Loosing hope to find a place to live!

Hi Emma,

Have you considered getting a guarantor? Is there a family member who can do this for you?

Hi Mina,

My dad said he is willing but according to the letting agents he wouldn’t be able to as his pension doesn’t earn enough to cover us both if anything went wrong.

Am looking into borrowing 6 months rent upfront to see if that helps my case.

I appreciate your suggestions.

Emma

Such a shame, I do hope you find a solution and wish you the very best of luck.

Just keep trying, you absolutely will find somewhere. I’m sure 6 months upfront will sweeten the deal and also you might want to consider widening your search for this property and then after your first tenancy you’ll have a reference to prove you’ve paid regularly.

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Thank you Mina, I really hope you are right.
I now have it confirmed that I can offer 6 months up front so fingers crossed.

Hi Emma,

I let to a single Mum on UC with kids and pets, so it possible to find somewhere. Because so few landlords do it, it makes for a good long term tenant as others have said. What I would advise is to use sites like Openrent where you are dealing directly with landlords because agents won’t want to put the legwork in to help you. It’s easier for them to say ‘computer says no’, especially as you aren’t paying their huge fees now. If anyone says they want a bigger deposit for pets, this is now illegal as you are limited to 5 weeks’ rent, so be careful. If they’re breaking one law, they may break others such as deposit registration or gas safety. Be open about your situation and show the landlord you’re a good bet.

Good luck. Let us know how you get on.

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I also let to pet owners (unfurnished though…), i think there is a large gap in the market for that and quite frankly pets are not worse than kids! :slight_smile:
Did you ask the new owners to let you stay until you find something? maybe you can offer to pay a little more? I don’t think they are really looking forward to redoing the house… i wouldn’t! :stuck_out_tongue:

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Haha! They’re investors, did try as a sitting tenant but apparently their mortgage states that it must be a vacant property! I did say I’ll move out & then back in but estate agents were saying it will be put out to the open market & of course I won’t be what they’re looking for!

Definitely a gap in the market with pets!

Hi Emma,
Just thought I’d say good luck. You sound a lovely person and it’s sad to be in your position.
I have the same issues, I claim UC due to ill health and I have a cat. My son (adult) and I are joint tenants (at the moment he also needs to claim us) We have never missed our rent, in fact we have sold items for food to ensure our rent is paid! Our lovely cat “little puss” is well behaved, I want to keep my home nice, I have nice things so no way would I live with damage, we also have a subscription for flea treatment to keep her clean we do everything we can to be good tenants. We are clean quiet and respectful.
What I’m trying to say is it’s really hard trying to find a new home, and sometimes people can’t help there circumstances. We have no other family so no guarantors.
At the moment we are saving every available penny to get together 6mths rent in the hope it will make things a little easier.
I wish you all the luck in the world in finding a new safe home
S.

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Thank you Suzanne, what a lovely kind message.
Fingers crossed for you too. I understand that, I’ve always paid rent & bills first & everything else is budgeted on what is left over.

I appreciate everyone’s comments, what a lovely bunch you all are :slight_smile: I will make sure if anything happens I will keep you updated. I really enjoy this forum, it definitely opens up your eyes from a landlords point of view & makes me strive to never ever be that kind of tenant.

Thank you.

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Mina, remember you have to have e/l, epc and Gas certificates to let out and agreement from the mortgage company (if you have one! Also the income must be declared to the tax man as it’s treated and business income.

Hi Brian,

Yes, we’ve done everything to ensure we’re kosher. I used to be majority shareholder in a lettings agency so it’s not my first rodeo :slight_smile:

Hi Emma, I’m in North East England. Here, if a tenant has a notice to quit the local authority will give them priority housing. Someone I know was looking for a 4 bed bungalow [rarest of finds] and was offered a 3 bed detached bungalow within 4 days. Just a thought. Good luck in your search

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Thanks Eileen2.

I’m under South Gloucestershire Council in Bristol, I think we have a housing crisis here.

I now have 3 weeks ish left in this property, I have offered 6 months upfront, a guarantor to estate agents & a private landlord & still no joy. I feel I have exhausted all my options now.

I have managed to secure a room so myself & my boys will have a bed to sleep on. Will buy me some more time to keep looking as long term in a room with not be substanible.

Hi Emma. Think your post is about the fifth I have seen on here under similar circumstances which shows the flaws in the system.
I said we didn’t want pets because of previous bad behaviour by bad tenants. For us it’s about not wanting the confrontation and arguments of yet another problem, but if we were in a position to help yourself I would relent after reading your post as you sound very sensible and would not want anyone responsible to lose their pet, as we have just done, for any reason. so being able to explain to a landlord directly is good if you can do that somehow. As others have said an agent will not bother so if you see any signs try and get in touch directly with landlord, as you have done here.
After our tenants got rats for the second time I did ask them if they would fancy a cat, but the answer was no, so cats do have benefits.
Of course as a family there is the benefit that you as a family won’t be moving around every five minutes. I wish you luck. Let us know how you get on.

If the house is being sold them would a letter from your mother in law Landlord be enough to explain the situation?
As far as I am aware there is no clause in Section 8 which accounts for the property being sold.
If your mother in law had issued the section 8 well before now I would guess the clause 1 about the landlord wanting to move back in themselves would apply and then the LL would be free to stay or sell or whatever.
Councils will advise people to sit it out to the bitter end but your situation is different so maybe ask for a letter explaining the situation for the council’s attention, which surely shows you will have to vacate.

Thanks Mr_T :slightly_smiling_face:

My mother in law did write a letter of notice for me but the council weren’t interested. It had to be a formal notice (Section 8 or 21) but I wasn’t aware of the clause 1 so will look up information on that tonight - thanks.

I called my local council yesterday to ask for help/advice as I’d been trying hard with agents/landlord (6 months/guarantor etc) & still no progress & I was told to ‘keep bidding, no temporary accommodation available & no pets allowed so that’ll be another problem for you & to call the day before you have to leave’
No other advice! Thanks for that :joy:
I get that they deal with this everyday & lots of other people are in the same situation but crikey they lack in empathy!

Hi Emma,
Have you tried Facebook, where a lot of Landlords have forums in their local area? I just typed in Bristol Rentals in the searchbar of FB a second ago and Rent My Room - Bristol Houses, Rooms, Rentals came up. There may be others too. You’ll be able to ask direct to Landlords on the forum. Worth a try!
Good Luck!
Nathalie

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Thanks Nathalie, I will have a look at that too.
I have joined a couple of FB groups but they are very quiet.

That is just so shocking.
Trouble is with the Section 8 the LL has to give the required notice and so if the house is due to be vacated soon there may not be the time to do that. Would your husband be able to keep your pets whilst you find somewhere suitable to house all of you?

Ah I see, yes it will run out of time as they are saying mid-late July for completion.

He is now renting a place by himself but they don’t allow pets unfortunately.

I really do appreciate your help & advice, thank you all.