At last....

[maviczap]

Great news Gary, it isn't nice being in limbo.

Plus you have a garden, which I know is very important to you.

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by Ruffy

Thanks Gary, appreciate the note. Fortunately we found a place that's decent enough but it was just in the knick of time after a very stressful search and I still can't shake the mental spectre of sometime receiving another notice. It was a shock for sure and I'm mentally scarred - I shudder to think what I'd do if the same happened again, seeing the state of the current market

So, settled? - unfortunately no, not really. I realise I'm fortunate to currently have a decent roof over my head but is it hyperbole to think of myself as 'homeless' knowing I now can't ever settle while renting, with that risk of being evicted for no fault of my own always in the background as a fear? Throw a marriage breakdown and financial challenges into the mix and with (adult) offspring still struggling to get a decent foothold in the world I get close to despair at times tbh. I take responsibility for my prior mismanagement of my life but I find I have formed some quite 'strong' views about 'the system' for housing in the UK etc.

Now I must stop before my soapboxing takes over your good news thread and starts demoralising you. Sorry!

Both Gary & myself have been what you've been through, and I've done the rental property shenanigan's.

What I don't understand, is if you can afford the regular rental payments, why won't they give you a mortgage.

People who took our rental over after we moved out were forking out £1100 a month

My step daughter is paying £1000 a month, its nuts

[Ruffy]

Originally Posted by garynortheast

The one that in my case really hacks me off is the almost blanket "no pets" stipulation. Over the last couple of years, my lovely lurcher has seen me through thick and thin, and the possibility of being made to part from her in order to find a home was not a good thought. No such problem with a council bungalow thankfully.

I'm right there with you on that too. Our search was far, far harder due to wanting to be honest about our cats and dog - anyone would think we were proposing to bring the spawn of satan into the property!!!

Seems like you have a more reasonable council. My wife started exploring council possibilities near us (we're on the border of a multiple jurisdictions). One council official virtually instructed that she needed to put our dog down to have any chance of getting off the homeless list if she put herself on it - (mainly he's her faithful, loyal companion and this was because they'd only be offering an upstairs flat despite her partial disability issues). Needless to say, the answer was a pretty sharp no!

[Ruffy]

Originally Posted by maviczap

What I don't understand, is if you can afford the regular rental payments, why won't they give you a mortgage.

Indeed, it's illogical.

I managed to get trapped with some credit card debts that I'm steadily and reliably paying off (only slowly though, thanks to high interest rates). But apparently I can't afford a debt consolidation loan (at far lower rate) to transfer them to! I even offered to close the card account once debts transferred, but 'computer says no' was still the answer - surely pure profiteering?!