We’re terrified of losing our kids after a ‘rent mix-up’ left us homeless when landlord kicked us out
A COUPLE are terrified of losing their kids after an alleged rent "mix-up" saw their landlord kick them out of their home.
Rebecca and Lee Steeley have been forced to sofa surf with their four children after being booted out of their home of 14 years.
The parents, from Hull, say they had unknowingly racked up a whopping debt of £2,200 with their landlord.
They were served with a section 21 eviction notice in November 2021 after being in arrears for over two and a half years.
But despite Rebecca and Lee's admittedly expensive mistake, they insist they had no idea they owed him any money.
The pair explained they have always made weekly payments of £58 for their home and the rest of the rent bill was footed with their housing benefit.
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But their former landlord claims he sent them numerous letters and phone calls in a bid to notify them of their debt and resolve the situation.
The family were eventually forced to leave the property in February after the "mix-up" and were moved into a hotel by the council.
Furious Rebecca told : "We couldn't believe the amount we apparently owed.
"As far as we knew, we were paying what we had always paid and the council were topping up the rest.
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"My husband has always worked and I've been a stay-at-home mum, so we couldn't afford to pay off the £2,200 that had built up for such a long time."
However, over three months on, the mum and dad say they have now been shown the door at their temporary accommodation too.
The couple claim they were told to leave on June 7 after a decision had been made on their case stating they had "made themselves homeless".
Rebecca and Lee are now relying on friends and family to give them and their kids Lilly, 13, Oscar, nine, Dexter, five, and Vinny, three, a bed for the night.
The mum has now bagged herself a job as a cleaner while chef Lee is working full-time to make ends meet.
But although they have money coming in, they say they have been unable to privately rent a home without a good reference.
Rebecca continued: "We pleaded with our landlord to give us a reference so that we could rent elsewhere but he told us he couldn't help us.
";We would honestly take a house anywhere in Hull, we could make anything our own at this point.
"Our only option now is to stay with family but eight people in a two-bedroom house isn't a long-term plan and the council have told us we are not a priority."
And on top of their unstable living situation, the parents live in fear their four children could be taken off of them.
The youngsters have now been assigned a social worker due to them having no fixed abode.
They tell me that if I'm not able to find a home, they would take the kids and rehome them. I would die if that happened, it would absolutely kill me.
Rebecca Steeley
Rebecca sobbed: "Since being at the hotel, it's been awful to see the effect it's had on them.
"They've had to leave their friends, we have to catch two buses to get to their primary school and they keep putting their shoes on and standing by the door saying they want to go home.
"Worse than that, I've been assigned a social worker for the first time ever being a mum.
"They tell me that if I'm not able to find a home, they would take the kids and rehome them. I would die if that happened, it would absolutely kill me.
"I'm an honest person, I'm a good person. We may not be great at understanding all the legal letters but it seems like nobody wants to help us - they even kept getting my children's names wrong, like they don't care because they have their beds to go to at night."
The couple's former landlord told Hull Live the family owed £2,200 rent in arrears and that they ignored his pleas.
They said in a statement: "We always work with tenants to agree an affordable repayment plan in these circumstances, but in this situation the tenants would not correspond with us so we were unable to reach any agreement with them.
"Regarding the reference, we always provide these but have to tell the truth, so I believe it's the fact the rent arrears were causing them the problem of finding another property, which would have been on any reference that was asked for."
A spokesperson for Hull City Council said: "We are determined to do everything we can to help this family. No-one wants to see anyone without a place to live.
"We have been trying to help Mr and Mrs Steeley since November 2021. We offered advice and assistance to prevent them from losing their previous home, but sadly this was refused
"They were then found temporary accommodation but from the beginning we have stressed this was only temporary, and this has now come to an end.
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"We want this family to be able to move to a permanent, stable home and our Housing and Children’s Services teams are working together to find a way to do just that.
"We need them to now accept the offer of support that we have made to them."
