Hi I live in a Housing Association flat with m partner and two kids. I have recently lost my job and are now getting all the benefit. Our relation is not at hits best and I am thinking moving out but because i dont have a job what are my option? Thanks

Hi all, I'd be so grateful if anyone can offer me any advice on this, I really don't know how to proceed. It's a complicated situation so please forgive the length of the post. 3 years ago I was living in a slightly(!) dodgy houseshare, it was originally a three bedroom house which the landlord converted to four bedrooms. He never visited the property, certainly I never met him, and there was no tenancy agreement in place. Basically the rent was paid on the 25th of the month and that's all he was concerned with, he did not mind who lived there. When someone moved out they found someone to replace themselves in their room and so got their deposit back that way, there was no involvement from the landlord or even from the other housemates. This meant zero accountability, it also meant that by the time I moved out there were 9 people living there! I would never have considered moving into such an arrangement but at my previous address my tenancy was up and not renewable and in 3 months of searching I had been unable to find anywhere else at all that I could come close to affording, I had no option. I lived there for 10.5 months and moved out as soon as I got a new job that paid a bit more, in July 08. When I moved out I was up to date with the rent and I made certain that I paid my housemates my share of the outstanding bills, including council tax. Unfortunately I did this in cash so can't prove it. They were not people I kept in touch with, although I did get a single phone call from one of them in September that year as the council had been tipped off to the number of people living there (10 by then, with a single bathroom I should mention!) and were evicting them as the place was deemed unfit for habitation. I was called because no one in the house could find the landlord's telephone number. Maybe an alarm bell should have gone off in my head right then! Well, I never heard from any of the housemates, or the landlord, again after that one call. But two days ago I received a council tax bill for the property for the period 1st April 08 to 31st July 08. There are just two names on it, mine and one other girl living there at the time. I think basically this is because I was once foolish enough to email the landlord when the toilet was broken and we couldn't get him by phone, so he had my name, and the other name is the girl who called me for his number when the eviction came - also she was far and away the longest resident, she had been there already a couple of years before I lived there. On the bill she is listed as a full time student, so there is a discount given, but that still leaves a bill of £420 to be paid - presumably that means by me. The other housemates were all from Eastern European countries (mostly Estonia) and I doubt they are still in the country; I certainly have no means of tracking them down as they changed so many often and this far down the line I can't remember even the first names of the people living there at that period! I know that technically we are joint and severally liable for the council tax, but given the absence of a tenancy agreement is there a case to be made against this? Also, should I tell the council how many people were living there to support my case? I worry that in doing so I will lose the student discount given and will have even more to pay if I lose. I should also mention that there is absolutely no way I can pay this amount all at once. Like many people I am struggling to make ends meet right now and at best I could pay them perhaps £10 a month. If I tell them that are they going to laugh in my face and take me to court? Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.