This organisation was set up because of first hand experience of how much a stress a bankrupt goes through and the difficulties they face. A bankrupt person is generally at the end of their tether, they are completely stressed out at the situation they find themselves in and the last thing they need is a finger pointed at them as if to say it’s completely and utterly their fault and they deserve what they get. Sometimes we might be better to think “There but by the grace of God go I”...... Bankruptcy can happen to anyone. We want to not only change peoples perceptions of bankrupts in general, we also want to make sure there is more help and practical advice available.
Once we have managed to raise the necessary funding, our aim is to help a bankrupt person or family get back on their feet. To this end we are actively raising funds specifically for Counselling/Therapy and Long Term Secure Housing. Certain legislations that are in place at the moment do not take the personal circumstances of a bankrupt into account and end up hindering rather than helping a bankrupt get back on their feet. Our long term aim would be to challenge these legislations and help to make some positive changes. We want to make sure a bankrupt can live within their means and that starts with paying a fair rent and being entitled to long term secure housing.
Discrimination
Bankrupts face constant discrimination. They can’t rent from a property management company or estate agent and therefore are prevented from shopping around for a property small enough and cheap enough for their needs. As is often the case a bankrupt finds themselves
in a negative rent position, that is to say they will receive less housing benefit than their actual rent costs and some find they have to pay an average of £200 per month more for their rent than the local Council gives them in Housing Benefit, it seems that even though Bankruptcy is on the increase year in year out, there is no provision in local government to help them only to hinder them and make things more difficult for them. The fact that they are a bankrupt gives them no extra points with the local Council towards obtaining a Council or Housing Association home. This is one of those legislations we would hope to be a part of changing in the future.
A property management company or estate agent will require an application form filling in and it costs between £100 and £400 (there isn’t even a fixed lawful fee). The application is then assessed and a credit check obtained which obviously fails.....they are bankrupt! The property management company or estate agent then tells the prospective tenant that they cannot help them because they did not pass the credit check and therefore will not be able to rent them a property, the money paid for the application is non refundable. The property management company or estate agent know this in advance and it’s rare you will get a property management company or estate agent that will tell the bankrupt prospective tenant in advance. This is the case from Penzance to the borders of England and Scotland and the practice is, in our opinion, deplorable. This is another practice we would hope to challenge in the future.
The whole idea of going bankrupt is to absolve the person or families debts allowing them to start from scratch however by giving those people anything up to several hundred pounds less than they have to pay rent is not helping but hindering them from day one. How does a bankrupt person get back on their feet when they are pressured into debt from the word go?