Being evicted

Leigh_S

A few days ago I was served with an eviction notice, which came out of the blue. The landlady has decided to sell the property and I have until 21st February to find somewhere else to live but I don’t have anywhere else to go.
I am on the housing list but in the lowest band, they’ll put me as a priority once my notice period reaches 56 days. My account isn’t showing properties in my area and I don’t have any links to the properties it’s giving me as options. Moving to any of them would isolate from my partner, who helps me a lot, and I don’t know the areas at all so wouldn’t feel safe. I can’t privately rent due to being on benefits and not having anyone who can sign for me.
I didn’t know if there was any other options available or any other help/advice that I don’t know about. My disabilities are Autism Spectrum Disorder, mental health issues (awaiting yet another assessment) and anxiety. I also have an indoor cat.

janer1967

Hi and welcome to the community 

I'm sorry to hear about your situation it may be worth contacting shelter an organisation that helps with homeless 

Leigh_S

woodbine said:

Sorry to hear this, I assume your current home is a private rent? there are still some private landlords who accept people on benefits but it takes time and effort to find them, you mention a partner could you live with them while you find somewhere?

Unfortunately, partially due to my cat, it isn’t an option. Also if we lived together I would get all my benefits taken off me and would have no money at all

MarkM88

Shelter is a fantastic organisation too alongside using the website Mike posted. 

TheAlien

If you look at a website called open rent, you can search for properties in your area, who do allow pets and are quite happy with tenants on benefits. 

I think the link is www.openrent.co.uk if I'm not allowed to put the link in, please remove it with my apologies.

Leigh_S

woodbine said:

Leigh_S said:

woodbine said:

Sorry to hear this, I assume your current home is a private rent? there are still some private landlords who accept people on benefits but it takes time and effort to find them, you mention a partner could you live with them while you find somewhere?

Unfortunately, partially due to my cat, it isn’t an option. Also if we lived together I would get all my benefits taken off me and would have no money at all

If i'm honest i would consider a roof over my head much more important than a cat, as for benefits it depends which ones and what your partner earns.

I know that a lot of people would think the same thing but my cat is a great amount of emotional support for me. As he is an indoor cat and I rarely leave the house I would be extremely lonely without him and giving him up would have a severely negative effect on my already fragile mental health. 

I am on the limited capability element of universal credit and my partner works full time, I did a benefits calculator and it came out to I would possibly get £100 a month, however the calculator also said I should be getting about £100 more than I currently am based on my current circumstances so I could end up with nothing and £100 isn’t enough to cover much nowadays

Leigh_S

TheAlien said:

If you look at a website called open rent, you can search for properties in your area, who do allow pets and are quite happy with tenants on benefits. 

I think the link is www.openrent.co.uk if I'm not allowed to put the link in, please remove it with my apologies.

Thank you, I’ll take a look

poppy123456

Leigh_S said:

woodbine said:

Sorry to hear this, I assume your current home is a private rent? there are still some private landlords who accept people on benefits but it takes time and effort to find them, you mention a partner could you live with them while you find somewhere?

  Also if we lived together I would get all my benefits taken off me and would have no money at all

That would totally depend on both of your circumstances and what benefits exactly you claim at the moment.

Moving in together certainly doesn't mean you'll be worse off. Living seperately, you have double the expense of all the bills so 2 gas, 2 electric, double TV licence etc etc, living together means less bills.

You're right about privately renting, it's not easy but it can be done. There are some landlords that allow pets, my landlord did when i moved into my current house. I just had to pay £135 deposit (i have an indoor cat too)

Leigh_S

poppy123456 said:

Leigh_S said:

woodbine said:

Sorry to hear this, I assume your current home is a private rent? there are still some private landlords who accept people on benefits but it takes time and effort to find them, you mention a partner could you live with them while you find somewhere?

  Also if we lived together I would get all my benefits taken off me and would have no money at all

That would totally depend on both of your circumstances and what benefits exactly you claim at the moment.

Moving in together certainly doesn't mean you'll be worse off. Living seperately, you have double the expense of all the bills so 2 gas, 2 electric, double TV licence etc etc, living together means less bills.

You're right about privately renting, it's not easy but it can be done. There are some landlords that allow pets, my landlord did when i moved into my current house. I just had to pay £135 deposit (i have an indoor cat too)

My partner doesn’t have his own place and isn’t in a financial position to move out but it’s not possible for me to move into where he is

poppy123456

Couldn't agree more about the cat here. Animals are a huge part of our lives. I have a cat and my daughter adores him. She's Autistic and he helps her so much. She tells me all the time just how happy he makes her. I too believe that they definitely help in so many ways. She has no friends because she's unable to socialise but she has our cat that gives as much love to her as she gives to him.

When i was looking to move house a few years ago, there was no way i'd let my cat go just so i could move, why would i?? He's part of the family, sleeps with me on my bed, loves cuddles and is just like a little child in his own way.

Leigh_S

Username_removed said:

The impact on mental health at the point of potential homelessness of taking a cat to a shelter would be potentially devastating. 

This is exactly right. My mental health has already taken a nosedive because of the situation and my cat has been extra cuddly the past few days. What makes it worse is that there’s a neighbourhood cat who comes to visit and have his dinner at my house and if I think about the fact that I’m moving away from him I burst into tears. There’s also a stray cat in the area who seems to have been mistreated and I have been feeding her, gaining trust etc so that I could adopt her but she’s nowhere near ready for all the upheaval that’s going to happen over the next few months so I’m already having to give up one cat, so to speak, and that breaks my heart as well

TheAlien

Has your landlord explored the possibility of selling the property with a sitting tenant?  

It is possible to sell it as an investment opportunity.

Leigh_S

TheAlien said:

Has your landlord explored the possibility of selling the property with a sitting tenant?  

It is possible to sell it as an investment opportunity.

I don’t believe she is being honest about selling the property as the eviction notice was filled out a few days after I submitted a mandatory self assessment to the letting agents where I highlighted the mould and damp problems caused by her not fixing problems with the property that have been there since before I moved in. I’ve filed several complaints in the past about the problems and nothing has ever been done so I think she is using it as an excuse to get me out of the property so she doesn’t have to fix it

Alex_Alumni

@Leigh_S I'm very sorry to hear about the situation you've been put in, and I really hope our members replies have been helpful and reassuring.

I will echo the advice to go to AdviceLocal and Shelter, please keep us up to date with how you get on, and if you feel we can help with anything further, please let us know.

I completely understand your feelings around your cat, as well as the other cats around you. It can be a real comfort just seeing them out and about on patrol, especially over the last 2 years. I had a visiting cat during the first year of the pandemic, and it was a terrible wrench when she suddenly stopped appearing. I wish you all the best for a solution which means your cat can stay with you, and some certainty around your housing situation.

Leigh_S

Just to update, I have spoken to the council housing team and all they can offer me is shared accommodation, in which I can’t take my cat, and the waiting list for a property is a year long. Next stop is citizens advice and shelter

Ross_Alumni

Thanks for the update @Leigh_S, sorry to hear they could only offer you the shared accommodation, that must be quite frustrating. Hopefully CAB and / or Shelter will be able to help you  

L_Volunteer

Hi @Leigh_S

Any luck contacting Citizen's Advice and/or Shelter yet? Unfortunately, my expertise is not related to housing and accommodation but I wanted to post to say I am sorry to hear you are experiencing a tough time. We are here for you 

Leigh_S

L_Volunteer said:

Hi @Leigh_S

Any luck contacting Citizen's Advice and/or Shelter yet? 

Shelter bombarded me with lots of info that is on their website and is too much for me to even know where to begin sifting through as most of it looks like it’s not helpful or relevant.
I had better luck with citizens advice, they were very sympathetic and I have an appointment with them next week to try and help me out

Ross_Alumni

Sorry to hear that the interaction with Shelter wasn't great @Leigh_S, I've experienced that before where you call hoping for some more personalised or detailed advice but just get directed to information that you've already read or is just too much to consume, and it's never nice.

Hope the meeting with CAB goes well next week.