Served Notice

palmski · 26 August 2012 at 11:57AM

Good day all
Ok heres the story today my Landlord came and served us 8 weeks notice to leave their property. Only because there situation has changed and they need to move back in.
The problem is we have 3 children that live with us and just about break even every month.
We have had our name on council list for some time but not a priority as i am working and we are suitably housed. My wife does not work due to youngest just starting school, So she is currently looking. However my problem is we are left with little money each month to live on. Estate agents want £1000 + just to keep a house for you and we just cannot get that sort of money also we have poor credit scores due to previous relationships.
What are my options.
Will council now move us up list?
Can we get help with agent fees and deposit?

Or any help i am grateful as you can imagine the heartache we are going through right now.

Valli · 26 August 2012 at 12:01PM

Nice timing.

Anyway, assuming you have WRITTEN notice from your LL be down the council offices 9am Tuesday with it and request to be assigned as a priority as you are potentially homeless in 8 weeks.

Or, better still ask your wife to go, with the kids;)

pmlindyloo · 26 August 2012 at 12:17PM

palmski wrote: »

Good day all
Ok heres the story today my Landlord came and served us 8 weeks notice to leave their property. Only because there situation has changed and they need to move back in.
The problem is we have 3 children that live with us and just about break even every month.
We have had our name on council list for some time but not a priority as i am working and we are suitably housed. My wife does not work due to youngest just starting school, So she is currently looking. However my problem is we are left with little money each month to live on. Estate agents want £1000 + just to keep a house for you and we just cannot get that sort of money also we have poor credit scores due to previous relationships.
What are my options.
Will council now move us up list?
Can we get help with agent fees and deposit?

Or any help i am grateful as you can imagine the heartache we are going through right now.

You might be better posting this on the Buying, Housing and Renting forum as there are lots of very knowledgeable people on there who will help.

They will probably want to know the answers to a few questions before they can help.

Are you in England/Wales or Scotland?

What kind of tenancy agreement do you have? When did it start? When does it end?

Is your deposit protected in a scheme and have you been notified about this?

Has the LL served you with a Section 21 notice?

If the notice has been served correctly (your deposit needs to have been protected for it to be valid and all the dates correct) then this is a notice to seek possession and the LL would have to go to court to evict you. It does not mean that you have to leave at the end of the 2 months (info. for England/Wales. Scotland may be different)

The reason I am saying this is because most councils have very little council housing and although, in theory, they should help if you have 28 days or less before you have to leave, most councils will say that until you are evicted through a court order they will not view you as homeless.

Also because you are working they would suggest that you rent privately.

You would have the deposit back from your current home to use on your new one but you may have to do some jiggling to have the money available when you need it. You could ask your LL to release it asap because of your circumstances.

You would need to speak to letting agents about their requirements for credit checking. It is possible that a LL would accept you if your LL gave a good reference and you always paid your rent on time and you could afford the rent on your income.

How did you get your present home if you have a poor credit rating?

They may ask for a guarantor.

I hope that I have given you some useful information but if you post on the Buying, Housing and Renting forum the experts will correct me if I'm wrong and give further suggestions.

dancingfairy · 26 August 2012 at 6:14PM

Hi. A tough situation. A few ideas for you:
1) will the council help with a deposit? some councils have schemes where they lend people deposits.
2) Have you access to a credit union in your area to borrow a small amount from/overdraft (in order to pay new deposit) to tide you over until you get your old deposit back?
3) Have you thought of trying gumtree/adverts in the paper which may be cheaper than going through an agent. Also you are more likely to be dealing direct with the landlord than through an agency so you may be better able to explain your situation to them regarding a reference/deposit etc.
4) If you find somewhere suitable you may have to just go for it and move and then try and come to some sort of arrangement to pay off any notice period in your current place/have the deposit witheld. This isn't a nice thing to do but you may have to consider this

On the other hand if you do find somewhere nice/suitable your current landlords may release you early if they want to move back in.
5) Aside from that if you can't find anywhere you may have no option but to hang in there. Yes you will get more points as the situation becomes more urgent and you can't leave voluntarily as the council could then deem you to have made yourself unintentionally homeless

Depending on your council you may have to wait until the day before the bailiffs are due before they rehouse you if the housing in your area is in such short supply

6) You are in all likelihoods going to have several months to find somewhere - this is because by the time the 2 months notice has run out, then the landlord has gone to court for repossession, then booked the bailiffs etc etc it could run into 3-4 months before anything really happens. This should give you time to try and save up as much as possible before hand.
7) Why not try the debtfeewannabe board for help on making things stretch as much as possible and trying to free up a small amount for moving costs etc. Can you get overtime in, cut all uneccesary bills, etc etc (I'm sure you're probably doing pretty much everything already though).
Best of Luck
df

pmlindyloo · 26 August 2012 at 6:35PM

Some excellent advice dancing fairy but not sure about the deposit bond scheme that some councils run.

Do they vary from council to council?

Our council will only provide help to people on JSA, IS ESA (all income based) which the OP isn't receiving.

Our council will not provide the money for the deposit either - they will guarantee the deposit in the event of damage etc by the tenant but no money changes hand.

Hope I'm wrong and the OP's council will help out in this way.

palmski · 26 August 2012 at 7:39PM

So should i continue to pay the rent or stop?

paddedjohn · 27 August 2012 at 9:51AM

Definitely continue to pay. If you stop paying no one will rent to you again (virtually no one anyway)

pmlindyloo · 27 August 2012 at 11:50AM

Just for everyone's information, the OP has also posted on the Buying, Selling and Renting forum.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4144425&highlight=

dancingfairy · 27 August 2012 at 6:19PM

Well if you stop paying rent then you will get a bad/no reference and it will ruin your credit rating. It could also cause you to be labelled as intentionally homeless by the council (I'm not sure). On the other hand you could use the money to save a new deposit for your onward move and would then have to try and arrange a repayment plan to your old landlord.
I would get specialist advice from someone like Shelter before you consider not paying your rent. I can understand why it would be attractive but you need to be careful.
I hope you can sort something out.
Best of luck
df

CAB_Wyre_Forest_representative · 28 August 2012 at 1:23PM

Dear Palmski

If you are homeless through no fault of your own ie being evicted for anti social behaviour or rent arrears then you are likely to be in priority need as you have young children. The fact that you work is relevant only to the amount of rent that you could potentially afford to pay and the help with housing benefit that you may need.

You should contact the council immediately and let them know that you are threatened with homelessness. Your council has a legal duty to provide you with housing advice and support even if they are unable to rehouse you.

Each local authority has a number of schemes and they are all designed to ensure that families do not find themselves in bed and breakfast accommodation.

That said the more notice that you can give the council the more they are likely to be able to help you and the greater the number of options available to you.

It is worth taking all your paper work in to the council in case the landlords have not completed the correct paper work but it will only really give you a bit of extra time because if they need to move back in then they will just re-issue the notice with the right paper work.

Served Notice

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