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Lost job, need to find cheaper place...

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  • iwantotleave
    iwantotleave Posts: 8 Forumite
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    deannatrois wrote: »
    Its also worth going on the debt free wannabe board to see what adjustments you can make to your budget. Its surprising what you can go without when you have to. I'm afraid rent has to come first in situations like this (been there myself). But check if you will be able to get any help with HB as well although if young, you might find you are only entitled to rates for a room rather than a full flat.

    I'm afraid in situations like this, when you are already short of money and you have to find a deposit to get into a cheaper place it can be quite difficult to move, so bear this in mind as well and try and keep some money aside for that if you possibly can. Sell what furniture you can. Sorry, I know this is not easy.

    Is there any chance of you getting a second job to help out?

    HB angle already examined, it's a no. I don't need a deposit. I will have the deposit from when I leave this place. In any case, it is possible to rent as a lodger without one. The problem is the landlord will not let me leave before the 12 month minimum term is up and I've got seven more months to go. I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate me selling his furniture either...
  • Pixie5740
    Pixie5740 Posts: 14,515 Forumite
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    iwantotleave wrote: »
    I will need to if I am to keep paying the rent. I just don't want any impact on my credit record that would affect future renting (he had me credit checked before I rented)

    The only way your rental situation could impact your credit history is if your landlord was successfully awarded a CCJ against you for arrears. Being evicted via the courts isn't reported to the credit reference agencies.

    If there's no break clause and the landlord won't agree to an early surrender then you just need to pick the lesser of two evils...arrears or a lodger.
  • iwantotleave
    iwantotleave Posts: 8 Forumite
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    Cakeguts wrote: »
    It is too late now but you can learn from this experience going forward. It is always a good idea to have savings and not to spend every penny you earn. It used to be called "saving for a rainy day." It was to make sure that if you got into a situation like this you could pay the rent from your savings until the end of the lease. It also meant that if you had a mortgage you could carry on paying it until you got another job.

    There is a tendency for people these days to borrow money and to spend everything they earn. Where you are now is an extremely good arguement for not doing this.

    I do have some savings, but not enough. However, the rent plus council tax plus utilities is £1,200 per month. I can afford this on my current salary. Not on my new salary. I'm sorry, but if I had the seven months rent and bills in the bank (£8400) I wouldn't be renting, it would have been on a house deposit.

    In fact I'm willing to bet that fewer than one in ten renting people have seven months rent in their bank.
  • iwantotleave
    iwantotleave Posts: 8 Forumite
    edited 8 April 2018 at 5:11PM
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    Pixie5740 wrote: »
    The only way your rental situation could impact your credit history is if your landlord was successfully awarded a CCJ against you for arrears. Being evicted via the courts isn't reported to the credit reference agencies.

    If there's no break clause and the landlord won't agree to an early surrender then you just need to pick the lesser of two evils...arrears or a lodger.

    Oh, I'm fine with the lodger. Tenancy agreement specifically says no lodgers. Landlord says absolutely definitely no lodgers...

    Would I not get a CCJ if the landlord tried to take me to court for the seven months rent remaining after he evicts me for breaking the TA?
  • StumpyPumpy
    StumpyPumpy Posts: 1,458 Forumite
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    You've tried nice so I think at this stage I would be having a full and frank discussion with my landlord. I would explain to him that as of x date I will no longer be able to afford his rent and will stop paying it. If he wishes to allow me to break the contract for no penalty I will then move out of his property. If he wishes to insist that I pay for the remainder of the term I will stay in the property, without paying, and await his court action demanding rent. As I have no assets, at the point where the court tries to enforce the collection of the rent arrears I will be forced to declare myself bankrupt. However as a bankrupt with no other accommodation available I will have not option but to remain in the property until such time that an eviction notice is enforced by the courts.

    That leaves it up to the landlord to decide whether or not to come to a mutually beneficial arrangement or to call your bluff and see you in court.

    SP
    Come on people, it's not difficult: lose means to be unable to find, loose means not being fixed in place. So if you have a hole in your pocket you might lose your loose change.
  • takman
    takman Posts: 3,876 Forumite
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    iwantotleave wrote: »
    I do have some savings, but not enough. However, the rent plus council tax plus utilities is £1,200 per month. I can afford this on my current salary. Not on my new salary. I'm sorry, but if I had the seven months rent and bills in the bank (£8400) I wouldn't be renting, it would have been on a house deposit.

    In fact I'm willing to bet that fewer than one in ten renting people have seven months rent in their bank.

    You didn't need to have the seven months rent and bills in the bank. A minimum wage full time job pays around £1090 a month after tax so even if you had only £770 in the bank this would have just about converted you for the 7 months. You could then have got a second job to get the money for other essential expenditure.

    Also the fact that your quoting it as £1200 exactly suggests you don't actually have a budget and don't know exactly what you need to pay and how much. Get on the Debt Free Wannabe part of this forum and post a SOA and get suggestions on how to save money. If you don't know how much money you need it's difficult to work out a solution.

    I also have to mention that your the one who signed a contract where you agreed to pay the rent for 12 months. You didn't have to do this and could have moved to a place where it had a shorter contract if you have no savings. Which is something to keep in mind in the future.

    But your best course of action now is to get your SOA filled out giving details of how much you will earn on your new job and see what people suggest.
  • kerri_gt
    kerri_gt Posts: 11,202 Forumite
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    Not a long term solution but will you receive any redundancy payment that will help make up the shortfall between new job / better paid job to cover your expenses?

    Are there any outgoings you can cut back on to save some more £ as well?

    Is there any chance your LL would reduce your rent for a period?
    Feb 2015 NSD Challenge 8/12
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  • System
    System Posts: 178,094 Community Admin
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    What is your current salary and what will be your future salary.

    £1200 odd for rent and bills. That's some amount to be paying out per month.

    To pay that per month you must be clearing 2k a month or so to actually have a life and enjoy things.
  • pmlindyloo
    pmlindyloo Posts: 13,049 Forumite
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    iwantotleave wrote: »
    I have checked - have been told there is no possibility of any HB. And the problem is not the time to find more affordable housing, that is easy enough, the problem is the landlord is holding me to the remaining seven months of the lease.

    When you say you have checked about HB - what do you mean?

    If you stay where you are and work at the job with a reduced salary then I believe you can make a claim for HB and your current rent would be used in their assessment - obviously your salary would be counted as income.

    The 13 week rule is in HB Reg 11 (9)(10) and (11)

    (9) Subject to paragraph (10), where the relevant authority is satisfied that a person to whom paragraph (11) applies was able to meet the financial commitments for his dwelling when they were entered into, there shall be no maximum rent during the first 13 weeks of the claimant’s award of housing benefit

    (10) Paragraph (9) shall not apply where a claimant was previously entitled to benefit in respect of a benefit period which fell wholly or partly less than 52 weeks before the commencement of his current award of housing benefit

    So basically they should use your actual rent when assessing you for HB and this should last for 13 weeks.

    You must not have been claiming HB during the last 52 weeks and you must have been able to afford the rent when you took on the tenancy.

    Does this help or is there still some reason why you would not be eligible?

    If this was applicable to you then it would mean that you now have 4 months of being able to afford to live where you are. Hopefully you might be able to find a better paid job or find a second job to increase your incomings.

    If HB is totally out of the question after considering the 13 week protection rule then I would agree that you pay what you can to the landlord and then expect an eviction notice for rent arrears/or take a lodger and expect same for breaking tenancy agreement.
  • Pixie5740
    Pixie5740 Posts: 14,515 Forumite
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    iwantotleave wrote: »
    Oh, I'm fine with the lodger. Tenancy agreement specifically says no lodgers. Landlord says absolutely definitely no lodgers...

    Would I not get a CCJ if the landlord tried to take me to court for the seven months rent remaining after he evicts me for breaking the TA?

    No, he can't have it both ways. If he serves you with a Section 8 notice, probably ground 12 (breach of tenancy agreement) and he wins in court then the tenancy has ended he wouldn't be able to also claim rent for the full 12 month fixed term. Ground 12 is a discretionary ground so there's no guarantee it would go his way in court if it came to it anyway which means if he tries that route he might then be more amenable to agreeing a mutual surrender.
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