Landlord selling the house

redrose1414 · 11 August 2018 at 9:13PM

My landlord is selling the house I live in.
I work as a nurse full time but claim housing benefit towards my rent.
I have a son of school age and a daughter who goes to uni and only lives at home in the holidays and odd weekends.
I am an undischarged bankrupt without a penny to my name, I frequently miss one or two bill payments a month but have never missed a rent payment in 19 years of renting.
I know the chances of finding a house to rent is very slim and I do not have a guarantor.
The council have told me I cannot be placed on the housing register and I should present to them the day my tenancy ends but what do I do with my pets? I can!!!8217;t walk into the council offices with my animals, it wouldn!!!8217;t be allowed.
What do I do with my belongings? I would obviously need to keep beds and things for my future property but what do I do with it all the day I become homeless?
I have heard they can place me anywhere in the county in a B&B but are animals allowed and what if it isn!!!8217;t within walking distance of my sons school? I wouldn!!!8217;t be able to get to work for 07:00 and get him to school for 08:30?
Any advice appreciated as I!!!8217;m a bit scared.

martinthebandit · 11 August 2018 at 9:15PM

Does your landlord want you to vacate or is he selling it with you as a sitting tenant?

Red-Squirrel_2 · 11 August 2018 at 10:35PM

Have you had any contact with the Cavell Nurse's Trust? They may be able to help with a grant which could go towards a deposit for another private rental perhaps, or even kennelling costs for the animals for a few days.

https://www.cavellnursestrust.org/grants

[Deleted User] · 12 August 2018 at 12:36AM

I am sorry this is happening to you. Its very tough. It happened to me as well.

I am afraid the council have no responsibility for a dog or cat. They won't be housed in temporary accommodation unless you are placed in a house etc. I found a friend who would take my dog temporarily until I could take him back, which I was able to do as I have two sons with autism and was able to argue (and produce proof/medical evidence that being placed in single room accommodation would harm them) so I was placed in a ground floor maisonette and gained permission to have my dog there. This is unusual though.

Council's will gatekeep and make being placed in emergency accommodation sound as bad as possible.. they did it to me, but due to a lack of social housing it is now the norm for it to be as described. I was lucky my council were unusual. However, I was told all the bad stuff and it made the process incredibly stressful. Find out what your council's actual policy is with the homeless. If you have a job you can argue successfully that you shouldn't be placed away from your job.

Most councils have some way of loaning people in your situation money towards a first month's rent and deposit. Then you'd have to try and find a LL who would accept a tenant on HLA which can be more difficult.

Phone Shelter and get some advice.

m0bov · 12 August 2018 at 7:50AM

Wait until you have a s21 which may or may not happen.

redrose1414 · 12 August 2018 at 9:06AM

martinthebandit wrote: »

Does your landlord want you to vacate or is he selling it with you as a sitting tenant?

He wants us to vacate in November so he can do the house up to sell.

redrose1414 · 12 August 2018 at 9:07AM

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Have you had any contact with the Cavell Nurse's Trust? They may be able to help with a grant which could go towards a deposit for another private rental perhaps, or even kennelling costs for the animals for a few days.

https://www.cavellnursestrust.org/grants

Thank you Red Squirrel, I will have a look.

redrose1414 · 12 August 2018 at 9:11AM

deannatrois wrote: »

I am sorry this is happening to you. Its very tough. It happened to me as well.

I am afraid the council have no responsibility for a dog or cat. They won't be housed in temporary accommodation unless you are placed in a house etc. I found a friend who would take my dog temporarily until I could take him back, which I was able to do as I have two sons with autism and was able to argue (and produce proof/medical evidence that being placed in single room accommodation would harm them) so I was placed in a ground floor maisonette and gained permission to have my dog there. This is unusual though.

Council's will gatekeep and make being placed in emergency accommodation sound as bad as possible.. they did it to me, but due to a lack of social housing it is now the norm for it to be as described. I was lucky my council were unusual. However, I was told all the bad stuff and it made the process incredibly stressful. Find out what your council's actual policy is with the homeless. If you have a job you can argue successfully that you shouldn't be placed away from your job.

Most councils have some way of loaning people in your situation money towards a first month's rent and deposit. Then you'd have to try and find a LL who would accept a tenant on HLA which can be more difficult.

Phone Shelter and get some advice.

Thank you, I will make an appointment to speak to housing options and see what they say. I have no one who can take a cat, a dog and 2 snakes unfortunately. There was recently a change in the system for a neighbouring council as a man committed suicide as a direct result of having to give up his 2 dogs when he became homeless so I will ask my council their policy on this.

Blaise_in_Surrey · 12 August 2018 at 9:16AM

It might be worth talking to the PDSA regarding your animals, to see if they have any advice. Is there a pet shop anywhere near you that sells reptiles? They might be prepared to take in the snakes in exchange for some work in the shop (I appreciate you work full-time already, but could you do some cleaning before a shift? I have loads of animals and would do absolutely anything to keep them). Then contact all your local animal rescue centres to see if they would find foster families for your cat and dog while you get settled.

martinthebandit · 12 August 2018 at 9:16AM

redrose1414 wrote: »

He wants us to vacate in November so he can do the house up to sell.

Has he given you the correct notice?

I think you are going to need to do a fair bit of reading to enable you to understand your options and it may be worthwhile having a look at the debt advice on here, possibly including posting up a SOA so that people on here can advise on how you can make savings and ensure you don't stay in the same financial position that you are currently.

redrose1414 · 12 August 2018 at 9:17AM

m0bov wrote: »

Wait until you have a s21 which may or may not happen.

Hmm, I don’t think I will get one. My landlord is very lax. He has barely done any repairs to the house and we should have signed a new tenancy last November and we haven’t.
The thing is I don’t want to ruin the relationship we have with the LL as a good reference from him might be the only thing that actually helps me get a new house.

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Landlord selling the house

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