possible eviction

volavont

Me and my 2 young sons, aged 5 months and 3 years, live with my mum in social housing. The housing association are threatening my mum with eviction due to rent arrears. If they were to evict my mum what would happen to me and my children? I can not afford to rent privately as a single mother as the start up costs are just way too high and because I work I won't get much in the way of help to start up. Will the housing association have to rehouse me or will I be left homeless?

tomtontom

Surely better to address why there are rent arrears? As you would be making yourself intentionally homeless you will be a low priority for the authority, you may get a place in a hostel or b&b.

volavont

The rent arrears came about when she was recently rreceiving treatment for cancer and the sick pay did not cover the bills but she wasn't entitled to any extra benefits. The arrears only amount to 430 pounds and I am not on the tenancy so actually although she is technically intentionally homeless I am not because the rent is not my responsibility and they are not allowed to place me in a hostel because off my children this much I have managed to find out for myself but everywhere I try to find info it's a grey area

tomtontom

volavont wrote: »

The rent arrears came about when she was recently rreceiving treatment for cancer and the sick pay did not cover the bills but she wasn't entitled to any extra benefits. The arrears only amount to 430 pounds and I am not on the tenancy so actually although she is technically intentionally homeless I am not because the rent is not my responsibility and they are not allowed to place me in a hostel because off my children this much I have managed to find out for myself but everywhere I try to find info it's a grey area

Some hostels take families - not ideal but a roof over your head nonetheless. Are you helping your mum pay off the arrears?

Pixie5740

You and your mum should give Shelter a call. I think rent arrears only counts towards making yourself intentionally homeless if you could have paid rent but didn't. Being in hospital and therefore having a drop in income for that period might be enough for your mum not be considered intentionally homeless.

Has your mum spoken with the HA/LL to neogiate some kind of payment plan? Could you pay more board?

cattie

You might not get put in a hostel, but the council could certainly put you in a B&B place if there were no other option should they assume responsibility for finding you somewhere to live.

tomtontom makes sense in suggesting the arrears are sorted before eviction steps can even be taken. As the arrears are not high is it not possible for your mother to take on extra work if she does work for a few weeks to clear the arrears, or for you to look for some sort of work for a short period & let your mother look after the children until the arrears are cleared? Surely the inconvenience of working for a few weeks will be worth it to maintain a roof over all of your heads?

What about the children's father, is he contributing to their upkeep & would he want to see his children without a roof over their head? Perhaps he could help, even if it were a loan.

Your mother should really have contacted somebody like Macmillan when she was having money troubles whilst having treatment for cancer. They could have checked she was receiving all of the financial help she was entitled to. In this day & age, benefits are pretty generous & there should be no need for somebody to be at risk of losing a social housing home.

Perhaps it would be wise for you to contact Shelter for more advice, both for you & your mother.

volavont

Yes she has and the agreed payment is actually more than she can afford so I have had to take over some of the bills to help her so can try pay it off, hence why I currently can't afford to go private, but she was a 2 days late with her last payment due to her wage payments changing from 4 weekly to monthly (the rent including arrears has to be paid weekly) so they are now saying she broken her agreement. We even asked if I could take over the tenancy and I would pay the rent and she could pay the arrears off separately because she would be able to get them paid off quicker if I took over the bills and she paid me board each week but they refused on the grounds that we were trying to claim extra benefitseven though I explained I had enough money to cover all bills without hhaving to claim housing benefit.
Thank you I will have her ring shelter and see what they have to say.

tomtontom

volavont wrote: »

Yes she has and the agreed payment is actually more than she can afford so I have had to take over some of the bills to help her so can try pay it off, hence why I currently can't afford to go private, but she was a 2 days late with her last payment due to her wage payments changing from 4 weekly to monthly (the rent including arrears has to be paid weekly) so they are now saying she broken her agreement. We even asked if I could take over the tenancy and I would pay the rent and she could pay the arrears off separately because she would be able to get them paid off quicker if I took over the bills and she paid me board each week but they refused on the grounds that we were trying to claim extra benefitseven though I explained I had enough money to cover all bills without hhaving to claim housing benefit.
Thank you I will have her ring shelter and see what they have to say.

If you have enough money then why not give it to your mum? She may be legally liable for it but you live with her!

System

If you can afford to pay the rent and other bills on your own why aren't you helping your mother more to get this sorted? E.G. helping her to pay on time when it was realised that the change of pay method would cause a problem?

volavont

Hi cattie my mum is 60years old and currently works 17 hours a week and employer stopped overtime last year. I also work 17 hours to work extra would make things harder as I would have to pay childcare.
As for my children's father he does not pay towards my children and has had nothing to do with them since he got with his current partner, his choice not mine, I have contacted child maintenance but he quit his job as soon as they contacted him to avoid paying.
My mum's McMillan nurse helped her fill out and send off the forms to all the relevant places but she was declined due to not been terminal.

volavont

Because she didn't tell me she was going to have trouble paying it I already give her £100 a week plus pay her phone bill and the gas and electric and her bus pass to get to work and back but I also have 2 young boys to pay for as well as my own credit commitments