Being made homeless, council advice seems dodgy

emlou2009

Please be gentle...

Myself and my OH are private tenants with two children. We've received notice from our landlord to move out by the end of May.

We've been struggling in recent months financially and have no savings put by to use towards a rental deposit, so this morning I went to our local council for advice.

I was given the advice to stay put after the notice issued and wait for the landlord to take us to court, which would then either enable them to help us or at least buy us some extra time to scrape a private deposit together.

I'm not really comfortable doing that, I'd sooner not mess around as it sounds like added stress for all involved, and it feels morally wrong, I don't want to be a squatter, but if its our only option we may have to do so. Will we be breaking the law if we do so?

So, my question is, if we do take the advice of the council, how long extra are we buying ourselves realistically?

theartfullodger

The council's advice is correct:

You do not have to leave when notice expires.

I assume it is a S21 notice: Such a notice does not end a tenancy nor require a tenant to leave:

The issue is that if you leave (usually) before there is a court order - perhaps before bailiffs due - council will find you "intentionally homeless" as you did not need to leave: Then they do not need to rehouse you or even give advice.
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/homelessness/help_from_the_council_when_homeless

PS S21 relates to Section 21 of Thatcher's Housing Act 1988: Before that a landlord could not evict for no reason at all. Elections coming up...

Stevie_Palimo

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/housing_e/housing_rent_arrears_e/eviction_for_rent_arrears.htm

emlou2009

I should add we're completely up to date with the rent and have never so much as missed or made a late payment, I'm assuming she just wants the house back for whatever reason.

jjlandlord

Of course the council's advice is dodgy, of course it will create extra stress for everyone involved (apart from the council, obviously)... And will probably cost you a few hundreds because you'll be ordered to pay your landlord's legal fees.

However, it is legal and allows the council to save some taxpayers' money.

RAS

When at the end of May?

That is the point at which the LL will first be able to take court action.

Time before he can get a court date 2-12 weeks depending on the area?

Once he has the possession order, time to book bailiffs - 2-8 weeks.

Realistically 3 months or more.

That assumes that he got the S21 notice absolutely correct.

Is the deposit correctly secured? Where?

Did he issue or re-issue the prescribed information at the start of the most recent tenancy?

emlou2009

She wants us out by 28th may. If we don't go, how long does taking us to court take? I'm trying to work out how long we've got to scrape money together. Thank you

Stevie_Palimo

emlou2009 wrote: »

I should add we're completely up to date with the rent and have never so much as missed or made a late payment, I'm assuming she just wants the house back for whatever reason.

The council will do this as a delaying tactic and because they have limited housing on offer for people and work on a case by case basis with a point scoring system, Ie:- young single adult will be seen as very little risk whilst a family is given priority, The owner may be looking to sell the house and you could ask this if you get on well enough as it could be sold with sitting tenants if sold to a landlord that is.

PasturesNew

The idea behind the council's thinking is that if they made it easy for people to get to the head of the queue then people'd start doing it. e.g. if a notice to quit got you queue-jumping, then thousands of people would simply take on short rentals on the basis they WILL get evicted, just so they can produce the letter and queue jump.

Making you wait until the most uncomfortably late moment, until you're actually standing on the road, with your kids around you, means that people are less likely to see this as an easy route into any form of social housing - and so only the really desperate will do it as others will do their best to sort themselves out somehow before that really embarrassing and stressful point in time.

What happens is: You stay on, LL takes you to court, court dates come and go, bailiffs eventually turn up and you're told to leave immediately. Then you hot foot it down to the Council offices and say "On the streets now" and they find rooms in a hostel and get your stuff into storage.

emlou2009

The deposit was secured with TDS.
According to the council she didn't issue the notice correctly, the lady I spoke to earlier said she would write to the landlord and send her a section 21 form, once she's filled in and sent that the time frame will probably be largely the same.

RAS

Ok - assume three months, maybe more.

What I would suggest is that you go overt to the Money Saving Old style forum and the debtfree forum if you can and ask for help.

There is a Statement of Affairs (budget) which allows you to understand where money is going and where you might save a few bob. Or even where a change of provider might raise a £100 introductory bonus.

MSOS will help you meal plan with minimum cost; a couple of months might make a difference.

And go round the house; find the things that are no longer used and start to e-bay, amazon, car boot etc to raise some dosh.

As an aside, open a new basic bank account or an ISa into which to stash your extra money.