Received a letter from landlord avising 2 months to Vacate

I think newborn was just trying to help. You did ask if you should accept the £10,000 offer or not. 

i've been in the homeless system myself and learnt a lot about how it works (in part cause i had to go through the unsuitable temp system), so I'm hoping the below is of some use to you.

(although disclosure I'm not a legla expert, and the law different depending on which parts of the UK you're in, my knowledge is based off english law, use this as a guide only. you will need to get in touch with shelter and your local council to confirm specifcs and get accurate advice, especially if you do not live in england)

you need to check if the section 21 notice is valid before anything else. if the notice is not valid and you leave, it would count as an illegal eviction. if the notice is invalid, you don't need to do anything and just let the landlord work it out themselves.

If you were to tell the landlord the notice is invalid or to issue a section 21 or help them in any other way, that would be seen as making yourself intentionally homeless.

the housing team at your local council can help you work out if the section 21 is valid, likewise seeing shelter's advice. keep a copy of the S21.

if you're on UC and you were to accept the £10k, your UC entitlement each month would be reduced. also if you did accept it, you would be expected to use it on finding another place to rent privately. And it's very likely you'd have to give most of it upfront just to hope a landlord considers renting to you. plus during credit and reference checks your IVA/repayment plan would be flagged, which would go against you (especially as it's so recent).

hence your best - and most likely only - option is to go to the council and get on the social housing register. this is especially cause given your disabilities it sounds like you need long term, stable housing where you can left alone to work on keeping yourself healthy and put down firm roots (and this isn't something that exists in the UK private rental market).

and also, to go on a bit of a tangent, most landlords are deeply ableist and classist and won't consider someone who can't work full time. the housing crisis at the moment is really bad especially in london and other major cities to the point many young working professionals (aka the typical demographic for rneters) cant find anywhere. plus listings get snapped up in hours and you have to be able to communicate quickly to services. you won't stand a chance in such a market. this was one reason i could never find a place (and i'm a young person myself!)

given your circumstances as long as you can supply medical evidence you should get on the upper bands for your council house area. This varies by council so you will need specific advice for your area. Even then you could still be waiting for months.

That said, the event the council does agree to help you and you're not out by the end of april, stay put, but keep paying the rent. the landlord has to go to court and go through the correct process to get baliffs to evict you, otherwise it's an illegal eviction. that will take several months, especially as there is a backlog.

if you were to leave voluntarily (ie. by taking his offer), the council would then deem you unintentionally homeless and likely refuse to help. the landlord is likely trying to bribe you to leave so they do not have to go to court and can relet the property faster.

in short - you have a lot more time than two months. check the notice is valid. contact your council's housing office to get on the social housing register as a priority on medical grounds. don't accept the landlord's offer.

if you get on the social housing register and get offered a place before the baliffs, you won't have to enter unsuitable temporary accommodation. it's a lot of stress and anxiety now (understandably so!) but you'll be better off long term in stable council housing
local housing associations also have their own specific waitlists so it's worth contacting them directly.

i also strongly recommend looking at shelter's website and contacting them with the help of your support workers. (that link is for shelter england, although shelter cymru and shelter scotland also have similar guides).

also to answer another pointer, the reason why the CMHT won't help you is cause you're asking for legal and benefits advice, which is something they can't help you with. it's better for them to say no then give incorrect advice.

best of luck to you

JBS2022 said:

It depends whether the council deem the OP a priority for housing, my sister has cerebral palsy and later developed MS and the Council will not house her even when she was evicted from property even though she sometimes needed a wheelchair, they just put her in the local Salvation Army hostel, which was totally unsuitable, until she got a private rental. At least with the £10,000 the OP can pay rent upfront, whereas social housing is a gamble, disabled or not. I guess it depends on the housing stock in the OP local authority. It's a tricky one.

councils are known to lie and misrepresent the law to try to get out of helping people. it's important to know your rights and get a lot of support when engaging them, cause otherwise it can be difficult to get anywhere.

you're right that social housing is a gamble at times, but unfortunately for many people it's their only option. it was for me.