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Housing problems, again.
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Ok will try explain this as best I can, sorry its probs going to be a long one.
I have been living in a student house since sept, It's not uni provided accommodation, it's a seperate company, anyway when I signed the contract at the beginning of the year, they did not give a specific date of when the tenancy ends (I assumed it would be after graduation or just before (July-ish)), After emailing the accommodation place a month ago asking for a date which I need to leave, they replied a week ago saying I need to be out within two weeks (June 21st) :shocking: Are they allowed to do that? Only give me two weeks notice? Is it different rules for student housing?
I did have somewhere to move into after the student house, but it wasn't supposed to be so soon, the house I was meant to move into isn't ready yet and I don't have the money yet to afford to pay them rent even if it was ready, (I'm putting in a claim for JSA, but takes couple of weeks and I don't have an address to give them, what do I say? Do I tell them I'm homeless? Or soon to be? I don't know how it works) and I need to apply for Local Housing Allowance as I can't afford the rent and its private rented but its the only choice I have so I don't end up homeless again. I don't have anywhere else to move into in the meantime, am I gonna have to go down the hostel route again until this house is ready?
Just wondering if anyone knows if there is anything that can be done? It's really stressing me out! Is there any way of persuading the student accommodation place of allowing me to stay a bit longer? Although I can't pay them any more money as I have literally nothing, I have around £14 to my name which is quite tragic it's almost funny! because a huge chunk of bills was just paid (which is stupid aswell because the payment is going into July when I'm not even going to be there!)
This should have been sorted a long time ago if I wasn't so stupid, I should have found out sooner when I needed to move out. There's sooo much to sort out it's really getting me down, I'm throwing most of my possessions away because I know that I'm not going to find somewhere within a week! What will happen if I don't move my stuff? Will they throw it all away? I have nowhere to take it all so what will happen to it. I'm really stuck
I have been living in a student house since sept, It's not uni provided accommodation, it's a seperate company, anyway when I signed the contract at the beginning of the year, they did not give a specific date of when the tenancy ends (I assumed it would be after graduation or just before (July-ish)), After emailing the accommodation place a month ago asking for a date which I need to leave, they replied a week ago saying I need to be out within two weeks (June 21st) :shocking: Are they allowed to do that? Only give me two weeks notice? Is it different rules for student housing?
I did have somewhere to move into after the student house, but it wasn't supposed to be so soon, the house I was meant to move into isn't ready yet and I don't have the money yet to afford to pay them rent even if it was ready, (I'm putting in a claim for JSA, but takes couple of weeks and I don't have an address to give them, what do I say? Do I tell them I'm homeless? Or soon to be? I don't know how it works) and I need to apply for Local Housing Allowance as I can't afford the rent and its private rented but its the only choice I have so I don't end up homeless again. I don't have anywhere else to move into in the meantime, am I gonna have to go down the hostel route again until this house is ready?
Just wondering if anyone knows if there is anything that can be done? It's really stressing me out! Is there any way of persuading the student accommodation place of allowing me to stay a bit longer? Although I can't pay them any more money as I have literally nothing, I have around £14 to my name which is quite tragic it's almost funny! because a huge chunk of bills was just paid (which is stupid aswell because the payment is going into July when I'm not even going to be there!)
This should have been sorted a long time ago if I wasn't so stupid, I should have found out sooner when I needed to move out. There's sooo much to sort out it's really getting me down, I'm throwing most of my possessions away because I know that I'm not going to find somewhere within a week! What will happen if I don't move my stuff? Will they throw it all away? I have nowhere to take it all so what will happen to it. I'm really stuck
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Comments
Your current landlord may allow you to stay, but they will expect you to pay.
Are there any friends or family you can stay with in the interim?
I don't have anyone else I can stay with, had this trouble last year before the student house.
If you decide to hang around they can't kick you out without a court order, of course. But the court fees will be added to the debt (although that's easily sorted with a Debt Relief Order!)
Too much to think about :crying: you'd think I'd be familiar with this situation by now but I don't even know what to do, thick.
I was meaning that you can claim LHA for your current property!
Sorry to hear about the dilemma you are in at the moment. *hug*
Has there been any changes since you last posted?
I agree with Arctic Roll that your tenancy sounds like a periodic tenancy if there was no end date and that you could apply for LHA at your current address.
However, have you spoken to your current landlord about the situation you are in? They may be willing to let you stay where you are until your new place is ready for you to move in (and not necessarily for the full 2 months notice they should give you).
This does mean paying rent where you currently live until the move, but as above, as you can apply for LHA now. Then when you move to your new place you can apply for LHA there.
As for which address to use for JSA - you can use your current address to apply for JSA when you course ends as then inform them of any change of address when you next sign on.
This page on the DirectGov website may help - http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/BeginnersGuideToBenefits/DG_4016267
Hope this helps.
so it's looking like I'm moving on Thursday just don't know where to, am going to try council but I never have any luck with them I dont know what's goingto happen
Completely agree with the above.
Private halls are fuckwits.
Have you tried spareroom.co.uk? Loads of students rent their room out over summer on there.
I had a similar issue and was in your shoes. I was at university in a student house, I moved from one house to another, but over the summer found out I had lost my uni place due to my disability. I was already sofa surfing with friends over summer holidays due to not having a home to go to like many other people. But I now had no where to live after the summer, no where to keep my life;s worth of belongings, and I had already paid a deposit on my new coming house of over £750 of which I couldn't get back after the tenancy and I had to find someone to replace me as I couldn't stay there without student status!! Complicatedness or what!! I had student debts, was nearly over my overdraft, no income what so ever and no one seemed to be helping at all. I was lucky in the fact that I had friends to stay with but moving allllll the time with so much stuff was tiring and energy draining and upsetting. Feeling like a charity case and unwanted and unhelped. There's light at the end of the tunnel though. I finally got my ESA sorted and was able to stay with a few friends a bit more long term. After declaring myself homeless with Cov Council, they said I wasnt a priority despite being disabled and having no family. Whilst having friends who are willing to put you up, they're not interested in helping, they just advise private renting which is too expensive even with housing benefits. It's crazy. I finally got put into a hostel type place, run by a company called the Foyer Federation or something like that. There maybe one in your area? you can stay there until the age of 24. It's not great, but it's better than other options and it's a roof over your head for a bit more long term?? You can also get Crisis loans, food tokens and stuff for food banks and you can get like help towards paying deposits and stuff for housing. But if you have a Foyer in your area and stuff then they help with all that kinda stuff. There's more help than i've reallised out there, you just have to push for it. Don't give up, demand all the help you need otherwise you won't get it. Also, whether you are a christian or not, local churches tend to help out with like food and stuff, they sometimes proved tokens and vouchers and stuff, I know we as a church do. Being part of a local church has kept a roof over my head and there's so much help and support through it. I'm not saying you have to go join a church, i'm just saying it's an option if you get really stuck for food and stuff due to money situations. If I can be of any help at all, please let me know. Even if it's just encouragement, i've moved over 32 times in 11 months, it's tough. But you can get through it, there's hope in it and one day you'll look back and see how far you've come, in a little place of your own Stay strong, hang in there. Rach x
Thank you bubbleyberry for sharing your personal experiences and more places to find support/assistance, I hope it gives hmmm7 some hope to hang on in there.
Any further news since you last posted, hmmm7? Have you moved yet? If so, where did you move to?
So has been a crazy couple of weeks, but on the plus side... I graduated yesterday, passed my degree Now I've just gotta figure out what to do with it! Thanks for all your help
Congratulations!!
Nina x
Sorry to hear you're still having such a hard time finding somewhere permanent to live and finding a job. Hopefully things will be more settled soon and less stressful.
Just wondering if you've tried asking your local council for a list of landlords that accept LHA? They normally have one. Apologies if you've done this already.
I'm moving in with a friend of a friend, I haven't met him yet but I've been told he's a nice guy (but you never really know for sure, do you? :chin:) Now I'm just a bit :nervous: because it will just be me and him in this house, will be strange moving in with someone I don't know and even more so because it's a guy I'm moving in with.
It felt different in my student house because it didn't feel like I was in the way or intruding in someone else's house. It felt like I had a right to be there and this time I feel different. I think it's going to feel really strange but I can't really afford to be picky, but the more I think about it, the more it makes me dread it which sounds really bad.
Is it normal to be this nervous? Not just nervous but like, absolutely shitting it. I should be happy, not feel like this. Can you live somewhere, with someone when you know you aren't going to feel comfortable? Is this a bad idea? Or should I just shurrup and get on with it? I don't know.
Damn you brain.
I think it's totally normal to feel this nervous when you've had so much upheaval *hug*
Equally, it's understandable that living with a guy you don't know is raising your anxiety levels and I think it's unusual for someone to absolutely agree to live in a house without meeting the person first. At this stage, do you feel it would be possible to meet him with your mutual friend just to get a sense of what he's like and to get a chance to have an open conversation with him about the way he likes to live in the place and whether or not you need to bring much with you etc...?
Also, Jo7 was just saying, it would be cool if you maybe have some sort of agreement that there's a trial period? Maybe a month to see how you get on and then if either of you is struggling with the arrangement, you can move on? What do you reckon?
As much as you need to find somewhere to live, there's a sense that if this really isn't right for you, then you'll be looking for something else as quickly as you've moved in...so maybe just taking the pressure off a bit and having the chance to move in with a bit more knowledge of what to expect will help - the unknown is often the most scary part...
Good idea about the trial period, I mentioned this to him and he said he hasn't got a proper tenancy agreement anyway so he said I could just leave at any time, as long as I let him know obviously and not just disappear.
Will just have to see how it goes, I'm not going to move all of my stuff in, just staying there for a while and see what happens. At least then I will have a proper address to be able to apply for jobs instead of being NFA because it's even more impossible to get one without an address. I wanna be a student again things were simpler.
I guess I'll never be totally comfortable unless I was living alone, and that doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon.
I just want a break, its never ending, have been fighting for the right to have somewhere proper to live for over a year now, nearly two actually and still nothing.
Ive been fighting all my life, just give me a freaking break! I dont know how much longer I can keep it up, I physically cannot do it anymore I cant see a way out Im tired of it all
To be perfectly frank, a lot of students these days end up going back to wherever they were before studies. What about your parents and family / friends?
I need a good rant/brain spew before my brain pops inside my head, sorry I just need to try make sense of it.
I do realise there are options for me, I'm just too stupid to figure it out. I don't know where to start and I've just sort of had enough of it all, moving from place to place not knowing where I'm going to be, I'm tired of it, I don't want to keep moving. At the minute things are moving really slow, have been waiting for JSA to come through for the past four weeks, had to ring them today to see whats happening with it, they said it shouldn't have taken this long to get it sorted. This means I've had no money at all for over four weeks and I still have none, they said they can't do anything about that until my JSA comes through so I just have to wait.
I just don't know what to do next, I'm still looking for somewhere and I know I'm not going to find somewhere permanent right now, but somewhere were I would feel safe would be nice. But I don't think I will feel safe, this sounds bonkers but I actually feel safer when I'm alone and walking around with nowhere to go, because I don't have to face people or talk to anyone, I don't have to worry about being around people because there's nobody around. I would rather be alone and have nowhere to go than go through anymore crap, I don't know how to get over that and just be okay around anyone, probably sounds stupid, but I am stupid.
I am still looking for jobs, applying, hearing nothing back, or hearing that I've been unsuccessful, I just need something! Anything! I'm just flipping fed up! I hate going in the Jobcentre because they treat you like shit, they just treat you like an inconvenience and talk down to you, it's not as if I want to be unemployed!, I wouldn't go in there at all if I wasn't desperate. Everytime I go in there, I come out feeling really crap, today I was sat there staring into space, actually feeling like I wanted to throw myself out of the nearest window, probably not a normal way to think.
I'm going to be totally shit even just getting a job, because I am so crap with people. I don't know how to be around people, what to say, what not to say, how to behave and it's driving me mad. If I was an employer I wouldn't want to hire me because I'm just no good at all. It's really something I need to work on but I don't know how!
What I would really love, would be to get out of this place. I know moving somewhere new won't make everything perfect but it would at least mean I wasn't threatened constantly and always looking over my shoulder. I hate being here because there's just so much shit. I just don't know how possible that would be to just leave, I don't know whether I would be entitled to help from somewhere I haven't lived? I know that to get help from council anywhere I would need to have a local connection to the area to have any sort of hope of finding somewhere to live but would that be the same if I was homeless? Can you move somewhere totally new if your homeless or do you just have to stick where you are? I don't freaking know, I don't know anything.
I just feel tiny and alone in this massive world and I don't know how to live. I can't make sense of it, it's too hard and I'm too thick.
Sorry for going on, just needed to get it out of my head, hasn't made things any clearer though :crazyeyes
*hug*
Sorry ranting didn't clear things up for you as you thought it would.
As Mist says, the council's rules are there to stop people cheating the system, but as a result it often means that people like yourself are left in the lurch.
Did you definitely decide not to stay with that friend of a friend? If it's still an option maybe you could try it for a month or so and if it doesn't work out you can move out? Maybe it won't be as bad as you think. For example, does the friend work and if so you won't be in their company 24/7; you'll have some space of your own.
Finding a place on your own that you can afford is going to be tough so it may be that you have to pluck up the courage to move in with someone you don't know. Saying that I can see that this might be easier if it was a girl as there won't be as much awkwardness. Do you think you'd be more open to that?
From previous posts I'm aware that going back to your family's place isn't an option. Have you tried spareroom.co.uk as picolo suggested? Do you think that would be an option?
Thinking of you and hoping that something comes up soon *hug*
As in legally, or just not supposed to say that? Surely they would have to agree to it though wouldn't they? Do you think I could I try and tell them they're wrong by using loads of legal mumbo-jumbo? :d
Not all landlords will ask for one but they may want a reference at least from a previous landlord or from your employer (to vouch that you're a reliable tenant and will be able to make the rent).
I know you're job hunting at the moment so fingers crossed something comes up soon. Starting any new job is daunting so don't be too hard on yourself, we can all get nervous around new people but there's usually someone you'll click with within the first few days and just take it slowly.
I imagine you've spoken to Shelter in the past but you might want to give them a call to talk through your options with someone that knows the ins and outs - their number is 0808 800 4444
Hang in there *hug*