Evicted from business by landlord

doublet1

I have run a t shirt printing shop for 28 years in a market hall owned by the council.
The council are serving all the shops with 3 months notice because they plan to turn the market into a food hall.
I cannot afford a shop outwith the market hall as they are all too large and expensive.
The council "may" allow me back into the market hall after 9 to 12 months if "I meet the criteria" (which they will not specify) and pay more than double my present rent.
During this time I will lose all my customers.
I am self employed and four years from my state pension.
Will I be entitled to any state benefits ?

TadleyBaggie

Better to ask on the Benefits board, clearly not a reduncancy issue:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=139

getmore4less

How much equipment do you need to relocate?

How much of the business is regulars against new walk up?

Did you have any succession planning in place.

Thinking any way to make this work so you have something to sell/pass on

molerat

How much of your business is walk up retail ? Could you operate from a small industrial unit ?

The problem is, from a customer pov, the market hall is in need of a revamp. It has been going downhill for many years and now somewhere that I generally use as a shortcut rather than to shop in. It always seems dead in that half, I was in last Saturday and it was really quiet.

sooty&sweep

Hi

Are there any others affected that you could share premises with ?

Jen

elsien

Anyone starting a new benefit claim now has to claim Universal Credit, I believe.
If you go onto turn2us or entitledto there will be a benefits calculator you can run the figures through.
You will be expected to look for other work to keep you going until retirement.

TBagpuss

Have a look at https://www.entitledto.co.uk/ to work out whether you are likely to qualify for any assistance.

A lot will depend on what savings or other capital you have.

Normally, the vlaue or equity of your home is disregarded when applying for benefits, so if you own your own hom, you may still be able to claim.

If you own a second property then its value would count as 'savings' so is likelyto take you ot of eligibility for most benefits.

If you have any other savings or investments then anything under £6,000 is disregarded, anything over but under £16,000 is taken into account, but you may still get benefits / tax credits at a lower rate.

if you are married or cohabiting they sses you as a couple, so your spouse or partner's income and savings are also relevant.

Depending on how your busines sworks and how much space you need, you could look into whether it might be possible for you to work out of a small industrical unit and go for more online orders rather than walk ins, if you wanted to continue with your business.