Daily Mirror - 04.03.2020

DM1ST

(^30) DAILY MIRROR WEDNESDAY 04.03.2020
family home through mortgage arrears

• and now being turned down by their
  local council for housing help.
  One caller was a mum with three
  children, two with disabilities, being
  threatened with an illegal
  eviction after just a few
  weeks of moving into a
  home. Again, all because
  her UC payments were late.
  She had been told by her
  landlord if she didn’t pay
  her arrears that day she
  would have to leave imme-
  diately. I was stunned by
  this litany of anguish. And I
  simply don’t know how Nadeem
  remains so calm and understanding
  through day after day of endless calls

from people in such desperate situa-

tions. He told me he works out after

his shift to help ease his frustrations

over a complex housing system at

breaking point. “We also get a lot of

support at work and from

colleagues which really

helps,” he said.

“But I love my job. Yes it

is disturbing when you get

someone who is totally

distressed and desperate

and feels they have no way

out. But I try to focus on

staying calm and reas-

suring them I will do my

best to sort out their situation.

“I focus on the positive side of

things, what I can do to help and what

their rights are. I get so much satisfac-

tion when I manage to turn someone’s

life around and help them keep a roof

over their head – and make them feel

secure and safe again.

That happened yesterday when I

took a call from a guy facing reposses-

sion of his home.

Relief

“I helped him fill in the forms for a

court hearing and gave him advice on

how to handle the situation.

“The sheer relief in his voice when

he called later to say he wasn’t out on

the street was wonderful.

“The problem is with such a huge

shortage of affordable, social housing

things have got complicated. Councils

are having to put people into private

rented homes – and that brings

another level of complexity with a

landlord and often a letting agent for

tenants to deal with, along with their

council.”

The Shelter emergency helpline is

crucial. It is one of the few options

people can turn to for help with

housing issues.

It gets a call every 44 seconds and

gave free telephone advice to more

than 41,000 households in 2018/19,

while its webchat service helped over

41,500 cases.

The helpline is open 365 days a year

• the housing emergency doesn’t take
  a day off, so nor does this vital lifeline.
  Polly Neate, chief executive of
  Shelter, said: “We are in the grip of a

Q

last week you said anything over

£325,000 was liable to inheritance

tax. But hasn’t that been increased?

We have several properties that go into

trust for the family until we both die.

A

You’re right, the Government

introduced the Main Residence Nil

Rate Band which can increase the

threshold by a further £175,000 each by

2020-21. However, not everyone qualifies,

only one home can be used against the

inheritance tax property allowance and it

doesn’t include most properties in trust.

Q

My daughter is currently saving into

a Help to Buy iSA, but it seems

they’re closing. Does she need to

transfer this to a lifetime iSA – or can

she simply carry on saving until she has

her deposit together? it’s going to take

her another few years to get there.

A

She can continue to pay into the Help

to Buy ISA until November 2029.

You’re correct – these ISAs were closed to

new applicants in late November 2019, but

existing savers can keep saving up for a

house deposit.

Q

We have a holiday booked to italy

next month. Will we be able to cancel

it and get our money back? We feel

worried about travelling there when the

coronavirus cases keep increasing.

A

This will depend on where you are

travelling to in Italy, and whether the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office has

issued advice against all but essential

travel to that area. If so, travel firms will

cancel flights and holidays and issue

refunds. Contact your travel agent or

holiday provider to see where you stand.

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Edited by

TRICIA PHILLIPS

Need some practical financial advice?

YOuR MONEY Editor Tricia Phillips

and her team can help

DEAR

TR ICIA

&

Sound

advice

EXPERT

help

BY Tricia PhilliPs

T

he housing crisis has left hun-

dreds of thousands of people

homeless and huge numbers of

private renters struggling to af-

ford to keep a roof over their heads.

The cold hard figures are scary – but

it’s the devastation it causes to peoples’

lives that is truly shocking.

To find out what a shortage of

affordable social housing – one of the

main drivers behind the growing crisis

• really means, I helped out on the
  Shelter emergency helpline.
  Shadowing Nadeem Kahn, 39, who
  has been doing this vital work for
  seven years, I was horrified by the
  brutal and distressing situation the
  majority of callers were in.
  It was heartbreaking call after heart-
  breaking call from desperate people
  who had been evicted or were about
  to lose their home.
  Among them were families, young
  workers, pensioners, low earners,
  people with high paying jobs and both
  renters and home owners – proof that
  serious issues around housing can hit
  anyone hard at any time.

SUffeRiNG

The first call was a mum with very

young children who was about to be

thrown out onto the street with no

where to go and no proper warning.

She had been in temporary accom-

modation for years and the council

hadn’t been able to find her a suitable

permanent home. Because she turned

down an unsuitable property the

council had offered, she had been told

she had to leave her current home.

Next came a man with cancer

suffering harassment from his landlord

because he hasn’t been able to make

rent payments on time.

This was due to problems with

Universal Credit. He said he had occa-

sionally paid his rent late because he

received his UC payments days after

his rent was due.

He tried to explain this to his land-

lord and offered to pay the difference

and asked if he could set a new rent

date. But the landlord refused and

served him an eviction notice.

Then in came a call from a family

being evicted from emergency accom-

modation due to rent arrears, after an

already traumatic time of losing the

Despair at

end of the

line in UK

housing

nightmare

Shelter Shift

revealS Sheer

hell of homeS

loSS victimS

‘‘A man with

cancer faced

eviction

because his

uC payment

came too late