Need help with housing problems?

is a terrifying prospect that most people hopefully won’t ever experience. Sadly, for one local tenant, a pensioner who lived alone and had been renting her home privately since 2007, eviction was what she faced. Her landlord decided that they wanted to sell the property and as the tenant, she had to find somewhere else to live with less than 3 months’ notice.

Living in one place for such a long time, it is no wonder that this tenant considered the area her home and the prospect of moving house, let alone moving out of the area was understandably very distressing.

Thankfully this tenant turned to the local Citizens Advice for advice and support. The Adviser set about contacting the Council’s homelessness team and also a local housing association to work out welfare benefit entitlements, looking into what was available and suitable.

Rents for other properties were also found to be quite a bit higher, fortunately a welfare benefits check showed that financial help was available. It was an extremely worrying time, but thankfully securing a tenancy with a local Sheltered Housing Association meant this tenant could stay the area and her dog was welcome too.

Not all cases end as well as this, and other temporary housing options may need to be explored, but with the help of Citizens Advice, people facing the prospect of eviction can be assured of access to priority, free, impartial and confidential advice, which is absolutely essential for anyone faced with their own housing emergency.

Recently a tenant who rented his home from a social landlord got in touch with Citizens Advice about the damp in his home. He had lived in the property for just a couple of years, but the damp was so bad, his GP diagnosed that it was affecting his health. Fortunately, the tenant managed to secure another rental property nearby with another social landlord, but his health had, sadly already been affected.

Another tenant living with her young child in social rented housing contacted Citizens Advice for advice on the dampness in her flat. Health professionals advised that the child had to move bedroom as it was considered uninhabitable due to mould growth on the wall. Advising this tenant of her rights, it was clear to the Adviser that her flat and the difficulty obtaining other suitable housing was having a terrible impact on the client’s mental health as well worrying about the dampness.