Sorry if this is not suitable but I have to rant.
I'm from England, and I'm sitting here scrolling through housing law. and realised that my homelessness could have been avoided
Background: Last September I left my hellhole of an apartment. There were so many issues, from a guy beneath us swearing through the floor because we walked around. And my roommate illegally subletting his room during covid. Problem was, I only found out 2 weeks before that I got a job in the same city, so had to start looking for somewhere to stay.
My girlfriend and I ended up homeless for a month, looking for somewhere to live. I stayed with family, sleeping on their floor, commuting up to 2 hours per day to look for places. My girlfriend ended up in a hostel for some of it, 12 person mixed dorm.
Anyway, I've been looking over the laws, and my landlord didn't follow the correct eviction procedure. Didn't provide the correct notice. Legally they are supposed to give 2 months' notice, otherwise, it automatically becomes a rolling contract. Nope, the first time they said anything was a week before. They didn't provide any correct paperwork.
And to top it off, they tried to steal some of my deposit. Didn't work because I smashed them when it went to the mediator, got it all back.
I'm not mad because of a crappy landlord. Most of the landlords I've had aren't up to standard, and it's a massive problem. But no. I'm mad because I didn't have to go through the nightmare that was being homeless for a month. Settling for a way overpriced place just so we could have access to a real kitchen and cook real food. Mad because my girlfriend got ill and is still recovering from it, all because no one told me my rights.
Not anymore though. I've read up and I'm ready. Ready to take on my current landlord when I leave.
Most landlords are terrible, because they don't even fulfil their legal obligations, but you don't say anything because the alternative is to be homeless. I'm sick of it
Thanks for listening