Council help please, urgent!

blue_monkey_2

From the Locata website who offer the lettings. She really needs to get onto the council now as tey are the ones wo band people. If she is in a co-op via the council then she is still a council tenant surely. Can anyone else verify this??

http://www.locata.org/(S(hq41cf3kxc3nmjv4pyuqwt55))/schemeguide2.aspx

Band A – (Emergency/Top Priority)
• You have a life-threatening medical condition, which is seriously affected by your current housing, or some other emergency need to move.
• You are homeless, in priority need and in temporary accommodation and the landlord wants the property back, or that the temporary accommodation is not suitable for you and it is not possible to find you suitable further temporary accommodation.
• Housing have agreed to a recommendation by Social Services that you need to be provided with permanent accommodation to ensure fostering or adoption.
• You are a council or housing association tenant whose life is threatened if you remain in your home, because of violence. (Please note that this applies to council/housing
association tenants only)
• You are an ex-service tenant whom the council has a contractual obligation to re-house.
• You are a council or housing association tenant who needs to move because your home is about to be demolished or re-developed.
• You are a council or housing association tenant who needs to move to an adapted property and it is in the landlord’s interest for you to move.
• You are a council or housing association tenant in an adapted property you no longer need but which could be used by someone else.
• You are a council or housing association tenant of a property with two or more bedrooms and you are willing to move to a one-bedroom home or give up two bedrooms.
• You are a successor to a council tenancy and approved for a move to a studio or one bed or you are giving up 2 or more bedrooms.
• You are occupying a property, which is subject to a compulsory purchase order and/or where the Council has a Statutory Duty to move you.

If she is getting DLA then she will need to make sure she has a medical letters to back up what is wrong - I had to have all of these, in fact the doctors wrote me a letter. I do not wish to be funny but if she wants the help then you have to fight for it. This is why I involved my MP in our case. It is hard being ignored - and sometimes it feels you are being - but those who scream the loudest get dealt with first. If she has to go into a hostel then so be it I am afraid, at least then she will be given more points and able to choose something else. She NEEDS to get doctors letters and the like if she want to get the help, anyone can ask for it but if you do not have proof you need it then you do;t get it. Does she work as well as getting DLA? If she works then she will prbably be expected to have her own place. Can she not house share for a bit while she waits?

moneysavingmumofone

Thanks blue_monkey. The only prob is shes not actually a council tenant, the flats rented to her privately through a council scheme. So dont think the banding thing applies to her.
Hope your housing is sorted x

blue_monkey_2

Yes, I looked at Hillingdon, I know it is pretty much the same in and around London/Home Counties. What is happening to the rest of the people in the building/co-op? where are they going?

BobProperty

blue_monkey wrote: »

I would get her to check this out, if her property has a demolition order then she would get put into a higher band. Has she spoken to someone at the council at all to have her points amended? Can you check the local council website for her and ensure they have got her on the right amount of points. Be prepared to fight. I had to involve my MP just to get the right mount of points. let's not even get started on them housing us. Have an eviction date of 16th April and we will get an appointment with the homeless people around the 14th April (still waiting for confirmation bt they have not yet called me back) - and they have known this is coming since NOVEMBER!!

I'm with blue_monkey on this, sounds like the new situation hasn't been taken into account.

blue_monkey_2

I would stll go to the council, we have medical problems with my son making renting private difficult and he has been allowed his own room (in that we can bid on 3 bed properties rather than just 2 beds). I have to confess the council are rubbish and they are so unhelpful and everything has been a fight - even to the degree of getting the right number of points allocated as their website states, they make the stress of everything so much worse.

The point is that if your sister has problems in getting a property (be this money, medical, addictions, etc..) which she clearly has because of a medical condition andit limits as to where she can move, if she can prove that nowhere is suitable then se can go to the homeless department (but yes, it means a hostel is more likely - as it is for us even though ou son has been diagnosed with mental health/behaviour problems) they are there to help people like her, so she really must ensure this key worker gets her the help. As I said, write a letter to her MP - they will chase up the council if you are in the right area (ours have been brilliant but the Labour council in the next area do not get involved, it's a lottery depending on who runs the council and how po-active they are for their constituents) but give that a go, do not accept that all is lost until it is - and even then you have to keep on fighting.

Good luck. And thanks for your good wishes. x

blue_monkey_2

Oh yes, just to add, please do not assume they have given her the right amount of points and make sure she has the right amount on paper. As I said, I ended up goin g to my MP as when I questioned them over the phone they fobbed me off. It was nota small amount either, it mkes the difference in being the top of the list and being half way up as you can see. A demolition order and a disability would certaily put her in a higher catagory than a D!! Get your MP on the case now, really, please do not think I am being overdramtic, fight for what she needs and this might be the last time she needs to fight.

(I will add though, if she is earning a wage that is enough to pay rent then this WILL make a difference and she will be expected to rent privately and claim HB. Check out private landlords in the paper for this as many through letting agents will state no HB)

moneysavingmumofone

blue_monkey wrote: »

Yes, I looked at Hillingdon, I know it is pretty much the same in and around London/Home Counties. What is happening to the rest of the people in the building/co-op? where are they going?

There is only her and 1 man living there now, the other6 or so people have already moved. I know some found private rented places. They all had to find their own places to live, no help was given to anyone!

blue_monkey_2

The council will try and avoid helping at all costs. Unless you are a druggie or an alcoholica, have been in prison or do not have a job, they don't see they have a need to help you. Since my son was diagnosed we have been treated differently I have to say, being low paid was not an issue, having a child who is diagnosed did. They do make everything so much more stressful.

You know, I am sure they do it on the basis that the weak drop out and those that keep on fighting and who are prepared to go into a hostel clearly need it and then will eventually get it!!

blue_monkey_2

Have you asked the council for the same sort of thing? Another co-operative (I apologise as I am not sure how these work) but as I say, those that need it will be prepared to take anything even if it is a hostel, those that don't will make their own arrangements and will not then be classed as homeless. They have even told me to do things that put my family at risk of actually making ourselves homeless so they do not have to help us. In this case, to make arrangements with the LL to agree to move when they have a buyer - yet if a court did not evict us then they have no duty to help us, even with kids. Oh, and my LL is my mother. Yes, my mother has been sitting in court today to get an eviction date to get us (me, hubby & 2 kids, one of which is on the Autistic Spectrum and had been given his own teaching assistant in a local school) out of the house so she can then sell it. All this is because the council have told us to stay put until the court evicts us - oh but we have been given a date and still there is no urgency. it all a trick to make you 'give up' and get somewhere of your own. We have no other options sadly so we just have to get more stress and grief over it and do whatever we are told to do.

moneysavingmumofone

Thanks, you have been really helpful
She is definetely going to go to the council tomorrow and make sure she is in the right band. (Like you all, i am sure she isnt!)
I agree, writing to your mp can help a great deal, we have had big problems with the council before so i am not their greatest fan either. We lived with ohs parents for 15 months after ds was born (needed to move as ohs dad had a stroke 5 years before then had a mini stroke while we lived there and couldnt cope with us being there) and were bounced back and forth between 2 councils and basically told rubbish every time. I am convinced our mp made all the difference as it was after i wrote to her that things started looking up. We were offered a flat a few months later Everytime a moan comes into my head, (i wish we had a garden, i wish i didnt have to struggle up 2 flights of stairs to get to the flat, my kitchens the size of a postage stamp being the most frequent whinges:p ) i think thank god we've got anywhere at all! Sorry TOTALLY off topic:o
P.s She doesnt work so lives off income support and dla. Yet another hurdle there with the hb, trying to find someone who accepts it.:o