In this piece Andrea continues to tell us in real time how she is coping with an illegal eviction, giving some great practical tips to deal with get rehoused and encourages people to stick with it even when things seems overwhelming or hopeless, Please feel free to comment below to let you Andrea kn0w what you think of this peice and offer any other advice you might have when it comes to dealing with eviction and getting rehoused, 

Read the previous report in Andrea’s eviction series 

This morning I received an email from the Council’s private rent team asking for clarification of the landlord’s details and whether there are any agents involved in my tenancy, as well as more details on the property, such as whether bills are included. I sent over the information I had, including the OpenRent advert. 

I received an email from the private rent team that made the assumption about my employment status by claiming I was not in full-time employment. They also went as far as saying that my last caseworker had told my new caseworker that she closed my case because she could not reach me. I was asked to get in touch with the landlord to confirm that he was still for me to move in.  

I sent over a response to the private rent team saying that although I am in fact working on a 2-year contract as an expert by experience on a panel for a charity, I could not provide proof of this because I didn’t have access to my phone.   Following this exchange, I contacted the landlord to let him know that the council had contacted me regarding the issues with my employment, and I reiterated the fact that I have a 2-year contract. The landlord responded to my message by saying he didn’t know why the council was asking him about this. 

Wait for the mess now – the landlord says he spoke to the caseworker at the council and told them that I work full time and he doesn’t know why the council is paying towards my holding deposit.  On top of this, it turns out the room now needs to be inspected by the council before they go ahead with the holding deposit.

The person who will be doing the inspection is not the person who is currently talking to the landlord At no time did the council explain to the landlord that Universal Credit covers rent for workers who don’t earn enough to pay rent, so I did this when I spoke to him, by simply telling him that I indeed, don’t earn enough to cover the full rent. It is worth adding that at no point had the council ever explained to me that the room would need to be inspected before I could move into it. 

What I also found jarring was the caseworker’s hesitancy when it came to providing the landlord with an email address,  either for them or the person who would be carrying out the inspections. The reason my landlord needed this email address was so that he could  send over all the relevant documents, such as gas and electric certificates. This really wound me up and I had to keep calm before I lost it and potentially the property as well.  

Instead, I was asked to send an email to my landlord so he could send over the documents for me to, in turn,  to send them on to the private rent team. I sent him the email and he responded, saying the private rent team had sent him an email already and he had sent over all the documents directly to them in his reply. The landlord was then told that someone would get in touch with him today to sort out the inspection. 

I am feeling very upset today and like the council are not taking my homelessness seriously. 

I understand there is a lack of funding for services, but the lack of communication is really testing my patience and I’m starting to feel low. I’m now having to ask to stay at my friend’s for longer than planned and becoming really resentful towards being on Universal Credit. 

Image by Mat Amp Instagram @matamp67