Impending eviction :s

Miss_Cat

Have the local authority given you the decision in writing (S184 letter) giving full reasons for their decisions. they have to give you this and you then have 21 days to request a review of the decision.

the local authority have not yet given us their decision in writing, though it has been implied in an informal letter from the housing officer.


According to the housing officer and rents service, our rent of £575 a month is within our budget, however we still dont seem to be making ends meet. myself and my partner both work part time in a call center, the hours there are strange and i could not get child care after 6pm hence the reason i had to cut my hours from 36/wk to 20/wk. We have both tried to get full time jobs that fit around the kids but have had no luck whatsoever, haven't even had a single interview
we get working tax credits and child tax credits as well as child benefit and have been awarded housing benefit and council tax benefit but haven't actually recieved any yet.
until my hours were cut we were not behind on the rent, there were a few occasions that it was late, but only by a few days.

in the year we have lived here, we have had three months without hot water because the boiler packed up. the letting agents arranged for the boiler to be moved and fixed, by an un corgi registered plumber which involved our kitchen being unaccessable for a week. we eventually got the boiler replaced (this time by a corgi registered man lol)
we have mold in our bedroom, which has turned our pillows black and ruined a lot of our belonings and clothes. when it rains we get water running down the bedroom wall.
At some point there has obviously been a fire in what is currently the kids room, as we have discovered that the skirting boards are charcoal that has been painted over, and the walls are smoke damaged and wallpapered. (my son has asthma so that concerns me)
the shower broke at christmas and still hasnt been repaired, and the hot water tap in the bath does not work, so we have to fill the bath up via a bucket in the bathroom sink.
we have had environmental health in, who uhmmm and ahhhed and tutted...went away and never heard anything since.
we went to the council about the problems we had in september(sort of hoping it would help our housing application...it didnt) who contacted the letting agents, who told the council that they had "taken some money off our rent to compensate us" which was total B.S, they didn't, never had, and to the best of my knowledge that has not been reflected in the amount of our arrears.

in december the letting agency issued us with a notice requiring possession (section 21 notice) and though it did not say in the letter, the letting agent told me that this was because the LL was selling it. not because we had arrears. we then took out a loan to quickly pay off the arrears we did have at that time, as we knew it would not help us. however the housing officer then told us that it made no difference, the fact that we had even HAD arrers means we would be found intentionally homeless.
im ashamed to say that at this point both myself and hubby buried our heads in the sand. money, rent, housing, everything important became forbidden subjects. and since then our arrears have built up and up and up and now the "official" reason for the eviction is the rent arrears. i have not paid it as often as i would like, and close to not at all.
i realise that it is my fault, and i can apreciate why the council would say we have intentionally done this (even though i dont see why anyone would intentionally put their children on the streets)
but worrying about the "what we should have done" and "waht we didnt do" is not going to help our current situation.
grr i thiink i will shut up now lol

Wol2

Hi Miss Cat

Heartfelt hugs for the position you find yourself in...and well done to you for a courageous first post.

Blue monkey and MOT :A :A (one for each), really do have the best knowledge on the practicalities of how to tackle your situation...but please count me in as one of those who is happy to provide as much moral support as possible.
(Have boxes of Kleenex....will travel!! and 20 guinea pigs which is a lot of paws keeping crossed for luck to you)

I may not have been evicted...but I have lost my home (temporarily..last July 07, owing to floods.... although it now seems like an eternity and I won;t be back now until end of July 08.......assuming there are no more !!!! ups .....but I digress)

The thing is my love...you are now entering the infamous "Limbo Land"....where other people and bureaucracy (sometimes muppets but I hope I'm proved wrong in your case/district ) may now (unfortunately) have your future in their hands/control....this is a tough deal to accept..... and actually let's be honest, it's a real sipper .:D .....(just reverse the letters..there is a swear word filter on this site!)

So.. Keep strong..and keep doing what you are doing..i.e. asking questions, amassing information, trying to understand how the system(s) work so you don;t get shafted and can deal with it contructively for the best outcome for you and your family....

And most of all please keep posting. There is such a wealth of experience and support here on DFW...it restores your faith in human nature.......and please don't be afraid to PM any of us if you want either practical help ...or even just to vent or wail....or laugh your head off!!

I really do hope that things work out for you soon...and happily. I will be here...as are the rest of us....so you are NOT alone anymore...so one day at a time....with hugs from us all......every step of the way.

I will keep monitoring the thread and post if i feel I have something pertinent to say. But please bear in mind I will be off line for two weeks from 26th Apr.

If you want to talk before then..please PM me with your phone number and I will ring back.

Please remember Hun..you are not on your own.

Big hugs to you and your family....and....

weeeek weeek....the guinea pigs are keeping their paws crossed for you :cool:

(actually I'm a bit worried they're going to get cramp...they've been crossing them so much for everyone recently...perhaps I should put some more salt in their diet?? )


Take care Cat
Hugs
Wol2
xxx

Miss_Cat

blue_monkey wrote: »

I wanted to say that it is hard, you do have the 'it's not fair' moments (and some days there are lots of them) but you have to keep on smiling on he outsde otherwise your kds are going to pick up on this being something to bescared about. More than anything I am trying to keep a brave face on in front of the kids.

I know how hard it is trying to find somewhere to live. You will still be able to go on the housing register though s one option (and yes, it was one I looked at) is to see if you can get a cheap carvan and pop it on a caravan site somewhere. I see you are near the coast, can you find any cheap statics going off season at all? Get a carvan and just go to a camping ground? Then apply for housing and you'll get points for lots of various things giving you a high total and you should be able to get housed then - but not as homeless. It might mean you have to live in a caravan for a few weeks but it might be worth treating it as a holiday as far as thekids are concerned. Get a PO Box or collect your mail from the PO Sorting Office so that you can still be contacted.

These are all things we have thought of doing. I hope they help a little.

it's so horrible for the kids, they've been off school on late easter hols for two weeks and theyve had to come to the council, and court offices with us and hear EVERYTHING and they just dont understand! my 7yr old keeps saying "it's ok, we can move in the flat next door" (they've just built another block next to us) but my 9yr old understands far too well for my liking and he's REALLY worried...keeps coming up to us ever 2 minutes and giving us hugs and kisses, and that is SCARY as he's not the huggy kissy type!

i really did consider the caravan option, i mentioned that to the housing office and she told me that if i did that then social services would take the kids from me.
but i see now that it's unlikely they would, i dont really know.
not sure if there are any caravan sites around here, neither myself or OH drive so that would make school and work pretty difficult, however i am definately going to look into it so many thanks for that suggestion :think:

tilly's_mum

Hi Miss Cat

As BM said contact your MP but also contact your local councillors - you can email them and they may be able to help - worth a go.

BM suggestion of a static caravan is good - I lived in a caravan in a few months with 2 kids and it was ok - a bit like an extended holiday and it'll give you extra points.

Good luck

Cheryl

Miss_Cat

thanku Wol2 :A
i've smiled and relaxed more in the couple of hours i've browsed around on here than i have in the last couple of weeks
thankyou for all the advice i've already received. i'll keep posting x
p.s thankyou for noone judging me even though ive obviously been very stupid with all this:eek:

Miss_Cat

As BM said contact your MP but also contact your local councillors - you can email them and they may be able to help - worth a go.

we've emailed the local mp but not had reply yet.
how do i go about finding out who the councillors are and how to contact them?
have also emailed local paper about it too.

OH thinks the caravan is a good idea too, gonna look on net and see what's about.

tilly's_mum

Your council website will have details and email addresses.

Exeter City Council -
http://www.exeter.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3501&contactid=423

Devon County Council - http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/democracycommunities/county_councillors/councillor_information_electoraldivision.htm

Hope this helps

Cheryl

teeni

the local authority have not yet given us their decision in writing, though it has been implied in an informal letter from the housing officer.

The point of this informal letter is to allow you to put your case forward proving that you could not meet the rent, you must get help to produce a statement of income and expenditure for the time the rent arrears began to accure to fight this.
we get working tax credits and child tax credits as well as child benefit and have been awarded housing benefit and council tax benefit but haven't actually recieved any yet.

If you have an entitlement to housing benefit that you have not been receving then you can not legally be deemed intentionally homeless as your income is below the level that the government states you are entitled to live on

until my hours were cut we were not behind on the rent, there were a few occasions that it was late, but only by a few days.

You were not responsible for the change of circs that led to yoru pending eviction, NOT INTENTIONAL

in the year we have lived here, we have had three months without hot water because the boiler packed up. the letting agents arranged for the boiler to be moved and fixed, by an un corgi registered plumber which involved our kitchen being unaccessable for a week. we eventually got the boiler replaced (this time by a corgi registered man lol)
we have mold in our bedroom, which has turned our pillows black and ruined a lot of our belonings and clothes. when it rains we get water running down the bedroom wall.
At some point there has obviously been a fire in what is currently the kids room, as we have discovered that the skirting boards are charcoal that has been painted over, and the walls are smoke damaged and wallpapered. (my son has asthma so that concerns me)
the shower broke at christmas and still hasnt been repaired, and the hot water tap in the bath does not work, so we have to fill the bath up via a bucket in the bathroom sink.
we have had environmental health in, who uhmmm and ahhhed and tutted...went away and never heard anything since.
we went to the council about the problems we had in september(sort of hoping it would help our housing application...it didnt) who contacted the letting agents, who told the council that they had "taken some money off our rent to compensate us" which was total B.S, they didn't, never had, and to the best of my knowledge that has not been reflected in the amount of our arrears.
Possible counter claim for damages from landlord, would not stop the eviction but could give yo funds to help you move on if challenge successful

not because we had arrears. we then took out a loan to quickly pay off the arrears we did have at that time, as we knew it would not help us. however the housing officer then told us that it made no difference, the fact that we had even HAD arrers means we would be found intentionally homeless.

Housing officer is acting unlawfully by pre empting the decision - this housing officer should not in any way be involved in the final homeless decison if they are the decision couldbe deemed unlawful
im ashamed to say that at this point both myself and hubby buried our heads in the sand. money, rent, housing, everything important became forbidden subjects. and since then our arrears have built up and up and up and now the "official" reason for the eviction is the rent arrears. i have not paid it as often as i would like, and close to not at all.

Are you saying that you chose to go out buy new clothes have holidays rather than pay your rent OR that you bought food paid gas and electric bills etc and could not pay your rent as well. the first would be intentional the second IS NOT


Please ensure that you go back to shelter, The local authority is legally obliged to accommodate you for a reasonable period if you are deemed intentional, dont let them fob you off.

Also there is a legal obligation for them to try and avoid you becomeing homeless in the first place it is called the prevention agenda, even if they beleive they are going to find you homeless they have to give you assistance to find alternative accommodation in the private sector, whilst the homeless officer makes the decision.

You have a reasonably good case given what you say , and whilst intentionality decisions are hard to get overturned it is not impossible.

Try and get over the feelings of guilt that the authority has managed to instill in you, oh and by the way you are not stupid as you have said in one of your posts you are human trying to deal with the ups and down of life that we all have to face, that doesnot make you stupid because if it did we would all have to hold that title at some time or other.

Miss_Cat

teeni wrote: »

Are you saying that you chose to go out buy new clothes have holidays rather than pay your rent OR that you bought food paid gas and electric bills etc and could not pay your rent as well. the first would be intentional the second IS NOT


Try and get over the feelings of guilt that the authority has managed to instill in you, oh and by the way you are not stupid as you have said in one of your posts you are human trying to deal with the ups and down of life that we all have to face, that doesnot make you stupid because if it did we would all have to hold that title at some time or other.

no, we didnt go on holidays or buy new clothes (unless you include the kids clothes, cos we have bought them clothes and shoes.) it did all go on bills, although i did get a loan for xmas which i had to pay back (all paid off now though)
and i'm sorry if i inadvertadley called anyone else stupid, i didn't mean to, its just that everyone else i have read about who have had similar problems hasnt seemed to bring it all about them selves, where as it feels like i have brought this down on our heads.
dont mean that in a bad way, but it makes me feel like im a bit of a fraud, that everyone else here has had genuine problems and that because this is basically my fault (or feels that way) i dont have the rights that everyone else has. i hope that makes sense without offending anyone here?
sometimes its hard to write things and convey the same meaning that it has in your own head...:sad:

Miss_Cat

tilly's_mum wrote: »

Your council website will have details and email addresses.

Exeter City Council -
http://www.exeter.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3501&contactid=423

Devon County Council - http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/democracycommunities/county_councillors/councillor_information_electoraldivision.htm

Hope this helps

Cheryl

it does, many thanks :A