Eviction notice served

vandanfc

rog2 wrote: »

That is a great link, vandanfc - I have read the policy and it would appear that mot's council are clearly not following the guidelines/rules.

Thanks.

They certainly don't seem to be, that's why I looked up current law, as certainly when I was involved with homelessness, it was very rarely ever cut and dried and the council had to provide temp. accom. and storage etc until a decision was reached. It's been a while since I was involved so wanted to be sure of what I was saying, and finding this link seemed to give the best answers.

At least if someone goes in prepared they are less likely to be fobbed off. Council's have a duty of care, but most will wriggle out of it if they can.

AGB863

vandanfc wrote: »

Thanks.

At least if someone goes in prepared they are less likely to be fobbed off. Council's have a duty of care, but most will wriggle out of it if they can.

As I said earlier - if the local authority has to register a homeless statistic to the government - it goes against them........

This is the case with a number of people we have dealt with - they get "fobbed off" and don't follow it up. OUr homeless dept don't like it when we ring up to book an appointment, esp if we get one for a Friday afternoon!!!!

vandanfc

OUr homeless dept don't like it when we ring up to book an appointment, esp if we get one for a Friday afternoon!!!![/QUOTE]


I remember it well. The mad panic to see if there was a room free in the family unit of the homeless hostel we used to have, just in case they had to do something right away.

I assume that you work for a housing advice centre of some sort ??

Vanda

mumoftwins

Thanks for advice all of you.

Re: amount of HB paid the council said my accomodation is too big for us as I have a separate lounge and dining room so they wouldn't pay anywhere near what I could have got if the house was of the 'proper' size.

Re: affordability when I took it on - I paid 6 months up front and was working just as rent increase came in and could afford it however when my circumstances changed ealry this year thats when it all went wrong - initially I wasn't getting HB and salary had dropped to SSP, then when I did get HB it was a small amount due to the size of the property - one room too many .

I have spoken with CLS today (thank you Penguin83) and had some tremendous support from a really good guy who has given me loads of info. He can only step in to help if and when the Council refuse to house us. In the meantime he said I can postpone the eviction date by sending a form into the court explaining that I am still waiting to be housed - so fingers crossed for meeting tomorrow morning.

Also have done very explanatory letter of my circumstances for the Homesless dept for the meeting tomorrow listing everthing that has happened and why - don't think I have missed anything off. Wish I could upload it on here for you to see and get your comments, but I don't know if thats possible does anyone?

penguin83

Hi mot glad the CLS were helpful. We always direct people there but dont usually get to here whether they helped or not so thanks.

The form you need to complete to suspend your eviction is available from the link below. Let me know if you need a hand filling it in. There is a £35.00 fee payable to the court but you may be exempt depending on what benefits/income you receive. The rules surrounding this are changing on 01 Oct and you should be exempt. Hopefully it will be sorted by then though x
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/n244_0400.pdf

nmm

mumoftwins wrote: »

Wish I could upload it on here for you to see and get your comments, but I don't know if thats possible does anyone?

Its possible if you have a scanner or a digital camera

mumoftwins

Thanks P83, had printed that form off but wasn't 100% sure that it was right - does look slightly complicated, don't want to mess up so I would be grateful for your input please when you have time - me, I need to go to bed in a minute as worn out, yawn!!!

mumoftwins

nmm wrote: »

Its possible if you have a scanner or a digital camera

I can scan it but not sure how to attach it to message??

penguin83

No probs - ill post in more detail tomorrow but it looks worse than it is.

It basically asks who you are, what you want and why you want it. I will also put up the link for the form to apply for exemption of the court fee but cant do that till Monday as its changing so the current one will be no use.

The bailiffs in our court (other end of the country to you unfortunately!) have got loads of evictions on at the minute and there is about a three week wait for an eviction date so you may have a bit more time if your court is the same x

mumoftwins

Dear Madam/Sir

I refer to my recent visits to your Department to report my need for housing for myself and my two 11 year old twins – a girl and boy, due to homelessness.

I am the tenant in occupancy of the above address and am writing to you in respect of a Notice under Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988, which I have been served with and a copy of which has been supplied to you.

Firstly may I apologise for the length of this letter but I felt it was prudent for me to give you the full picture and what has resulted in my current situation.

Before explaining I would like to make it clear that I have not deliberately or callously caused myself to become homeless.

Background
In 2005 I was living in the Midlands and going through an acrimonious divorce. At the conclusion of the decree absolute, on November 24th 2005 I moved with my children to ******** in order to be near my father. My elderly mother who had been living with me decided to move to ***** to be near her sister.

This was a very stressful time for me and my children. The divorce, combined with a change of school, loss of my employment and a house move seriously affected my health and mental well being, particularly as I was trying my level best to protect my children from being traumatised by these events. Being a new single mother was in itself very difficult and I love my children so much that I have tried my best to protect them and provide a good home environment for them, helping with homework etc.

On 25th November 2005 I rented a two bedroom flat in ****, ***** ***** which was small and although not ideal was all that I could get at short notice. Whilst living in this flat we suffered disruption from the Buncefield explosion, were evacuated for several days and suffered damage to the flat. This terrified my children and added to my depression. My father was on holiday at the time and therefore I had no family support.

Much to my surprise, within 2 months of moving in I was informed that the owner of the flat wanted to return to it and I was given notice to quit. I therefore had to find fresh accommodation for myself and my children.

In February 2006 I rented ***** at £900 per month, with a deposit of £900. The fact that I had to pay for two removals in such a short period of time, plus the rent and deposit resulted in the loss of my entire savings. To make matters worse, the day that I collected the keys to ***** I was informed that the landlord ????????? had put the property on the market for sale. Had I known this before, of course I would never have agreed to rent the property.

All I wanted was a place that my children and I could settle in and call ‘home’. Faced with this ‘news’ I had little option but to move in, as we had already moved out of the flat and our belongings were in a furniture removal van. This added to the stress that I was already struggling to control.

I recognised that I was suffering from depression and having registered with a medical practice I went to see a GP and was prescribed medication and attended a course of counselling.

After considerable effort, in June 2006 I secured employment with ********** in *****. By necessity due to the age of my children and my desire to make sure they suffered no further trauma, this employment had to be part time.

Since my divorce there has been a history of difficulties with payments from my husband and it has been a constant battle to try and make ends meet.

My son was also suffering from bullying at school which I reported to the Headmaster. My son was upset to the extent that he needed and still needs a lot of attention and encouragement. Both my children were already receiving counselling due to the trauma of all that had happened since the divorce.

In August 2006 the Landlord of ***** advised me that he was increasing my rent to £1000 per month. This increase in rental came as a complete surprise to me after such a short time of occupancy but I had little option but to agree. I had no savings and could not afford the costs of moving once again, nor did I want my children to experience further upheaval.

For all of that summer my mind was in a turmoil, trying to cope with being a single mother, my husband’s intransigence over payments, fighting for money via the CSA and the threat of the landlord selling the property.

By November 2006 I was experiencing great difficulty in managing my finances due in part to the increase in my rent by £100 per month, my problems with payments from my husband and a decrease in my salary as a result of a reduction of my hours of work. I therefore wrote to the landlord explaining my situation .

Unfortunately all this did not improve my financial situation and I found it so difficult to manage that I was unable to pay my rent.

As if I did not have enough problems, in December 2006 I was a passenger in a vehicle that was involved in a traffic accident as a result of which I suffered severe whiplash injuries to my neck and back. I have been attending a chiropractor every week since that accident and have to pay £30 for each treatment. This puts a further strain on my finances.

At the same time that the above was occurring I had taken up a grievance procedure at work due to the aggressive and bullying behaviour of my branch manager and threats of violence by another member of staff because I had discovered some underhand and unethical actions by them.

This new situation compounded my depression and combined with my neck and back problems I was signed off by my GP on long term sick leave.

My grievance was found proven but only moderate action taken and in my current state of health felt unable to return to work. ******* took the decision to terminate my employment in June 2007. I believe this was due to the fact that they feared that had they not done so, in a few more weeks I would have been legally in a position to go to an Industrial Tribunal. I had never suggested I would and it wasn’t my intention to do so.

Having now lost my salary I became in an even worse financial situation and my mental well being deteriorated to the extent that I went again to my GP. I was offered stronger medication but declined because I feared what the long term effects might be and that I might not be fully capable of looking after my children.

As a result of my desperate financial situation and the notice of impending sale of the property I had earlier approached ***** Council to register for Council housing and Housing Benefit in late January/early February 2007. I made no secret at that time of my finances and in all my communications with your department I have been honest and up front. I was subsequently awarded some Housing Benefit although this was insufficient to alleviate the difficulties I was having in paying my rent. I had also applied for Discretionary Housing Payment but this was declined. Because of my depression I was not coping well with managing my finances and the Housing Benefit was used to help with day to day living expenses.

Housing Benefits advised me to find smaller accommodation but this was not possible as Letting Agents informed me that I needed to be earning 21/2 times the rent payable; also, I did not have the funds to pay for removal fees.

I should also point out that the rent arrears would have continued to increase even if I had been able to utilise the Housing Benefit by paying it to the landlord. Because of the decrease in my income I could no longer afford to stay in the property. I did advise the Council of this in numerous telephone and written contacts in early 2007.

I cannot emphasise strongly enough that at that time I was in no fit state to get a grip on my finances and was in a constant battle to keep a happy home for my children and to manage every day living expenses.
All income was used to feed and clothe my children and for everyday living expenses. There were no luxuries or excursions as we could not afford them.

At this time I learned that my 80 year old mother who lives in ***** was in poor health. Although this is not life threatening I do have to make visits and keep in regular telephone contact.

On 8 August 07 I was made aware that the landlord had finally sold **** *****and I was told we would have to leave. I am afraid this was the straw that broke the camel’s back and I completely went to pieces.

As stated, I have since been served with a Possession Order which states I have to vacate the property by 1 October 2007. Whilst I have packed most of my belongings in anticipation, I have no home to go to for myself and children, neither can I afford removal or storage fees.

I am in a desperate situation and we are terrified that if we are not re-housed the bailiffs will evict us and we will have our furniture put out into the street.

Summary
In the past 22 months my children and I have suffered from the following events:-
• Divorce
• CSA negotiations for help with payments from my ex-husband
• A move from the Midlands
• Loss of employment
• Change of school
• The Buncefield explosion
• A further move within 3 months
• My son being bullied
• Both my children and myself receiving counselling
• Commencing new employment & suffering bullying and threats, grievance interviews and investigation
• Loss of employment
• A car accident and ongoing chiropractic treatment
• My ailing mother
• My landlord putting the property in which I currently live on sale at the same time that I moved in.
• Service of a Possession Order

In Conclusion
I feel extremely embarrassed to find myself in such a dreadful state of affairs. I am trying to keep my sanity for the sake of my children.

My children and I are homeless and ask that we be considered for urgent housing. We have nowhere else to go and cannot afford private rental accommodation.

Thank you for your time and consideration

Yours faithfully