Any suggestions regarding this conundrum?

mrmagoo38

Hi,

Im a full time single dad with a 7 year old son. We live in Scotland but want to move back to the south of England. Anywhere in the South would be fine, from Dover to Torquay and anywhere in between. As far north as London, but not London, too expensive for us.
Here are the issues:
1. We have a Cat, she is not allowed outside
2. We need to view properties remotely because of our current location.
3. We do not have a guarantor.
4. We are in receipt of benefits and i am unemployed. I was working up until the first lockdown and until my son came to live with me full time. Im a full time mature student doing an undergrad degree (distance learning, 3 years) Philosophy and Ethics, BA.
5. I have one 5 year old CCJ (£326) which is satisfied.

However, thanks to a student loan and a family member, we can rustle up about 5k in April.

But given everything ive mentioned, im finding it nigh impossible to find anywhere to rent. Whats our best option? What for the CCJ to fall off? Pay a rental 6 months in advance to assuage no guarantor concerns?  Can we take out a personal loan? 

Checked all the sites, Zoopla, Rightmove, Gumtree, Friday-Ad etc etc etc

We can provide one 13 year reference from a social landlord, no missed payments and a 10 month reference from another landlord, again, no missed payments.

Whats the best way out of this problem?

TallGirl

Can you do an exchange with your social landlord? I do not know the rules for Scotland but there are sites linking social tenants in England to do mutual exchanges. Hope it works out for you but be aware giving up a secure tenancy should not be taken lightly you may never get back in due to the massive shortage and the fact you have no links with the new area. 

mrmagoo38

TallGirl said:

Can you do an exchange with your social landlord? I do not know the rules for Scotland but there are sites linking social tenants in England to do mutual exchanges. Hope it works out for you but be aware giving up a secure tenancy should not be taken lightly you may never get back in due to the massive shortage and the fact you have no links with the new area. 

Well, ideally we'd like to rent in the town i was born in on the south coast. But the rents are too high to pay the 6 months in advance and council wait times there are very long. We live in a very rural part of Scotland, its very barren. Mutual exchange is not an option i dont think.

ArbitraryRandom

Slightly out of the box suggestion, but would it be possible to swap from being a distance student to being a physical (sorry, not sure what to call it) student and then get student accommodation from the start of the next term/year (you could probably register and move in during the summer)? 

I recall from when I was a student there were a limited number of 'family' rooms in halls for students with dependents such as yourself, or a private student flat. 

I suggest this as student accommodation is generally paid for by the term in advance and therefore is less concerned about things like CCJs.

Annisele

It sounds as though you're not actually unemployed at all; you're a full time student with a dependant. But I think you're going to find this exceptionally difficult regardless of whether you present yourself as a student or as an unemployed person. And I also want to reiterate TallGirl's warning about the risks of giving up a secure tenancy; even if you do find somewhere you might find yourself having to move every six to 12 months.

Is your university able to help you at all? The Students Union usually has a Housing Officer - and even for remote learning I'd expect the university to be able to provide some sort of advice.

mrmagoo38

Both great advice about the university, i rang them this afternoon and left it with a lady to enquire about for me. She aid she'd ring me back, so im assuming next week she might call. Perhaps advice is what they'll provide, if at all.
Its just very demoralising, but thanks to those who tried.

Emily_Joy

I do not know what others here are talking about - the university accommodation usually costs about twice as much as private rental, especially oncampus accommodation: for the cost of a room with en-suite you can get a two/three bedroom house (not talking about London here). The universities are making money out of students and accommodation is just another way to do it. (This is the reason extra weeks without any teaching have been introduced  (aka "revision week", "intoductory week") recently - to force students to pay two extra weeks of rent per year!) 

sourpuss2021

Please let the cat outside, she wants to be stalking through the long grass!!!!

FreeBear

sourpuss2021 said:

Please let the cat outside, she wants to be stalking through the long grass!!!!

If the cat has something like FIV, it is best kept indoors.

dimbo61

Sorry to say this but your really going to struggle finding a property to rent that accepts Benefits, kids and pets.
The current Rental market means lots of people are looking for a place to call home.
So why do you need to move 

ArbitraryRandom

Emily_Joy said:

I do not know what others here are talking about - the university accommodation usually costs about twice as much as private rental

IME, a shared house might be cheaper than a family room in halls, but not a 2-bed self contained flat. It really depends on the location and how difficult it will be for the OP to secure a private rental in the local market; halls tend to have all bills included and don't generally check job references/do credit checks.

Even if the OP does want to find a private landlord, universities generally have landlord lists and my university also kept a list of people looking to find tenants (if someone was looking for a flatmate or had dropped out mid-year and needed to find someone to take over a tenancy, for example). 

My thought is that, if someone is looking to relocate across the country, university/halls might be a good (simple) way to move while looking for a more permanent accommodation.

If nothing else, they could then present themselves AS a mature student with a student loan, not 'unemployed and on benefits', making them more presentable to potential LLs.