Served Notice

A question about : Served Notice

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 Ј1000 + 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.

Best answers:

• 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
• 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
• 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.
• So should i continue to pay the rent or stop?
• Definitely continue to pay. If you stop paying no one will rent to you again (virtually no one anyway)
• Just for everyone's information, the OP has also posted on the Buying, Selling and Renting forum.
  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...4425&highlight=
• 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
• 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.