Important: Council applicants with rent arrears

clf1605

To all in the unfortunate situation of applying for council housing with previous or current rent arrears...you may be penalised by up to 90% of your points entitlement if you don't read this.
I'll try and keep it as short as possible.
I was a victim of the 2012 welfare reform changes to housing benefit. My privately rented home was in an expensive area and the "average rental" calculation left me £250 per month short of rent. I was on income support and could not pay the rest of the rent.
I therefore started building rent arrears and understandably (not his fault) my landlord said he would have to repossess the property as he had a mortgage to pay on it.
I went to the council to advise that I would soon be homeless and they said that I must stay at the property until the bailiff literally kicked me out or I would not be classified as unintentionally homeless. If I left at any time before that I would be making myself homeless. (Yes I know, ridiculous people running this country but that's for another post!)
So I stayed put until the bailiff came, as instructed by the council, by which time my debt was over £2,000
I went to the council on the day I was evicted and the first thing they checked was that today was indeed the day of the eviction and there were no further possible stays of execution open to me. So good news, I qualified as homeless....
And then came the eventual (4 months later) awarding of points.
Imagine my shock to be told that although I should have qualified for over 400 points (thereby going straight to the top of the waiting list), this was going to be reduced by 90% due to my apparent unsuitability as a prospective tenant due to housing debt.
So the council's own policy on classification as homeless had then been responsible for my large housing debt (if I'd been allowed to register as soon as I knew I was going to be evicted, the debt would have been minimal and saved the courts a load of time and cost).
So I fought back in writing to every housing officer, manager and director in the council (get their names and email them) stating that their policies contradicted each other and that I was being penalised for their mess.
And lo and behold, I was awarded my full entitlement to points with no penalty.
Just wanted to post the story for others who may face this argument in the near future. Fight every step of the way. Use their own contradictory policies against them and hopefully you too will win your case.
Should have done this post a while ago, but it took me a while to get my family settled after nearly a year in temporary accommodation, so I am sincerely sorry to those who have already lost out

theartfullodger

Different councils have different rules.

clf1605

This was Birmingham for those in the biggest council area in the UK, just so you know...

Cheeky_Monkey

Another solution would have been to move to an area that you could afford

tomtontom

As you made yourself intentionally homeless (you failed to pay the rent), surely you didn't expect to be placed ahead of those who were homeless through no fault of their own?

I'm glad you got things sorted, but I don't share your feeling of injustice.

clf1605

This post is for desperate people in a similar situation with zero options (no money for a deposit, no guarantor, no family willing to help).


So people (I lose the term loosely as we all seem to have lost our humanity since "the lightweight" DC entered Downing Street) with no clue how real life is on the bottom rung of the ladder can frankly just keep their advice to themselves. It has no meaningful purpose in this situation.


Instead perhaps find your way to the pages celebrating how much you've saved on Black Friday on your latest batch of unnecessary purchases to spoil the next generation of the vile and blinkered middle classes.

[Deleted User]

I understand totally what you say clf.., I have no rent arrears as yet but I am sure they would have come. And agree with what you say. Glad you were able to overcome the difficulties.

You might have been able to get some help from Shelter too, but I must admit I was a bit surprised how unable to help Shelter have been in my situation (funding shortages). I've experienced many people who were supposed to help (and in some cases paid to help) do nothing but make my situation worse. Many just did nothing. But I get the 'why don't you move, why don't you find another private rental' questions.., assuming I've just sat on my bum waiting to be evicted.

I'm afraid (and its wrong) you were lucky to be able to stay in emergency accommodation. I've seen people chucked on the street for similiar reasons.

I think you have to live it and struggle with it to understand the choices without judgement. I personally think every single MP should be made to live a year on income support or live in a wheelchair or something similiar so they can begin to understand the impact of such a life style. This before they are allowed to become candidates for election. I think you should live it before you are entitled to make judgements and particularly decisions about this derided portion of the population.

booksurr

clf1605 wrote: »

spoil the next generation of the vile and blinkered middle classes.

it is that "vile" generation who will pay the taxes that enable you to continue to exist on the breadline because they worked to get themselves to the position they are in. Of course some of them may have had difficulties in recessionary times and called upon "the social", but I'll bet they were conscious of whose contributions covered that "social" and have not gone through life with the sense of entitlement you appear to possess.

They will be paying for your kids to carry on the next "vile" generation to which one hopes your kids aspire to join, or are you training them for a life of welfare and a belief it is someone else's fault?

theartfullodger

clf1605 wrote: »

........to spoil the next generation of the vile and blinkered middle classes.

Oi!! What about the vile and blinkered upper classes?? Why can't they be treated the same way?? You seem to be discriminating sir (? madam?)?? Is that fair? Is that the act of a decent family person?

keanelover

booksurr wrote: »

it is that "vile" generation who will pay the taxes that enable you to continue to exist on the breadline because they worked to get themselves to the position they are in. Of course some of them may have had difficulties in recessionary times and called upon "the social", but i'll bet they were conscious of whose contributions covered that "social" and have not gone through life with the sense of entitlement you appear to possess.

They will be paying for your kids to carry on the next "vile" generation to which one hopes your kids aspire to join, or are you training them for a life of welfare and a belief it is someone else's fault?

Very well said

clf1605

Just for reference, I was a tax-paying finance professional (up to the level of financial controller) in those appalling middle classes for almost twenty years before some inadequate !!!!!! threw me to the wolves to cover his own !!! when I blew the whistle on his thievery. Hence no more career. Pre-empting the next post "there's no smoke without fire" - yes there is, it's called chem trails and it's what's keeping people sedated so they don't revolt.

I have lived both sides of the fence and am therefore fairly uniquely qualified to talk from experience, not from hate-inciting headlines written by government-censored corporations.

For further reference, my eldest child recently graduated from a Russell Group university (with nearly £50k of debt to repay) and is now a trainee solicitor in housing law.

No doubt there are plenty of those, but trust me, with their level of income they can never be a threat to or impact, so why don't you find a way to help (not just at Xmas or on Comic Relief day). I know, my family are wealthy enough to have helped, but chose not to. Hope it was worth losing their grandchildren over.

"The enemy is fear. We think that it is hate, but it is fear" Mahatma Gandhi.

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