?

I'm not sure you quite understand how insecure private renting is. Nothing would particularly have to go wrong - you can be evicted through absolutely no fault of your own. It's not at all like council housing.

As to what would happen if your landlord did want the property back...

Assuming you couldn't find somewhere else in time, you'd probably have to stay in that house until the landlord obtained a court order to evict you. That would be stressful, to say the least.

Then, what would happen would depend on the rules in place at the time. Blackpool seems to have recently changed its rules, but as a homeless family you would count as in priority need. The council would have a duty to rehouse you - but that might be a B&B or a hostel. In theory families with children shouldn't be placed in a hostel for more than 6 weeks, but in practice councils don't always have anywhere else to put them. And that's with the rules now; there's no guarantee the rules would stay the same - and my personal view is that things are getting worse rather than better.

It probably won't be anywhere near that bad - I've rented for years, only once had to find somewhere new at short notice, and have never been homeless. But I guess you can paint the rosy picture of the nice house in the nice new area for yourself; I'm just trying to paint the bleak picture so you can weigh them up.

Tygermoth

Sorry for the bluntness.

DONT DO IT. I did, and its been trouble ever since.

I had a lovely huge flat on a less than salubrious estate. chose to give it up to move out of the area...

Feel free to read my thread about my current housing issues and being served a section 21.

I have lived in several rented houses. i have had landlords who have sold the house and not told us then turned up on the doorstep saying we had two weeks (yes i know, but then i didn't know my rights).

Landlords who felt they could 'just pop in' and check their house and that you are keeping it tidy (i am a neat freak) regardless of the law then evict you if you advise them of your rights. One one occasion a landlord offered to reduce the rent to nothing if i was 'ahem' accommodating. Landlords also don't take well to children, pets or any issue with adaptations to disabilities (i require some adaptations). it was agreed before hand and I explained that the property would be made good (and it was) but he didn't like how it made the house look so S21 and still held the deposit.

Had fights over repairs. Refusal to do necessary works (currently we have a tree down across our drive and the LL is broke and selling all these houses so refuses to do anything about it) its not fun and the postie is refusing to climb over it to deliver mail! never mind us getting in and out

I can honestly say all my friends and one relative average about 2 years in rentals before the LL has to move back in, sell or its being repossessed.

currently we are moving to a new rental and its costing over 3K with fees, deposits, checks, check in, van hire and things that need to be purchased (reluctantly) for the new house.

I can also gtee that the current Landowner with his noted bad financial issues will do everything in his power to hold onto the deposit (we have been here 8 years so there will be al lot of wear and tear which he will place as damage) they have already made grumbles about having to replace the carpet and that coming out of our deposit (it was 10 years old before we even moved in!)

I have been renting for 23 years, my current rental was the longest at 8 and this was considered out of the norm. (and on all occasions the landlord wanted the house back to sell)

with kids i just wouldn't do it.

Oh and even with my special needs which put me high on the council list and gained me a flat before i was essentially told to... jog on. So I would expect very little assistance if you leave your housing. Once you leave their folds you are not getting back in... ever.

chocdonuty

It's defiantly worth looking at a mutual exchange, either a 2 or 3 way swap,
I've lived in several private rented properties and whilst some are ok, others are just a nightmare, being asked to leave at short notice when told it was a long term property, bumping up the rent for no real reason and crititizing the way I lived in my home and how often I cut my grass!
This place at the moment is pretty good, I have a repair, I call them up, it gets sorted, :beer: whereas private landlords can be very hit and miss, you can rely on a private landlord to put their finances and interests first not you and often your home never feels like yours.
Try homeswapper or any of the other council home swapping websites and you will be able to move areas whilst keeping the security of a council rent, you will have to get a new tenancy but it's often easier to get a decent property this way rather than staying on the waiting list for years.

rpc

teabag29 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys. Ok let me explain further, I currently live in Leicester in a small 3 bed council house (we are a family of 6 and another on the way so very overcrowded)

If you meet the council's definition of overcrowded, they may move you.

See here http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/common_problems/overcrowding

But surely you should have taken your housing situation into account before deciding to have another child?

BitterAndTwisted

Two kids sharing a bedroom with a baby in its parent's room doesn't qualify as over-crowding. Not yet, at least.

Quite why a couple who already have four children, with one of them "with a catalogue of special needs" would choose to increase the size of their family defeats me. But fortunately I'm not the OP.

Still, whatever their circumstances, I think they would be taking a real and terrible risk by giving up their social housing, never mind moving to Blackpool, whatever their current circumstances might be. One of the towns with the worst poverty and deprivation, together with the most awful employment prospects in the country make this choice completely incomprehensible to me.

Edit: Oh, and another thing: Blackpool is absolutely AWASH with illegal drugs! Think about the consequences of exposing your kids to that once they're old enough to encounter it.

InsideInsurance

The private sector is much more variable than the public sector so you need to get full disclosure from the agent before wasting your time with ones that arent going to be suitable for you.

Of cause, we are talking contracts here and so everything is up for negotiation. Most will charge a fee for renewing the contract, this isnt as much as the setting up a new one but is still excessive. More than once I've had it agreed to be waived but obv that has to be done before signing the contracts.

You only have the level of security that is the duration of your contract or your notice period if there is a break clause. Normally its 2 months for a Landlord to give notice.

If you break the terms of your contract, which can include causing neighbours to complain due to noise levels or other antisocial activities then that can forfeit the notice period.

Of cause the reality is that if you want to ignore the landlord and their demands for you to leave then you can and the legal process to evict you takes an age to happen. Wont help you getting your next place though!

I've rented in the UK for over 15 years and in all that time only not had a tenancy renewed twice and in both occasions it was because the landlord was selling the property. On one of those occasions it ended up that the buyer was another landlord and would have been happy for us to stay on but we didnt want the uncertainty so had already found a new place.

RuthnJasper

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Two kids sharing a bedroom with a baby in its parent's room doesn't qualify as over-crowding. Not yet, at least.

Quite why a couple who already have four children, with one of them "with a catalogue of special needs" would choose to increase the size of their family defeats me. But fortunately I'm not the OP.

Still, whatever their circumstances, I think they would be taking a real and terrible risk by giving up their social housing, never mind moving to Blackpool, whatever their current circumstances might be. One of the towns with the worst poverty and deprivation, together with the most awful employment prospects in the country make this choice completely incomprehensible to me.

I have to say that I agree. Despite various problems in my life, I am thankful almost every day for my Housing Association secure tenancy, I appreciate that I am extremely lucky to have it, and signed the tenancy just before the financial crisis and change of criteria, etc.

Also I would add that, whilst the OP and her family have probably had some lovely holidays in Blackpool, living somewhere is vastly different to being on holiday there for a few weeks at a time. I'm sorry to sound mean-spirited, but the OP will find that her family problems are just as real and prevalent in Blackpool - more so if their housing situation is insecure.

There is no way that I would choose this move over my secure tenancy, if it were me. I would concentrate on making the best of what I have.

Whatever you decide to do, OP, I wish you all the best for your future. x

Errata

If you think you have problems with relatives they'll be very minor compared to the problems you'll encounter living in Blackpool.