Think tank

I am a 30-year-old pregnant woman and a part-time student. I’m also unemployed and suffering from depression. I live in a bedsit that is unsuitable for a pregnant woman because getting into bed requires climbing a step ladder and hunching over to get into a space with a very low ceiling. At 21 weeks pregnant , it’s getting increasingly difficult to deal with.

On top of that, I will soon be facing eviction because my landlord wants possession of all the bedsits in the house to convert them into flats. The local council tells me that only once I am facing court action and am evicted by bailiffs will it be able to consider me as being in housing need. But if I leave when the eviction order expires I will be making myself intentionally homeless. I only have 10 points on the housing register. What is your advice ?

There is a duty on local authorities to treat as homeless anyone who is in housing that it is not reasonable to expect them to continue to occupy. It’s not an easy case to make out but you should see a solicitor or housing advice worker as soon as possible so they can make representations on your behalf to the council. It’s clearly not acceptable that you should have to wait until threatened with actual eviction before being rehoused. Nick Billingham

You may not be homeless yet but you are threatened with homelessness and vulnerable. Housing authorities have duties to those who are threatened with homelessness as well as to those who are actually homeless. You should not have to wait until you are evicted – but many housing authorities are reluctant to accept people until they are actually homeless. You should visit your housing office or housing advice centre at once and see if you can be moved up the list. If they refuse, contact a Citizens Advice Bureau or law centre to get your case looked at properly. If you are not well enough to cope with that you could try contacting social services for help – ask your GP to put you in touch with appropriate people.

You may need medical evidence and evidence of your landlord’s plans. Many housing associations only house people from the local authority list, but there are still a few that operate their own lists – it would be worth ringing any that have housing in your area (you can find a list on the Housing Corporation website) to ask if they have a list of their own. If you’re able to move to an area of lower housing demand you may find you can be rehoused much more quickly. Catherine Hand

The local authority would be acting against the Code of Guidance if it advised anyone they’d be intentionally homeless if they left before the bailiffs went in. But it could be argued that you are homeless as of now because the housing is inappropriate and a health risk. You need an advocate, such as a local housing advice service, mental health support worker or health visitor, who could help mediate with the council. Nick Murphy

‘Principal principle’ update

You answered my question last year in Think Tank (16 April 2004, page 29, “The Principal Principle”). We had discovered that a secure tenant who had a two-bedroom maisonette with our council also owned a house nearby. Her tenancy required that the property must be her “only or principal home and she must not hold an interest in another habitable property” that she could be living in. We wanted to get a possession order. I thought you might be interested in the outcome.

We noted your advice that the tenancy clause did not necessarily protect us because “‘another habitable property’ was likely to be construed as applying only at the date of the grant of the tenancy”. But we felt so strongly that proceedings were pursued regardless. The upshot was that the tenant was ordered at Croydon court to deliver up possession, her claim of right to buy was dismissed, and she was required to pay costs.

The judge deliberated at length on the tenancy condition, ruling that “currently” means the present time and, in the context of the tenancy condition, the word “and” was conjunctive and not adjunctive as argued by the defence. We have since repossessed our two-bedroom maisonette and will now be offering it to a family in housing need.