Applying for social housing

Stevedeadly

Not sure if this is the best place to ask?

we are worried about when the eviction ban ends and if we do eventually get evicted what will happen to us?

we are a couple with young children who were both self employed but told we couldn’t work during lock down.

as we both recently started our businesses we don’t qualify for any government help

we have been able to pay any rent since March and are very worried about what will happen when the eviction ban ends?

poppy12345

Have you looked into claiming Universal Credit? Use a benefits calculator to check entitlement. https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator/Intro/Home?cid=69fe2b08-a27e-4740-b241-550c47d9f8b0

Evictions are on hold until at least 23rd August in England. Even if they are back on after this date the eviction process could take many many months. However, paying your rent should be a top priority, even through many years of financial struggle i've always made sure my rent is paid.

Social housing waiting lists are huge and if you're made homeless then you'll most likely be placed into hostels.

tacpot12

Yes, it is very worrying, but as you have children, the local authority will provide temporary accommodation. However, they may not be able to provide you with permanent housing as few councils have enough housing. Are you claiming, or able to claim Universal Credit? 

Your best option is to keep communicating with your landlord, and try to start paying some rent asap, and create a plan to overpay your rent as soon as you can so that you start reducing your rent arears so that you owe less than 2 months or 8 weeks rent (it depends whether you are supposed to pay monthly or weekly as to which applies). If you owe less than rent than this, you can't be evicted for rent arrears. 

One of you needs to get a job, and only do self-employed work around what this job will allow. If you get a job or start to pickup some self-employed work, and have paid back some rent, but not enough to get you to the point where you can avoid eviction due to rent arrears, you could look at whether you can get a discretionary housing payment from your local authority to reduce your arrears to a level that would avoid eviction. 

calcotti

You really should look at benefit entitlement. Unless you have savings over £16,000 you could be claiming Universal Credit. However if you are getting Tax Credits you may not wish to do this because applying for UC will end Tax Credits for ever and UC can be difficult to manage for the self employed due to the Minimum Income Floor.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-self-employment-quick-guide

A benefit calculator can help you assess entitlement https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators

Stevedeadly

tacpot12 said:

Yes, it is very worrying, but as you have children, the local authority will provide temporary accommodation. However, they may not be able to provide you with permanent housing as few councils have enough housing. Are you claiming, or able to claim Universal Credit? 

Your best option is to keep communicating with your landlord, and try to start paying some rent asap, and create a plan to overpay your rent as soon as you can so that you start reducing your rent arears so that you owe less than 2 months or 8 weeks rent (it depends whether you are supposed to pay monthly or weekly as to which applies). If you owe less than rent than this, you can't be evicted for rent arrears. 

One of you needs to get a job, and only do self-employed work around what this job will allow. If you get a job or start to pickup some self-employed work, and have paid back some rent, but not enough to get you to the point where you can avoid eviction due to rent arrears, you could look at whether you can get a discretionary housing payment from your local authority to reduce your arrears to a level that would avoid eviction. 

I’m worried they may say intentionally homeless as we were not paying the rent, we were using food banks things have been so bad

Spoonie_Turtle

Were you employed before starting your recent self-employment? If so you may one or both of you meet the NI contributions requirement for JSA.

Mrsn

Stevedeadly said

I’m worried they may say intentionally homeless as we were not paying the rent, we were using food banks things have been so bad

That may or may not happen, it has been an unprecedented situation and there are in sure going to be others in a similar situation. There is also no guarantee they will offer you anything other than temporary accommodation so I think it’s best to try and work on what you can do in the meantime.

Firstly if you haven’t already please have an honest conversation with your landlord. Is this the first time you’ve ever not paid the rent? If so that might work in your favour. You will need to assure them that you are working on a way of finding the current rent as well as the existing arrears. 

Secondly right now you need to look at other ways of paid work apart from your self employment, the landlord isn’t going to let the arrears build up indefinitely. Usually and especially in social housing once the arrears have hit the 8 weeks mark they will apply to the courts for a possession order of the property. You are already by the sounds of it passed that point. 

I would echo what others have suggested in making sure that you are getting any benefits that you are entitled too. The links provided in the other posts will help with this, also speak to your local council about whether they have any schemes available to help.

Are there any other bills you haven’t been paying such as council tax? 

Stevedeadly

Mrsn said:

Stevedeadly said

I’m worried they may say intentionally homeless as we were not paying the rent, we were using food banks things have been so bad

That may or may not happen, it has been an unprecedented situation and there are in sure going to be others in a similar situation. There is also no guarantee they will offer you anything other than temporary accommodation so I think it’s best to try and work on what you can do in the meantime.

Firstly if you haven’t already please have an honest conversation with your landlord. Is this the first time you’ve ever not paid the rent? If so that might work in your favour. You will need to assure them that you are working on a way of finding the current rent as well as the existing arrears. 

Secondly right now you need to look at other ways of paid work apart from your self employment, the landlord isn’t going to let the arrears build up indefinitely. Usually and especially in social housing once the arrears have hit the 8 weeks mark they will apply to the courts for a possession order of the property. You are already by the sounds of it passed that point. 

Yes this is an unprecedented situation. Once the eviction ban is lifted, the first cases to start the process will be the ones in areas before the crisis. I only stopped paying rent after I was told I couldn’t work anymore, so I will be later on that my case comes up. This is the first time in over half a decade I’ve even not paid my LL on time.

So yes I’ve technically made myself homeless by not paying rent which in the old world means I don’t qualify for help. But in this new normal most of the old rules have to change right?

just out of interest if a family with young children are declared intentional homeless by not paying their rent, if they don’t qualify for social housing then are they really forced to sleep rough on the streets? Surely there is some social housing options for them?

what is going to happen once the eviction ban is finally lifted and all these households start getting evicted?

Nannytone

A family with children will never be left on the streets but what they are offered maybe less than desirable..
They would be given temporary accommodation which can vary widely..
It could be a house or a flat but equally could be be a bed and breakfast or even a hostel.
The more people that need temporary housing the lower the standard of accommodation available will become.
It really is to be avoided at all costs

poppy12345

Stevedeadly said:

Mrsn said:

Stevedeadly said

I’m worried they may say intentionally homeless as we were not paying the rent, we were using food banks things have been so bad

That may or may not happen, it has been an unprecedented situation and there are in sure going to be others in a similar situation. There is also no guarantee they will offer you anything other than temporary accommodation so I think it’s best to try and work on what you can do in the meantime.

Firstly if you haven’t already please have an honest conversation with your landlord. Is this the first time you’ve ever not paid the rent? If so that might work in your favour. You will need to assure them that you are working on a way of finding the current rent as well as the existing arrears. 

Secondly right now you need to look at other ways of paid work apart from your self employment, the landlord isn’t going to let the arrears build up indefinitely. Usually and especially in social housing once the arrears have hit the 8 weeks mark they will apply to the courts for a possession order of the property. You are already by the sounds of it passed that point. 

I only stopped paying rent after I was told I couldn’t work anymore,

Then i'm assuming you're claiming a benefit like Universal Credit? This will help with the rent. How many children do you have?

Mrsn

Stevedeadly 

So yes I’ve technically made myself homeless by not paying rent which in the old world means I don’t qualify for help. But in this new normal most of the old rules have to change right?

just out of interest if a family with young children are declared intentional homeless by not paying their rent, if they don’t qualify for social housing then are they really forced to sleep rough on the streets? Surely there is some social housing options for them?

what is going to happen once the eviction ban is finally lifted and all these households start getting evicted?

The rules may not necessarily change for every situation because of COVID. 

The council will never see you sleeping rough with children on the streets however it’s likely you’ll be given a b&b or family hostel rather than going straight into a flat or house because there just isn’t enough social or council housing available. They have a duty of care to you and your family but you won’t get the choice of where they will offer you.

You may find that they will assist you in finding another private rental as the have schemes with local landlords in the area. 

As before I strongly urge you to sort of the benefit side of things of you haven’t already and sort something with your existing landlord.