Homelessness
I am homeless or at risk of becoming homeless
If you need advice because you have nowhere to live or are at risk of becoming homeless, you need to complete our Homelessness Enquiry Form.
If you already have an open case with us, please do not fill in the online form again. Contact your housing needs officer directly by email or call 01282 661045.
The online form will ask questions about you, your household and your circumstances. Please make sure that you answer all the questions and include a contact number and/or an email address so we can get in touch with you.
Once the form has been submitted, a housing needs officer will contact you within 5 working days to discuss your housing circumstances further.
If you are currently homeless and have no accommodation tonight, please complete the online form and then call us on 01282 661045.
If you contact our team before completing the online form, you will be asked to fill in the form before you can speak to a member of staff.
Preventing you from becoming homeless
We will try to help you sort out your housing problem. If we can't, we will tell you about other places who may be able to. We will try to give you advice that helps you without you having to leave your current accommodation. We might be able to help you with:
- Repossession - Help and advice if your home is in danger of being repossessed.
Being asked to leave parents
We will try to mediate (talk and negotiate) so that you can stay at home or go back home.
Notice to leave private rented accommodation
We can check that the notice you have received is legal. You can find out more on GOV.UK Private renting for tenants: tenancy agreements.
Even if you have been given two months notice to leave the property, you could have a legal right to stay, until a court order is executed. See GOV.UK Rules your landlord must follow.
You should not leave the property before a court order has been obtained and executed. If you did, its likely you’d be considered to have caused your own homelessness. This would mean the help we could offer you would be limited and could negatively affect your banding with the social housing provider B-with-us choice-based lettings.
Disrepair issues
The council’s environmental health service (01282 661008) may be able to help if your landlord is not maintaining your house properly.
See GOV.UK private renting repairs.
Harassment and threat of illegal evictions
The council’s environmental health service (01282 661008) might be able to help resolve these issues and make sure you keep your rights.
See GOV.UK evictions.
Domestic abuse
We can refer you to specialist agencies who might be able to help. See our Domestic Violence help.
Rehousing options
Your rehousing options often depend on your age and your own particular circumstances. Options include:
- B-with-us choice-based letting scheme
- Housing associations that are not partners in B-with-us
- Supported housing schemes
- Private rented accommodation advertised on Rightmove and Zoopla
Homelessness Enquiries
If we believe you are homeless, we look into your circumstances to determine what we may owe to you.
This includes:
Eligibility
You need to prove that you are allowed to stay in the UK. This proof can be:
- birth certificate
- passport
- immigration status documents
- proof of income - either from a job, or benefits.
Eligible but not homeless
We can give you help and advice depending on your circumstances.
Eligible, homeless but not in priority need
We can give you help and advice depending on your circumstances which also includes rehousing options. However, we would not have to offer you temporary accommodation or rehousing.
Eligible, homeless and in priority need*
We will offer you temporary accommodation which would likely be a bed and breakfast or a refuge and could be away from the Pendle area. This accommodation will only be for a very short time until we've looked into your homelessness situation.
*if you do not have a local connection to Pendle, we can refer you to a borough council where you do have a local connection for temporary accommodation.
Eligible, homeless, in priority need but intentionally homeless
We would not have to rehouse you.
Eligible, homeless, in priority need, not intentionally homeless and have a local connection to Pendle Borough Council
We would have a duty to rehouse you but this can take months to achieve.
If you become homeless when our offices are not open, ring 01282 661999. The Out Of Hours service may be able to help get you emergency overnight accommodation until your housing circumstances are assessed.