Monday 29 July 2013

Desperate.

‘Mentally Ill, Being Evicted, Have No Friends, UK.’

Sometimes I wonder how we got here. I mean how did we reach the stage where a fellow human person can see no other solution to their problem than asking online, late at night? Yes, this is about more statcounter misery. The sentence above was a search term used to find my blog recently, and it made me cry.

So many issues were raised by just one, simple, raw enquiry. Firstly, being mentally ill is still an insurmountable barrier to being housed in the private sector. Technically, discrimination is illegal, but on the sly, by asking pertinent questions, it’s often possible for ruthless, devious, prejudiced fellow tenants, letting agents and potential rentiers to unearth evidence of mental health problems.

‘I’m being evicted.’ Well, the place for advice is Shelter, Citizen’s Advice, your council’s homelessness unit, or a solicitor, but legal aid has been cut in England, where you live, so also try MIND. Why are you being evicted – rent arrears, the bedroom tax, end of contract, or other reasons?

The most upsetting part of that question is the ‘have no friends.’ Isolation is horrible, and anyone can find themselves adrift in a world of self-absorbed couples, like a lone gnu on Noah’s Ark. They might have moved to a new town for work or study, whilst exhibiting ‘challenging’ behaviour, then watched everyone back off slowly, phone calls unanswered and invitations dying away. It’s not only older people who live solitary lives of constant despair – younger people also suffer.

Claimants under 35 must share, and non-claimants are usually too broke to live alone. Service users might be socially awkward, and could face interview panels, when the simple common fact of being a claimant in itself effectively hinders acceptance, so imagine:
‘Tell us a little about yourself…’
‘Well I like music, art, and I love washing up… oh – I’m also on medication for schizophrenia.’

Couldn’t we start a register of socially responsible, reasonable, enlightened rentiers willing to house mental health service users? Yes, this could well stifle that hands-off, no-bother, low-key management so beloved of buy-to-let, but… so what. That pension is their reward. I also wonder if the notorious shamefully ‘risk averse’ insurers see all mentally ill people as potential fire starters, when they are in fact more likely to harm themselves than others.

I have lived in developments where tenants were housed by the council, then left alone to cope, unsupported. Sometimes people rallied round, but occasionally residents shared concerns only to see things go badly wrong, once when a resident attempted to take their own life much to the amusement of a giggling temporary caretaker.

It’s simple. Some people get colds, some endure cancer or suffer various illnesses, and others have mental health problems. Recently a straw poll of my acquaintances revealed, inter alia: eating disorders, attempted overdoses, self-harm, severe depression, and psychotic episodes. That’s a normal cross section of society.

Who will accept responsibility for someone in this predicament? Nobody should be left alone to google their desperation. Whoever you are, I hope you’re okay. I wish you every good fortune, but I’d be lying if I said finding another home will be easy. If you see this, let me know what happens, please.

http://www.mind.org.uk/

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england.htm

http://www.shelter.org.uk/





12 comments:

Anonymous said...

However nicey nicey we think we are few of us [and quite understandably ] would really want to enter into living with, or renting out a property to someone with seriously ‘challenging behaviours’ I don’t mean plain odd, like me, but likely to scream loudly on nightly basis for no apparent reason and possibly pull a knife out on you…cruel world but there it is

RenterGirl said...

You exemply the prejudice faced by those with mental health problems.

Anonymous said...

anon1

I have to say my one experience with a tenant who had extreme mental health problems (or possibly a personality disorder, I'm not really qualified to distinguish) was rather traumatic for myself, his neighbours and everybody who came into contact with him.

That being said I can't see that mental illness in itself is an issue when it comes to renting (I have a current tenant who is autistic and generally there are no problems, although his reactions to workmen visiting have caused problems initially - I think we've got a handle on it now). However some of the side effects of mental illness (not all directly the sufferer's fault)can be a little problematic. Things like severe depression leading to unemployment and financial problems, leading to rent arrears can have an impact on the LL/tenant relationship. Alternatively (as has happened with our autistic tenant), refusing to open the flat to workmen (gas repairs) even when the time was agreed, then (after 30mins and several phone calls) allowing them in, but (literally) hiding from them as they moved about can be a bit problematic.

A little off topic...

Several posts (and heated discussions!) on this blog have dealt with

Tenants being forced to resign every 6 months (and pay a fee of course!)

LLs carrying out intrusive inspections rather more frequently than is required

Tenants being forced to move because the LL wishes to sell/has sold.

These topics are often the subject of much fear and "urban legends".

Here are 3 blog posts (no connection to me) from a well respected solicitor practicing in tenant/LL law. She works both sides of the fence with excellent advice for LLs and tenants.

I hope this helps


http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2013/07/25/four-ironclad-rights-tenants-have-if-their-landlord-wants-to-sell-their-property

http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2013/07/24/can-letting-agents-insist-on-a-new-fixed-term-rather-than-a-periodic-tenancy/

http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2013/07/23/which-is-the-most-important-legal-rule-re-landlords-right-of-entry

Anonymous said...

Why are you being evicted?
Have you paid all your rent?
What reason would a Landlord want to evict a GOOD tenant?

RenterGirl said...

Ooh, loads. Want to sell, think they can make more money, been asked to do repairs ie retaliatory eiction. Oh and prejudice...

Anonymous said...

Would you be happy having a mentally ill landlord?

RenterGirl said...

Yes, I would, and have done, with mixed results. The key point is, cn people - tenants or rentiers, cope with their daily lives, do people talk, do they have support. The fact that tenants even without visible symptons/behaviour cn be refused a home is horrible.

Anonymous said...

You exemply the prejudice faced by those with mental health problems.

just a realist...RG

Anonymous said...

You exemply the prejudice faced by those with mental health problems.

No RG just a realist...nobody wants to live with an out and out nutter - perhaps its sad, perhaps prejudiced but TRUE

RenterGirl said...

You're the reason why I wrote this. HIDEOUS.

Anonymous said...

C’mon RG - would you really be happy with living with an out and out nutter? (again I don’t mean a bit odd like me or mildly depressive)? C'mon - I’m not ‘Hideous’ neither are my views they are the truth...I'm a lib dem voting Guardian /Indy reading guy with very liberal/leftist views - but its simply the truth that people do not want to live with a 'nutter' (not a term I like but really but covers a lot of ground) or an ex con/drug addict/alcoholic…the TRUTH

Anonymous said...

this is a very difficult area,mental illness is still the great taboo.i have a neibhour who is mentaly ill and has very challenging behaveiour from knocking at our door wanting to borrow money to being drunk and violent its been nonstop and we do have sympathy and empathy we are both on benefits and havent anny spare resources ourselves in the summer she was incredibly violent and abuseive..she scared us all.this poor woman is meant to be helped to live an independant life on her own but she has been abandoned by those who are paid to look after her and so when she cant cope she turns to us the neibours were not phyciatric nurses or social workers i hope you dont think were mean as we have tried to help but its nonstop and we cant get dragged into it.