A desperate working family in East Stour say they face homelessness in three weeks despite searching day and night for accommodation.

Rupert and Tiffany Ransome and their children, Ralphie, 18 months, Marley, seven and Harmony, 11 moved into their East Stour home just before the first lockdown. The house is now being sold and Tiffany and Rupert were given six months to move. But despite frantically searching for a privately rented house almost all day, every day, Tiffany says they are continually rejected.

Although the couple are on the Dorset Council housing list, they say they are not being treated as a priority. With time running out Tiffany is in despair and has turned to the New Blackmore Vale to appeal for help.

“I am overwhelmed with anxiety now,” said Tiffany who grew up in Henstridge. “We are in the Bronze band but our situation feels like an emergency to me. Because we can’t find a home I have been unable to name a school for Harmony as I really don’t know where we will be living. I am so worried for her because she has fallen behind academically because of the pandemic. She is currently in Year 6 at Stour Provost, which has supported her brilliantly and been simply wonderful, but I am at my wits’ end.”

“We have put offers in for scores of houses but we keep being rejected and we have been told by letting agents that Rupert doesn’t earn enough money, or they won’t take children, or if they do they won’t accept our pet rabbit. I am living a waking nightmare.”

“If I can’t find a private rented house, then I have been advised to remain in our current home. This is not only terribly unfair to our landlady, who has done nothing wrong, but it would cost us money in court fees. Have the stress and panic of our landlady wanting us out and the council telling us to stay put. This system is so terribly wrong.”

“We are a working family and have never asked for help from the council until now and I feel we are being treated without compassion. It’s a scary process and one I have never had to fear until now. My partner has been in the same full-time job in Stalbridge for 15 years. We have been renting a house for all that time and never missed a single rental payment.”

Dorset Council’s Homechoice Register

There are currently 6,426 people on the Dorset Council’s Homechoice Register and of these, 1,167 of them are currently eligible for the North Dorset area. The households are placed into bands according to need ranging from Emergency, Gold, Silver and Bronze.
In North Dorset,
29 households are
in the Emergency
band, 156 in Gold,
393 in Silver and
589 in Bronze.
Of these 74
households who
would like to live
in Stalbridge, two households are in the Emergency band, nine in Gold, 18 in Silver and 45 in Bronze.
In the last 12 months Dorset Council has let 163 properties in the North Dorset area.

Cllr Graham Carr-Jones, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Safety at Dorset Council said: “Any household contacting us due to the end of their tenancy will be assessed to ensure that their notice to vacate the property is valid and that the landlord is adhering to the correct procedures to gain back occupation of their property. We will advise both tenants and landlords on the correct procedures that need to be followed legally.”

“Households will then be given thorough advice and assistance on their legal rights as a tenant and the procedure the landlord has to go through in order to remove them from the property. We will offer to work with landlords to try and facilitate planned moves for their tenants, rather than progress through the legal eviction route. We will advise the tenant on all their options for securing further settled accommodation, including our assistance with Rent in Advance and Deposit Loans for alternative private rented properties and advise on the realistic chances of being offered social housing through the housing register. We will also advise on our duties to provide any temporary accommodation should a household become homeless.”

Dorset Council is advising any households at risk of becoming homeless to contact them through their portal at dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/housing/homelessness/at-risk-of-becoming-homeless.aspx#Contact.

The family are seeking a three-bed house, ideally close to Stalbridge. If you can help contact karen.bate@blackmorevale.net.

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