How to keep your house

The Problem 

Tania was 19 years old. She was looked after but stayed at home with her mum. When she was 16 she and her mum fell out and she had to leave. She had to stay in hostels and with friends “sofa surfing”. Eventually she was given her own council house. She had no contact with her family and was on her own all the time, she had nothing to do  and no way of meeting people. Tania started to have mental health problems. She would shout and break things in her flat and let it  get very dirty. That scared her neighbours and they complained about her to her landlords. Tania didn’t know her neighbours had a problem with her.  There were so many complaints that her landlords had to do something and they sent her a letter to say that they were going to go to court to get permission to evict her for anti-social behaviour. 

How a Lawyer Can Help 

Tania had got help from a homelessness crisis service when she was staying in hostels and she still sometimes went there for help. She told them that she was going to lose her council flat and be homeless again. They got in touch with Clan Childlaw.   

We explained to Tania that if she walked away from her council flat it would mean that she wouldn’t be able to get another council flat, and she decided that the best thing to do was to try to sort things out so she could keep the flat and get some help finding somewhere better to live. We contacted Tania’s landlords. We told them if they went to court to try to evict Tania we would show the court that she was not trying to harm her neighbours and that she needed help and that it would be terrible for her is she was homeless again. We asked for a chance for Tania to get help and find somewhere better for her to live, where she could get some support. The landlords agreed not to go to court and said they would give doctors, social work and support services time to help Tania and find somewhere better for her to live. 

If this sounds like the sort of problem that you have, then call us free on 0808129 0522 to find out how a lawyer could help. 

If you are under 26 and in Edinburgh then our Street Legal project might be able to give you legal help to sort out housing problems.