Council withdrawing property offer

[@afterthestorm]

I’m just wondering if anyone has experience of the council offering a property and then withdrawing it at the validation stage. I was so relieved to be provisionally matched with a council property as thought I was getting out. The council are refusing to house me now because I have a financial interest in the family home and they also wanted me to provide them with information on how much my settlement will be in my divorce to check my eligibility under their allocations policy. They gave me a deadline of a few days to get them this information or they will withdraw the offer and take me off the housing list. I have explained that we are at the beginning of the divorce process and I won’t have this information for some time and receive any settlement for at least a year to 18 months, depending upon how willing my financially controlling husband is towards giving this information, I have no idea on any shared finances because he has never told me. This is why I’m applying for housing in the first place because he is abusive in this way amongst other ways too. I have a domestic abuse support worker who has tried to challenge this but they are not responding to them, I’ve had no response from my homeless housing officer, I’ve had a reply back from the allocations team with regard to my response to this, they just said the same thing. My solicitor can’t help as can’t provide the settlement information yet, I’ve spoken to shelter and they have advised to challenge it which I am. I’ve now put in a formal complaint but the deadline has passed and I will most likely lose the offer of the house and be taken off the housing list. This feels like a massive blow when I’ve been through enough, I feel like giving up but I won’t. Has anyone got similar experience of this and can offer any advice? From what their policy says, if you are a homeowner and you cannot reasonably be expected to stay in the property they should house you on this basis as it overrides any income/assets. Feeling so let down right now.

[Lisa]

Hi @afterthestorm,

Thank you for sharing with us. I am sorry to hear about what you are going through, it sounds very distressing to potentially lose the offer of the property. It sounds like you are covering all bases to challenge it along with your domestic abuse support worker. I hope it is resolved soon for you.

Please do let us know how you get on.

Best wishes,

Lisa

[StrongLife]

I am not familiar with this but want to provide encouragement at this time to keep going in securing housing.

Be safe

[Author]

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