Letter to the housing options team manager;
Dear Steven,
I am writing in regard to my recent Application for homelessness which i made on the 03/08/2011, I was informed by the gentleman who dealt with my initial application (As Trish, my designated caseworker, was away at this time) that all they needed was proof from my mother that she had in fact issued a notice for me to vacate the premises and i was to contact the housing options team, in person, one week before my eviction date, when i would be found suitable temporary housing.
Myself and my husband came into the office, on Friday 12th August to sign some paper work and check up on the status of our claim. At this time i spoke once again to Trish, who informed me that at the date of my eviction, i would not be found housing and would be expected to remain in the property until my mother formally evicted me through a court process known as a Section 21 Court Eviction.
This is highly irregular, that my own mother should have to evict me from her own home in this way seems bizarre and i question the legality of Trish asking me to do this, I also informed Trish that mum had builders coming in at the beginning of September and that this was the first we had heard from anybody about this 'court order' needing to be in place for me to vacate her property.
I think it is prudent, at this point, to say that from the very beginning of my dealing with the Housing Options team, i explained to Trish that not only do i not have a formal tenancy agreement with my mother (making court proceedings next to impossible) i also live in one room of her home which she lives in part-time when she returns to Britain. I believe Trish made a note of this, which would have been dated on or just after the 11th June 2011.
Having researched tenant law extensively, speaking to CAB, a solicitor specialising in housing issues and contact with the charity Shelter. I have discovered that the information given to be by Trish is false. She has actively ignored my explanation of the situation or the fact that my mother lives in the property (albeit, part time) and i simply rent a room off her.
Trish has acted as if my mother is not a residential live-in landlord, and has used this to coerce me time and time again to fill in forms etc treating her as if she is a landlord that lives out of the home even though she knew this was not the case.
As a residential live-in landlord, the only information my mother had to provide me with, was a notice to evict the property and give me a reasonable amount of notice, this notice was given and i was allowed 3 months to leave the property. I think that in the circumstances no court or otherwise would find this period insufficient for our needs.
Another example of where we have been coerced and mis-lead by Trish, came when she suggested to us that the next step in our proceedings with the council would be to apply as homeless 28 days before we were evicted from our property, I then asked if this would mean we were moved into Platinum banding and found temporary housing, we were told it would take 33 days for her to make a decision on our case. At this point i remember saying (as does my husband) "that would take us to a week over the eviction date" Trish then explained it was simply procedure and i should make the application as it was all that i could do. I said i would come in on the 3rd August to make that application. I said that Very clearly.
On the 12th August we went into the office, as previously explained and i questioned how Trish was proceeding with the application, she then explained she had 33 working days to consider the application, which would take us to mid September, a good 2 weeks or more after our eviction date. 33 days are very different to 33 working days. I am led to believe that actually, i could have put in an application for homelessness at 28 working days previous to my eviction date also, yet for some reason, even when i mentioned the date i would be coming in to make an application, i was not informed of this subtle but very relevant difference in time frames. This has, deliberately mis-lead us into a situation where we have wasted time when all of this nonsense could have been dealt with a few weeks ago, Not a mere two weeks before our date of eviction, placing additional stress on myself, my husband and subsequently our unborn child (I hasten to add, i suffered from a trying and difficult pregnancy with my last child and this pregnancy have been subjected to extra medical appointments, administration of invasive medicines twice daily and therefore need no added stresses at this difficult time in our lives)
I feel like, rather than Trish helping us find a way into any sort of housing, she has actively sought to prevent us from finding any housing what so ever. She has offered us no support finding private accommodation, simply informed us that this is what we MUST do.
Myself, my son, my husband and my unborn child are now facing forced homelessness, it is clear that if we remain in our landlords residential property beyond the date of our eviction notice, we will in fact be breaking the law.
I am NOT prepared to break the law based upon shifty advice from members of your team and given the details of our last conversation and also this discovery of coercion, mis-leading information to both myself and my family and an obvious disinterest in assisting us in housing private or otherwise, i am strongly considering if i have a law suit against the council at this time. I will be speaking to a solicitor further about these matters next week.
I feel it prudent to mention, that after our previous phone call, during which you made it quite clear you did not condone the terminology given to me by Trish regarding my personal circumstances and how she had approached the matter of my husbands working needs, It would have been professional and just to remove our case from Trish's caseload. On this matter i feel you have behaved very unprofessionally and not entirely within the realms of business law. From that situation i have learnt to place everything in writing and am doing so now and would like to make it abundantly clear that this is a formal complaint against a member of your team and i expect it to be treated as such.
Until such time as the legality of this information given to me by Trish has been verified, i would rather deal with another member of your team if at all possible, she has informed me quite clearly that she is in no rush to consider our application for homelessness and imagines it will take the full 33 working days from the date of our claim for her to come to a decision about wether or not we are actually homeless. This is unacceptable, it is clear this woman has some issue with myself and my family and i do not wish to have anything more to do with her. I trust there is another member of the team who can deal with my claim for the time being.
I have to inform you now, in writing, that on the 31st of August 2011 myself and my young family will be homeless, we will be living out of the back of a 40 year old camper van with no running hot or cold water, heating or a toilet for the period of time it takes the council to find us suitable affordable housing in the Salisbury area. I am quite prepared to go to both the national and the local papers with this information, i will be contacting my MP directly with this update in circumstances and i am seeking legal advice on how i can proceed with a case against the Housing Options team as i feel very strongly that no people should have to go through the stress, pain and discrimination that myself and my family have suffered in the last few months.
Thank you for your time, i look forward to hearing from you, in writing, at the first possible convenience.
So excited 
