How to sort rented house?

Jenny_S

I live in Herne Bay and have just managed to secure a 3 bed place in Faversham for £650 pcm. Do they have to stay in Canterbury or are there any close cheaper areas?

real1314

Have they considered approaching a private landlord and aksing if it would be ok to have a dog? they may get a more positive approach iof they agree to have all carpets and soft furnishings professionally cleaned, and agree to make good any damage by the dog?
An upfromt approach is usually best.
Alternatively, if the kids health is suffering, then it may have to be a choice between new property and the dog - kids health wins it for new property. Is saving £200 a month worth it? They may even be pushed into the bracket they would get help for? (this can be checked in advance via the local council)

silvercar

AST minimum term is 6 months, so any letting agent telling you that they only let on a month by month basis is talking rubbish. After the initial 6 month basis your tenancy could become periodic and be on a month by month basis but an initial tenancy will always be for at least 6 months.

Debt_Free_Chick

Gwenrose wrote: »

No they don't have any bad credit history or debts. But by the time they pay the rent and other bills and my son-in-law pays for petrol to travel to work every day

Where's work? Could they look to live nearer and put the money paid on petrol towards rent on a better place?

Gwenrose

They live in Faversham and son-in-law works in Ashford, well the other side of Ashford, both the children attend schools in their home town.

We would love to help them and if the buyer of our house had not pulled out a few days before we were due to exchange to purchase our bungalow, we would have offered, but that's not going to happen because we are not in a situation where we can offer to help and our house is up for sale again.

I don't know about having to rehome the dog, I think the emotional trauma could be awful for the children, they adore him. But if they were my children I would not hesitate, but it's not me!

I'm giving all the information to my daughter so she can have a look around and get some more info. We did ask about the council offering them a place if they were evicted, this is what the council told us.

The council are only obligated to provide shelter for my daughter and her children, not her husband. The accomadation would probably be a bed sit but not necessaraly in their home town and that could be for six months, if they were refugees the council said they would have to provide accomadation for the whole family, but my daughter, son-in-law and family are not, so the rules are different. When they did offer a house, flat or what ever was available, they would have to accept it where ever it was (even if in a different town from their schools) if they refused it for any reason, they would be put further down the list.

These are the words of the housing association, not mine. They do not have the required points because they are already in a house and my son-in-law is working and not claiming benefits. But I am going to do a bit of work on this myself, my daughter is not very forceful and gives up when she keeps being knocked back, I'm not going to give up and have made notes on what every one has said to try and help her.
So many thanks to every one who is offering advice.

Kizzy001

I've just had a quick look on Gumtree kent http://kent.gumtree.com/kent/property-rentals_4163_1.html
and they have a few flats for rent under £600 Per month .. worth having a look, have you looked on Fish for homes /lettings? I'm sure there are better places out there for her to rent.

Kizzy001

also if they want to try and get their own property how about trying for affordable housing ? you don't have to be a key worker

http://www.affordablehomeskent.org/district.php?district=9

black-saturn

The first step would be to write to the environmental health officer for their town. They will come round and look at the problem and then write to the landlord on your behalf to fix it. If it still leaks after it is fixed you then go back to EH to complain again.

Are they on a council housing waiting list? if they can get a letter from their doctor about the children's health problems and give it to the council this will help them get rohoused quicker.

franklee

Gwenrose wrote: »

As for looking for another house the problem is again money, at the moment she is paying £600 a month and to find any where else they would need a 2 months rent in advance pluse one months rent on the day of tenancy,

Have found the post about the deposit:

clutton wrote: »

Ask your local council if they have some sort of Bond Scheme - many do - they guarantee the bond without actually handing over any money to the landlord, or they may have funds to loan you a bond which you then repay them - different councils have different schemes

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=2906368&postcount=5

Don't know if it will be suitable but worth checking.

barnaby-bear

Gwenrose wrote: »

No they don't have any bad credit history or debts. But by the time they pay the rent and other bills and my son-in-law pays for petrol to travel to work every day, food and childrens clothing the money just vanishes.

What really makes me cross is the fact that he earns just £10 a week more than he should for them to get help.

My other son-in-law is, I'm ashamed to say it the laziest man going, he has never doen a days work in his life, never has my other daughter, they have three children and were given a house by the housing association, plus they get god knows how many benefits, it makes my blood boil.

But my eldest daughter, who's husband is a good worker and even went window cleaning with my husband when his firm closed down, said she would never be able to live with herself claiming like that. Believe it or not the council said they would get more help if never of them were working!

Putting some numbers in entitledto website, assuming one partner on 40hours at min. wage £5.35 (£214 a week) and the other earning(£100 a week part time) it says they should be getting £125.05 (£81 a week CTC and £44 a week housing benefit) in means tested benefits plus £30.20 child benefit so after tax they should have £436.66 a week or net post tax income of £1892 a month. Have you checked they are getting the right help for low income households, have you considered getting them to do an SoA on the debt board where people work out budgets, they should have £1300 a month after paying the rent - so either they aren't claiming correctly, or the budgeting is an issue or there's something unusual about circumstances that people might need to know to suggest a solution.
If the car/petrol eating up more than it's share would it be better to do a min. wage job nearer to home?

Sevenoaks in kent (I've no idea what their council is) seems to have a scheme to provide the lump sum deposit http://dev.sevenoaks.gov.uk/housing/finding_a_place_to_live/670.asp

I suspect the LL sees it as a tacit agreement - it's a bit grotty but in return it's cheap and he's flexible on dogs etc... if he's going to have to make it nicer he's likely to want more rent and to spite you for causing the hassle...
I suspect if you forced his hand he'd serve notice and unlikely environmental health would prosecute as he has a nice paper trail of recorded visits by workmen trying to sort out the problem (it can genuinely be very difficult to source a cracked tile or alike - the water can emerge in completely different place to entering)