Please help Rhona and Holden find a home.

Hi everyone. As you may or may not know, Holden and I are being evicted from our home of 16 years. I say our home but obviously it was never ours and I’ve probably spent the last 9+ years constantly fearing this would happen. We have about 6 weeks left till the landlord wants to take possession and ideally we will have found somewhere to live by then. However, the costs involved, in finding a new home in Brighton, are ridiculous and it’s giving me huge anxiety daily and sleepless nights. The going rate for a 2 bed flat is £1500 a month at the least. I work full time but also get UC - this is very much frowned upon by landlords. So I’m faced with having to provide a rent guarantor (possibly sorted but no guarantees there) and paying at least 6 months rent up front in order to hopefully secure a new home.

Did you know that you should earn 30 times your monthly rent annually to not need a rent guarantor‽ Ha!

I’ve been saving for months and Holden has ransacked his precious Child Trust Fund but we are still short of what we will need to cover rent x 6, deposit and moving costs.

I hate to ask you all but we are utterly desperate. Anything you can spare, even a couple of pounds, to help us find somewhere to call home, we will gratefully accept. I’ve only put a smallish fund limit on as I appreciate how hard life is for all of us at the moment.

I’m a woman who always pays her way but this is beyond me. Maybe we should move out of Brighton but I’ve lived here for 23 years; my job is here, my little after-school club business is here and so many of our friends are here ♥️

One more thing: The Renter’s Reform Bill has dragged on too long! I’m looking at you, MP Landlords!