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Cool fair enough. It is none of their business unless you chose to tell them
In my area they do like points for allocating council housing but there are other factors for short-term emergency housing and they have special mental health key workers at the housing department.
Not that it's helped me really but at least I know that if I do get evicted from here then I won't be on the streets
That said they don't always think of the logical things, once they suggested a homeless hostel to me that did mental health support but was totally out of my hospital and doctors catchment so I would have been practically starting over again treatment wise. And you literally had to sleep there everynight to keep your place so I couldn't have visited my Dad for a weekend or that sort of thing without losing my housing.
To cover everything:
If you have been served with a section 21 notice this must end on the last day of your rental period (i.e. the day before your rent becomes due). It must give you two months (if your contract is monthly) or eight weeks (if your contract is weekly) notice. It cannot be set for a day within the fixed term of your contract. It can only be served if you have an assured shorthold tenancy.
If you do not leave when the notice expires the landlord must apply to the court for possession. There is no defence to a section 21 application for possession. If the court orders possession you will usually have 28 days to leave the property.
If you do not leave when the court orders you to then the landlord must return to court for a warrant of eviction. This will mean that the bailiff will come and evict you.
Any costs that the landlord incurs will be payable by you, but the landlord will have to return to court again to get a county court judgment (CCJ) against you to enforce those costs.
If you have been served with any other type of eviction notice, get legal advice ASAP. You can call Shelter on 0808 800 4444 or pop into the Shelter housing aid centre in Gateway House on High Street.
There's a brief guide to making a homelessness application here.
The council have admitted that they have a duty which is a good start. This means that they have to find you somewhere. It doesn't have to be a council property straight away and they can place you in B&B or hostel. Given that the councils are penalised if they have too many people in temporary accommodation they may try and sweet talk you into taking a private tenancy. Think about it carefully before you do this; if you can get a council or housing association tenancy you're in a much stronger position in the long term.
If you are in receipt of income support you automatically get full housing benefit. If you rent from a housing association or council this will cover your full rent. You will only be affected by Local Housing Allowance if you rent privately. LHA will pay you a maximum amount towards your rent, depending on how many children you have, and you can find out what the LHA rate is on the council's website. The LHA rate changes monthly but your LHA rate is fixed for 12 months from when you make the claim; if the LHA goes down, you don't have to find the extra suddenly. If you're on a low income you should get some housing benefit or LHA, but there may be a reduction due to income.
Tell the homeless officer about anything that affects your health as the more you say the more priority you are. Points mean prizes with homeless legislation. If you're a vulnerable person because of mental health difficulties it makes a big difference. It can even mean that social services have a duty to house you if the housing department can't find something suitable for your health needs.
I would strongly suggest that you go and see Shelter, rather than ringing them up, if you can get to the nearest housing aid centre in the centre of Birmingham. We can do more for you face-to-face than over the phone. If you can't get to the office ring Shelter on 0808 800 4444, the line is open until midnight.
If you have any problems send me a PM. You might be able to guess who I work for from the plugs;)
There should be a list of bad landlords so people know who to avoid. These cunts haven't done gas checks since sept 05, we've had no heating or hot water for er... months. When I did used to point out things that were their responsibility that needed fixing they'd be really curt about it and mention putting the rent up.
Then they serve me an invalid notice and insist it's valid. Spend their whole inspection, slating me, slagging me off and harping on about how they've been doing me such a great favour by letting me stay in their house and have the use of their furniture and everything. Yeah, great favour, you've been abroad the whole time and wouldn't have been using it and... duh! oh yes, I've been PAYING you, not my definition of a favour. I could go on and on and on but... ta da, I feel better now. I might go and plant some woodworm in the rafters! - joke lol
99% of landlords are twats.