We are being evicted, some advice please...... the date has arrived......

blue_monkey_2

BeanieLou, also, do you apply for carers allowance on the same pages or is this a seperate form?

Thanks hun. x

beanielou

0845 7123456 is number to get forms~remember to say they are for a child
Carers allowace will only be awarded if DLA care is awarded at hiigh or middle rate & you dont need to apply for that at the mo.
Remember to get someone else to look them over.

blue_monkey_2

OK, will do that tomorrow, thank you. I have some links that help you fill out the forms. It'll give me something else to focus on and then I've got an appointment with the school in a few weeks regarding my sons IEP so I'll be speaking to them about having him statemented then as well. Thank you.

determined_new_ms

Hi I'm really sorry to hear ur situation. I work in social housing so hopefully this advice isn't somethin you have done. Firstly I would go to the council and ask about referring your family for floating support, it is a schem funded by supporting people and provides tenancy related support (this is what I do but specialise in mental health), put as much info on the form so you can be assessed as band a - urgent. Then you will at least have a professional that knows the area and the housing situation/policies.

Not sure where in the country you are but what would happen here is on the day of the eviction you present yourself to the council as homeless and you will then be put in emergency housing and you will probably be put in urgent band of the list then it is a matter of waiting for a property to become vacant, the housing situation in ur area will determine the length of the wait. In the meantime speed up the referral as this can make all the difference in my area.

I wish you all the best x

silvercar

Hope you are feeling more positive now BM; lots of advice on here it is really good to know that there are knowlegable people out there able and willing to help.

Can I ask a question, that may not be directly relevent to BM as her needs are clearly greater than the average.

If a private landlord gives a tenant notice to leave, what determines whether the council will house? Presumably in all cases (except rent arrears) the fact the the tenant has notice to leave means they are being made unintentionally homeless. Clearly the fact that a landlord wants a tenant out of a property doesn't automatically give access to a council home, so what criteria is used to distinguish those who the council now expects to find another private landlord and those who they see as entitled to be given a council home. Clearly having children is some sort of priority but again the council doesn't give a council home to everyone with children.

mumoftwins

Hi BM,

I don't think I was given the option to write to the court, but it may worth a phone call to the court concerned to explain your circumstances with Ryan and ask if they will accept a letter from you?

With regard to internet access in the temporary accomodation, I found an NTL socket in mine and rang them and explained that it was only temporary and they were happy to connect me (with or without original socket) and as I was already into a contract with them I got connected and so didn't lose my contact with this thread.

Silvercar I would be interested to see an answer to your question because although I had rent arrears I was told by the council that even if I hadn't they wouldn't have housed me - and that was with me not working due to the mental health issue.

vandanfc

Silvercar
have a look at this link, it should answer your query:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/advice/advice-153.cfm

blue_monkey_2

Thanks DNMS I will check that out. My friend works for HA and she never mentioned this to me either. nice to have a bit of outsider information.

Silvercar, Thank yes, I am going to forget about it now and I had a good nights sleep last night - until I woke at 5am after a dream the front door was open, I was too scared to go downstairs and check it was for real, LOL, you know the kids I mean!!

Silvercar, if you look on the councils website for that area they will tell you the priorities of the people they house. If we had the money/deposit/credit rating to rent private then this is the route they expect you to take and they would not consider you for social housing at all. They have taken everything from us to 'prove' we had low income and no savings - that is almost a years wage slips, 3 months bank statements, child benefit and TC entitlement forms, anything that shows you could have funds available to pay for housing, because if you can house yourself in your own right they expect you to do this.

If you are unintentionally homeless by your LL and you have funds to pay for somewhere and you have kids then they too expect you to find your own property, I guess if you don't have kids you will also be housed too if you cannot find anywhere but around here I have never seen anyone housed in council property that does not have children. I believe they will pay the deposit/bond on a private rented house that you choose for yourself.

I have lived in various lodgings (ie a room in a shared house) and I think this is more where they would expect single people to go as there were a couple of people on HB when i was in shared properties so they still pay the rent. One bloke came into the lodging without a job and claimed HB so I guess this would be the way they expect you to go as a single person.

I think it is getting harder, the whole scenario is kind of scary - there was an article on the news yesterday about a million peoples morgages being unsafe - if they lose their houses then where will they go? If there is a recession and people lose their houses, where will everyone go? If they have lost their house they cannot rent privately as they cannot pass the checks as this is what we found out. There is a guy who works with my husband so is on the same wage (without overtime he brings in £1250 a month but overtime is not always available) and his mortgage is £900 a month and his G/f has just had a baby. So surely she has to go back to work to pay the bills when the baby is just a few months old so the child grows up in the care of others and not it's aprents. Years ago everyone was given council housing and they had families, this is why my mum thinks that she can sell the house and we will be fine, get a nice 3 bedroom house in the country, etc... as this is what happened to them in 1974. I don't know. I am hoping that this for us is temporary and we can get back on the straight and narrow and when prices start to dip a bit more (OK a lot more) then we can afford to buy something - not just for us but for our children too, as where will they live when they get older, i hate to think we are not doing what is right for them too but not giving them a future.

Loretta

silvercar wrote: »

Hope you are feeling more positive now BM; lots of advice on here it is really good to know that there are knowlegable people out there able and willing to help.

Can I ask a question, that may not be directly relevent to BM as her needs are clearly greater than the average.

If a private landlord gives a tenant notice to leave, what determines whether the council will house? Presumably in all cases (except rent arrears) the fact the the tenant has notice to leave means they are being made unintentionally homeless. Clearly the fact that a landlord wants a tenant out of a property doesn't automatically give access to a council home, so what criteria is used to distinguish those who the council now expects to find another private landlord and those who they see as entitled to be given a council home. Clearly having children is some sort of priority but again the council doesn't give a council home to everyone with children.

Under the Homeless Persons Act 1977 the council have a duty to house certain people in certain situations. First of all you have to be unintentionally homeless, that is you can't give your notice in and then turn up at the council offices. You cannot also sell you house, spend the money and then go and expect to get a council house. Where I live there seems to be several people who bought their council houses very cheaply years ago, they have now gone up in value, they have sold, spent some of the money and now cannot afford to buy a house and don't understand that just because they used to be council tenants doesn't mean they are entitled to be again! You must not be in rent arrears. And of course you cannot have enough money in the bank to buy a house and expect to be housed by the council

The next thing is you must be in 'priority need' under the terms of the act

Priority need is:

Over 65, or it may be 60 not sure

Have children, they will want to see birth certificates etc

Be pregnant although if you do not have other children they do not usually
give you permanant housing until the baby is born and is OK

The next priority is less definite

You must be physically or mentally vulnerable

This could be that if you are in a wheelchair you may find it more difficult to find somewhere that you can actually get into and you may need support handles etc and any potential Landlord may not want holes in his walls, or wide doorways, all that sort of thing

Now the mentally vulnerable bit can be more difficult to prove, I know council's don't like to house alcoholics or drug addicts because provision is expected to be made elsewhere. If you cannot read or write maybe it would be harder for you to deal with the paper work, that sort of thing

I you have a fire or flood and are temporarily homeless the council has a duty to house you whether or not you are a priority

Domestic Violence, if you cannot live in your normal home because you have been the victim of domestic violence, some councils will help you to get an ouster order and injunction to enable you to return home safely, they often give women's aid a grant to deal with this for them.

If you do not have any of these priorities you are on your own, they may give you some leaflets about Landlords who take people on HB and advice centres or B&Bs

If you are in priority need, as listed above, the council has a legal duty to house you. From a pratical point of view there are not enough houses to go round but they still have this legal duty, this is why people on the waiting list almost never get housed.

In these circumstances some people do not want to be housed permanantly by the council even though they are entitled to and may be all they need is help with the deposit etc. and some advice. This is good but councils do try it on and encourage you to find somewhere privately when it is not appropriate and only adds to the stress.

Where I used to work as soon as a court had granted a possession order they took responsibility for you, there really is no need for waiting until the bailiff has turned you out, I think that is cruel and unnecessary. Sometimes, after the order is granted the council will negotiate with the landlord for you to stay, on a licence rather than go into temporary accomodation and give the landlord something definite to say that you will be out because it is more comfortable for you and cheaper for the council too

Babe1

Hi BlueMonkey

I just thought I would stop by to see how you are doing

As regards the DLA; please phone them today or as son as .... everything takes such a long time to set in motion. As another poster mentioned, the Carers Alowance is seperate and you can claim for that after sorting the DLA.

The DLA will contact GP and any other professionals that have dealings with your son, including school I would think. The main thing is that you get the right help in filling out the forms.

They are not nice and terribly negative ... this in itself is hard to deal with as you have to live through your worst day with your boy and write it on paper.

I have always done all of this myself thinking this was the way it was done; I wish I had known then what I know now in that there are Charirities and the like that can help you fill in these forms.

If you have not already contacted the The Princess Royal Trust for Carers, please do .... you will find that there is so much help they can give you.

I know I am covering old ground .... I just dearly want you to get the right help for your boy :A

Hugs and bright wishes to you all