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Homelessness and reference issue
scatcatcathy
Posts: 2,069 Forum Member
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For those that dont know,my family got put into emergency accomodation in feb this year,landlords representative wanted the house back for his daughter(our landlords are his wife and daughter)never met them until eviction day,they didnt like how the council paid the rent and as our former neighbour has said he had it in for us since day one. My stupid partner then witheld the last 2 months rent,no gas checks,leaks and dodgy leccy and put a load of it on the gas and leccy metres(they would run out quickly,indoors was freezing and the property had windows which wouldnt shut) Council advised us to stay until eviction day. This representative had tried to say we owed over 4000 in arrears! Well after a solicitor doing proper maths and taking into account our deposit,we are now owing 647 and the council still wont help us,i have written a statement which I have requested to pay off the rest in installments and so has my former neighbour, hers was backing us in regards to the fact he was lying about owning a washing machine my neighbour bought for us and we paid her back in full for,she wrote hes been talking about the theft of this all over street,also months before he served the original eviction notice(it was invalid)he told her of his intention to get his daughter in the property,she also wrote about his grumbling about the rent and no matter what, he would still moan.well in july we got a letter from the council saying we could appeal their decision not to help,we did and got a solictor,she thought we had quite a good case now they have done their final review and want us out on october the 29th. The solictor got a barristers opinion on our case and he thinks it wouldnt be worth it as the council will keep bringing it back to those arrears.:-( the solicitor had my former neighbours letters,my statements and the gas and leccy receipts along with her own letter hand delivered in the hope they change their mind,or give us a stay of execution.3 weeks ago I saw a duty social worker and she photocopied our final decision letter,she then said she doesnt know what they can do,this useless lump then asked what my plans were! I said I didnt know if I did I wouldnt be asking for their help.the decision letter says to speak to a social worker,she then insinuates they would help the children but not us,i quoted shelters website that states they cant take children on this basis,they have to be at serious risk of abuse,that seemed to shut her up because she then said we dont want to take the children! Our solicitor said she would put us in contact with a family solicitor,we got told not to tell this s.w anything else. Finally we are on the rent deposit scheme,which means if we find another privite place the council will pay the deposit and 2 months rent. We found a place,everyone got along we have exchanged emails,she has emailed the head of housing options to prove shes real. Now shes emailed she wants references from our last 2 landlords! I have had no trouble with any council apart from him and greenwich, of course he is going to ruin this by being extra vindictive.:-(the only other thing I could think of was providing her with my old neighbours number,(even our final decision letter says hes an unreliable witness) we provided the name of the guarentor of our first rented place,hes a judge and he got the deposit back. Sorry its so long,i feel we get somewhere and just get kicked down again.
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If this is not the advice you are after I do apologise, but it was hard to tell from your post.
Would the council help you and the children without your partner? I know that's not what you want, but the children need a roof over their heads
I'm really sorry for your troubles and hope you get help from someone soon
Surely if the fraudalent claim for 4k from your previous landlords solicitor which turned out to just be 600+ is documented, combined with the "daughter factor" and way you were served notice, your new landlord would see through the smoke screen and understand this was more a case of the previous wanting shot of you, and simply fabricated reasons to save face?
They probably thought they'd not only give the home to daughter but scam you out of 4 grand in the process, your solicitor clearly left them with egg on their face..
I hope somebody more knowledgable can give you some solid information here and that you find some sort of stability in the upcoming weeks/months
Legal aid,i had to provide proof im on esa.
Sorry about my messy post,the judge provided the deposit and 1st months rent.
It was in 2000 thru the lettings agent boydens.
He got all his money back.
The other 3 places were baberegh(suffolk)district council,never had problems with them either.
No they wont help me on my own as I was a joint tennant.
The rent cheques never had my name on and I had no access to his bank account. Have proof of this and they still dont want to know.
thanks for answering the question
I have just sent our solicitor a text explaining the situation.
Hopefully she can tell the potential landlord whats going on and it will be more plausable than just my word and our previous neighbours.
Fingers crossed as the anxiety is awful.
Surely your LA retains a responsibility - they can say you are intentionally homeless, but they can't just leave your children with nowhere to live?
This one thinks we have a case regarding appealing their decision under s204 on a point of law.