Need to be evicted to be homed by council?

FBaby

Lioness due to my past credit history i can't get a high enough rating to rent through an estate agent ( fail their checks) my guarantor is getting too old to be one and i wouldnt want to add that pressure to her anyway and finding private landlord that dont use estate agents is nigh on impossible.

How did you manage to be accepted for the flat you are currently in?

anselld

JL2017 wrote: »

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Lioness due to my past credit history i can't get a high enough rating to rent through an estate agent ( fail their checks).

Have you tried?
Agents cannot see credit ratings or the detailed credit report. They can only see "public records" e.g. Bankruptcies, CCJs etc.

2bFrank

You will need to be actually evicted before nearly all councils will even think about re-homing you in England. Its a long and very stressful process for you, whilst I've not been down that route, a friend has and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Once you have your S21, the landlord will start court proceedings, this takes a fair few weeks for it to be seen in court, providing the S21 has been served correctly, on hearing day the judge at the county court will give a possession order, this will usually state something like you need to be out by 4-6 weeks.

That doesn't mean you will leave, you have to stay or the council will say you are intentionally homeless, after the possession order the Landlord will get a warrant for possession, which takes even more time. At this point you need to go to the council again with a copy of the warrant, the council will do sweet FA, but at least they know about it, they will tell you to wait until the bailiffs come and only then they may give you emergency accommodation.

You think it will be fine until that date, as the council will usually try and re-assure you that you cannot be made to leave by then, but if the Landlord has anything about them, they will transfer the warrant to the High Court, and the very next day, unannounced you will have a High Court Bailiff kicking you out within the hour. Make sure you have already packed in advanced, and your heavy stuff is in storage somewhere, otherwise it will cost you to have the bailiffs re-attend to collect the rest of your stuff at a later date.

Councils will only give you emergency accommodation if you are classed as a duty of care, which means you are vulnerable, disabled or have young children. Once you are out on the street by the bailiff you need to go straight to the council office, don't mess around, take you and your children and sit in the office.

If you take your children to a relative to look after then the council will say the children have a place to stay and they is no duty of care. You need to give the council the paperwork and make it very clear you have no where to stay, they should, but not always provide emergency accommodation for you in some s***hole of a B&B or Hostel.

After about 28 days, if you are lucky they will offer you accommodation, this could be anywhere in England, but hopefully it will be local, and you will need to accept it, otherwise you will have a big fight on your hands to be offered anything else.

If you are single or a childless couple then you have no chance. No matter what happens, if you receive any type of housing benefit, you must make sure all your rent is up to date, if you have spent the housing benefit on anything other than rent, the council will rightly say you have made yourself homeless and will be able wash there hands of you if they so wish, you will defiantly have a battle on your hands either way.

If it was me, I would spend every waking second looking for a private new place, the stress and your sanity are not worth the council route.