Homelessness

If you live in a privately rented tenancy and think you may be threatened with homelessness, please contact the Housing Solutions Team on 01702 215002. We will try to resolve any problems between you and your landlord in order to prevent you from becoming homeless.

We would recommend you contact us as soon as you find out you are threatened with homelessness. The earlier you contact us, the more time we will have to try to save your tenancy or, if that proves impossible, to help you find another home, so that you do not become homeless.

We will normally arrange an appointment for you to come in for an interview with a Housing Solutions Officer.

Below are a few examples of ways in which we might be able to help you:

• if your landlord wants you to leave your home, they have to serve you with a written notice. We can check the notice is valid
• we can talk with your landlord to establish whether there is anything we can do to save the tenancy
• if you are struggling to pay your rent, we can look at your income and expenditure and advise if there are ways you can maximise your income (for example, by claiming benefits to which you are entitled) or reduce your expenditure on non-priority items, so that you are able to stay in your tenancy
• if you claim Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit, and it doesnt cover the full amount of your rent, you may be eligible to receive financial support through a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP)
• if it will not be possible to keep you in your existing home, we can advise and guide you through getting a new home

If you do not have anywhere to move to by the end of your notice, you should let your landlord know. If they want to force you to leave the property, they need to apply to the courts for a Possession Order and Eviction Notice. This can take some time, although please note that, while the landlord will have the pay the court fees upfront, they can apply to reclaim these from you so it is important you get in touch with us as soon as possible.

If your landlord is bothering or harassing you, or is ignoring complaints about the condition of your home, you can contact the Private Sector Housing Team for advice on 01702 215002

Further advice

You can find advice below if:

• you need to check if your tenancy deposit is protected
• you dont have a tenancy agreement, or you dont understand it
• your landlord isnt meeting safety standards
• your landlord or letting agent is bothering or harassing you at home
• your landlord is trying to evict you
• youve asked your landlord for repairs or complained about conditions in your home