Safa was a single mum to her teenage son and a full-time carer for her disabled mother, who was bed-bound and required a hoist to move around. 

Devastatingly, the family had just been served a Section 21 eviction notice – where a landlord can evict without reason – and they couldn’t find anywhere else suitable for the grandmother’s needs.

They were about to become homeless. Feeling very scared, Safa reached out to Housing Matters. 

We helped her apply to the council for housing support. The council found they had a duty to house the family in temporary accommodation but didn’t have any properties available suitable for their needs. 

So we helped the family get into the highest priority group for accessing social housing. With long waiting lists, this is hard to achieve in Bristol, but we pushed for it because of the family’s vulnerable situation. 

It would give them the best chance of being rehoused before the bailiffs tried to evict them. We also managed to delay the eviction by bailiffs three times – buying them more time.

Meanwhile, the council didn’t attempt to find the family suitable temporary accommodation, despite their legal duty to do so. 

We had no choice but to refer Safa for legal aid (free legal support for people on low incomes) in preparation to take the council to court. We also raised the issue with the Senior Management Team at the council.  

To everyone’s relief, this led to an offer of accommodation and legal action wasn’t needed. Safa was feeling hopeful but, unfortunately, the property wasn’t suitable for the grandmother’s needs.  

The stress was getting too much for Safa. She was all too aware of the toll this was taking on all of them, especially her vulnerable mum. 

But we stuck with the family throughout and, using our expertise, helped Safa formally challenge the council on the property’s suitability.  

It worked. Safa was so relieved. They were given more suitable temporary accommodation and are feeling much more stable now. 

We also ensured they remained the highest priority for accessing social housing. They’re currently applying for properties and can’t wait to have a permanent, suitable, and affordable home soon. 

“…I couldn’t have done all this on my own…I’m grateful to be in a place where there’s no worry about getting kicked out…Thank you very, very much for all your help…”

Our client, 24-year-old Rashid, was a refugee. He’d fled to the UK when he was just 17 to escape the violent conflict in his native South Sudan. With severe PTSD, he’d struggled hugely with his mental health ever since, and had lost both his job and his tenancy as a result. 

Rashid was rough sleeping and had no friends or family in the country. He was suicidal. Yet, the council didn’t deem him ‘vulnerable’ enough to receive any housing support from them. 

Rashid’s mental health nurse, his GP, and his social prescriber were all extremely worried about him acting on his suicidal tendencies in the coming days.  

Realising the urgency of his situation after his social prescriber got in touch with us, we took Rashid on as our client. 

We disputed the council’s decision, asserting that Rashid was in fact extremely vulnerable. We worked alongside the social prescriber and the medical practitioners to put together supporting letters to evidence this.   

Eventually, the council overturned their decision: they accepted they had a duty to find him long-term housing after all. He was first offered temporary accommodation but was surrounded by drug use and bullying. We fought for him again and eventually Rashid was offered a permanent social tenancy. He was over the moon.  

To help Rashid deal with his traumatic past, we referred him to Bristol charity, Nilaari, who offer specialised psychotherapy to people from Minoritised communities. We also put him in touch with Amber, a local charity that helps young people into work. 

Because of our holistic approach, Rashid had gone from living on the streets to finally having a home and access to professional mental health and employment support.  

“Thank you so much for all your help I will never forget it, I don’t know what I would have done without it. It has been so hard but your support has given me hope.” – Rashid 

“It seems like you’re the only ones who care at the moment…your support is everything to me right now.”

– Jo

Jo came to Housing Matters because she was facing eviction. Her landlord wanted to sell the property her and her four children had lived in for 14 years.  

The family were about to become homeless. As a single parent, Jo felt particularly vulnerable.  

The local authority usually only provides temporary accommodation once a tenant has received a notice letter from the bailiffs with the date they’ll be coming. They take this as evidence that there’s no way the tenancy can be saved anymore. 

However, with the Royal Mail strikes, Jo feared she wouldn’t receive a letter, and that the bailiffs would turn up over Christmas. Even worse, that they could change the locks whilst she was out at work. 

She spent Christmas in a state of constant anxiety, dreading a knock on the door. She’d even packed everything up into boxes in preparation for eviction.  

When Jo reached out to Housing Matters, we began negotiating with the council and advocating on her behalf. We supported Jo throughout the process, ensuring she knew what to expect at each stage.  

After several weeks, we managed to demonstrate to the local authority that there was no way Jo’s tenancy could be saved – the landlord had firmly made the decision to sell the property.  

They accepted her homeless application and agreed to provide her family with temporary accommodation, despite Jo not having a letter to prove that the bailiffs were coming. 

After a couple of months in temporary accommodation, Jo was delighted to be offered a new permanent social housing property. Once the family moved in, we successfully applied to a local charitable fund for a grant for a new oven. Now the family can focus on settling in and making their new house a home. 

Ubax and her 5-year-old son, Zahi, were fast asleep when a fire broke out in the council tower block in which they lived.  Ubax only woke up because smoke was coming into her flat.

Immediately, she grabbed her son and they ran barefoot through the smoke and flames to escape onto the street – 16 floors down.  Thankfully, they got out in time but were completely traumatised.

When we met Ubax, they’d been moved into a hotel as an emergency measure and were assured they’d soon be given better accommodation. However, the first offer the council made was in an area known for discrimination.

As people of Somali heritage, and with Zahi having autism, Ubax didn’t feel at all safe moving there. Her only other option was to move back to the flat they had previously fled.

This would have been extremely triggering, and they were also both terrified of another fire breaking out, especially after learning their neighbour across the hall had tragically lost his life whilst trying to escape out of the window. 

Ubax was in a state of extreme distress. We began the long and challenging process of negotiating with the council on Ubax’s behalf.  After several weeks, they finally agreed to permanently rehouse her and Zahi somewhere safer and within their community.  

This was such a relief for Ubax – she could remain close to her support network and her son, who found change particularly hard due to his autism, could stay at his school.

Feeling much safer in their new home, Ubax and Zahi have been able to start processing what they went through and building back their lives. 

“I want to thank you all for your support during a difficult time. I want to thank you all for being by my side emotionally and physically. I want to thank you all for giving me the best advice…”

“…You all are truly amazing, the best team.” 

– Ubax

Emir, a full-time student, had been served a Section 21 eviction notice. This is when a landlord can evict a tenant without having to give a reason.

Emir was becoming increasingly stressed as he struggled to find alternative private rented accommodation. He had no family in the UK, so if the eviction went ahead, he’d be homeless.

He decided to dispute the eviction notice. Now, the landlord had to go through court to progress it any further.

To prevent the eviction, Emir needed to prove to the judge that the Section 21 notice was invalid. Unsure how to do this, he contacted Housing Matters.

It was clear to us how anxious he was. Worryingly, all the signs suggested that the eviction would happen.

Section 21 notices are hard to dispute because, as long as a landlord has followed the correct eviction process, the eviction can go ahead.

However, there are also several things a landlord must do at the start of a tenancy for example, provide certain documents. Otherwise, any Section 21 notice they serve will be invalid.

We educated Emir on his rights and responsibilities. We recommended that he go through all of the documents he received from his landlord when he moved in to check if anything was missing.

Emir did just that, and found that he’d been given an incorrect document when he’d moved in, and hadn’t been given a gas safety certificate, both of which were necessary for the Section 21 notice to be valid.

Joseph, one of our Housing Advisers.

Empowered by our brief advice, Emir presented his landlord’s errors in court. The judge agreed that the Section 21 notice could indeed be invalid, and suspended the hearing to give Emir time to put his defence together properly in writing.

Emir breathed a sigh of relief – his imminent homelessness had been avoided for the time being, and he felt more hopeful that the eviction wouldn’t go ahead at all.