Urgently seeking some advice...

gingercordial

You say you don't have an overdraft on your bank account. Do you mean that:

a. You don't have an arranged overdraft facility, or
b. You have the kind of basic bank account which will completely decline any transactions which take it overdrawn?

I will admit it's a horrible idea but if it is (a) you could withdraw £500 at a cash point anyway and put your account into unauthorised overdraft.

This will undoubtedly cost you a lot of money in fees - for example if you are with Natwest it would be £6/day capped at £90/month. The bank will not like you for it. I don't know what impact it would have on your credit file - but as an absolute last resort I would probably consider it. You were considering payday loans anyway so it is that level of punitive charge, worse even. You should only even consider this if you know your new job will get you out of the overdraft quickly, as otherwise you'll end up in a spiral of debt.

If your account is a basic one like (b) then this will not work.

I am a London renter too and I completely agree with the other posters that you can delay leaving your current place, but in this market I doubt the new landlord will hold it empty for too long when there are tenants chasing properties and you don't want to lose the money you've already put down/paid for reference checking.

Good luck to you.

Smodlet

Hey, Lovingperson, and welcome to the forum. Take it easy, now. Panicking achieves nothing other than to cause suffering to your own self, right?

*Robin* is absolutely correct: If you have never received a gas safety certificate, your LL has broken the law.

You have the option to let the cr!!p know you are aware of your rights. You do not have to leave when it suits him. The longer you exercise your legal right to remain in the property, the more it could cost him in money, time and inconvenience. Does he want court costs or does he want to attempt to behave like a civilised human being for five minutes, however alien that is to his nature? (so not biased)

I would suggest he can choose either to return your deposit in the next three working days, to advance your new LL the deposit for your new flat within the same time-frame or to be reported to the council and to Shelter. If the latter option, he could be banned from being a landlord; he could even be fined. If it takes longer than three days for him to access the deposit, that is his problem. He wants you out, you cannot afford to move out without a little co-operation from him.

You do not have to leave until the cr!!p gets a court order and the bailiffs come round, so you will not be homeless. I do understand your desperation regarding the new flat but just look what you have achieved in so short a time. You have found not only a new flat but a new job. You are not in the same hemisphere as a failure!

You will figure things out and, worst case scenario, you will have to stay there and look for another flat. You found one, you will find another but let us hope sense prevails with both LLs.

gingercordial

LovingPerson wrote: »

To be fair, even if they wanted to it's not like the deposit is in their personal bank account, they have to go through the Tenancy Deposit Scheme people.

Also on this - to the best of my knowledge (and hopefully someone else can confirm) there are three tenancy deposit schemes that he could be using and two work differently to the other one. I cannot remember which way round they are.

In one type of scheme the landlord hands the cash over to the scheme to keep. So when you get your deposit back, it comes from the scheme's bank account.

In the other type the landlord registers the deposit in terms of filing paperwork with the scheme to say how much he has received. However he keeps the cash himself. He still has the money all the time. The scheme is just a kind of insurance policy covering what happens to the money at the end and how disputes are resolved - but all that time it sits in the landlord's bank account.

If you are in the second type of scheme then your landlord has no excuse that he does not have the money available because he would never have physically handed it over to them in the first place.

LovingPerson

Hi GingerCordial, I have a normal full bank account. It has a nominal £100 OD limit on it and I will be close that limit once I've paid a couple of bills tomorrow. If I tried to take the account into unauthorised OD for a little bit, I'm OK with that, but presumably the cash point would not let me withdraw over my OD limit or cleared balance anyway? Or is there a loophole?

LovingPerson

thank you everyone. I took 2 valium and fell asleep. Still feel just as stressed as I did before though unfortunately and can't breathe properly. My digestion has packed up (stress) and I've got extreme stomach cramps. I am reading through your helpful replies now.

tlc678910

I just wondered did you claim everything you were entitled to when you became out of work? A quick google suggests in some limited circumstances housing benefit and council tax benefit can be claimed backdated. One of these circumstances seems to be if you were too ill to claim and had no one to help you. I know this would not be resolved in time to help with the deposit but might help going forward.

You could ask citizens advice if they could see if you are getting the benefits you are entitled to (disability and out of work benefits as well as housing/council tax) and if you have not claimed assist you to try to make a backdated claim.

Tlc

[Deleted User]

Hi

I am sorry you are in this position. I KNOW it feels very desperate and immediately threatening because of the S21 and the other flat.., but think about it - what's going to happen? He can't evict you without a Possession order (and bailiffs warrant which means going back to court again). Yes you may well lose the chance of the other place.., but this is something you can't do anything about.., you've tried everything. And you do still have some time. With your disability, regardless of what gatekeeping housing officials say.., you won't end up without a roof (and I promise you this board had many totally despondent posts from me as I went through this).

I wonder if going on the debt free wannabe board and having them look at your expenses would give you some useful advice on areas you might be able to eke out a bit more spare money for saving for a deposit.

You could go back to the council, take documents (S21, bank statements, pics of your flat to show you've sold everything) and explain you can't move in and will be asking for expensive emergency accommodation in two or three months unless there is a loan scheme or some help with a deposit.

I wonder if there are any homeless charities in your area that can send someone to go with you into a meeting. They aren't always as helpful as they could be, but sometimes they are brilliant. Your LA should have a specialist social work team that help people with disabilities. Contact them, explain you are being made homeless and need some support. My son got a specialist social worker very quickly, in spite of me being told initially there was a 12 week waiting list just for an initial appt. I kept phoning and explaining the situation!

But at worse, you will end up in emergency accommodation. And you can argue (and please please do) that because of your disabilities you can only live in a certain type of accommodation. This is what I did as I have two special needs sons. You will need to get medical profession support (GP, any specialists involved in your care), and social workers etc. If you don't have them now, ask for urgent referrals.

1) Don't panic, nothings going to happen now. Will be sad to lose the flat, but you won't end up on the streets, I promise you.
2) Look at your budget (debt free wannabe board)
3) Get some support from a Housing or disabled charity that specialises in your condition (so they can make sure housing does what they have to.., they often deny they do have to do things I'm afraid, don't listen to this). Keep on asking until someone says yes, they will and can help. Through all the no's .., you only need one yes. Keep looking til you get that yes.
4) Prepare for the worst, moving into unsuitable emergency accommodation. Be prepared to be told the council don't have anything suitable. Force the council to either help with a deposit or give you suitable accommodation. Prepare to make a case to say what facilities and accessibility options you need. The council WILL say they can't meet these needs. Expect it and harden your heart. If you provide evidence of need, they do have to meet it.
5) Bear in mind this is a temporary situation. It is overwhelming, it is incredibly stressful, but there are things you can do. Its not hopeless. The council will tell you this not because they won't help in the end, but because they need to reduce the amount of people on their 'we must help' housing lists. Don't take it personally.

WibblyGirly

I know you said you have some bills to pay, is it possible to just not pay them until after you've moved? I'd cacel the direct debits, move, then call them up to give them your new address for them to send the final bill to.

45002

LovingPerson wrote:

I'm a disabled person in a vulnerable situation. I've received a notice to move out of my flat by this Friday (a section 21 notice). This really scared me because at the time I was too ill to work, living off savings (that are now completely depleted) and had nowhere to move to. My landlord simply decided he doesn't want to rent the flat anymore. In the 2 months notice given to me in the section 21 I've managed to find both a new job and a new flat. I start my new job on Monday 18th July and I am due to move into my new flat this Friday. I've paid the reservation fee, passed the credit checks and reference checks.

However, although I've tried everything, I just haven't managed to scrape together the full amount required for my deposit. I've got the one month rent in advance, I can afford the monthly rent moving forward.

I've tried everything: I've asked my bank for an overdraft (turned down), approached a new bank to see if they'd give an overdraft limit (no they won't), tried normal loan, payday loan, pawned off anything I can, asked the local council if they have anything in place to help in this situation. Everything's been a no.

I really don't know what to do. And now I've made myself ill again with the worry and I'm considering suicide. The only barrier between me and having a secure new disabled friendly home is that deposit. How do I get blood out of a stone?

Where else can I try?

.


Hello LovingPerson.

May I ask you how long you have been living at your current address for, the date you 1st moved in ?

LovingPerson

4 and a half years