Your rights and legal advice

We can’t give legal advice but we can connect you to services that do offer this.

It can be hard to reach out for legal help when you are homeless are at risk of homelessness and are already feeling vulnerable. Thankfully, non-judgemental support is available. We can’t give legal advice but can connect you to services that can.

On this page, you can find out more about information surrounding your housing and legal rights, and what support you can get.

Skip to the right section

What housing rights do I have?
What if I am being discriminated against because I am on benefits?
What if my rent increases or contact changes?
I am rough sleeping. What rights do I have?
I am being evicted. What rights do I have?
Do I have any right to access benefits?
What immigration rights do I have?
What employment rights do I have?
What consumer rights do I have?

Housing rights

Making a homeless application

If you’re homeless or likely to become homeless in the next eight weeks, you have the right to be assessed by your local council for help. This is called making a homeless application. You'll need to speak to the council’s housing team and explain what's happened and that you're homeless or at risk of homelessness.  

Even if they don’t offer you accommodation, you will get a housing officer assigned to you and support which could help you find suitable accommodation. 

Challenging the council 

It is your right to ask for an appeal if you disagree with the decision the council makes on your homelessness application. You have 21 days to ask the council to review their decision. It’s a good idea to get some legal advice before attempting to do this. 

A solicitor will want to see the decision in writing from the local council. If they believe you have a case, they may be able to take the council to court. 

DSS discrimination 

It is illegal for private landlords to say they won’t accept you because you receive housing benefit. In fact, this is classed as discrimination – treating you unfairly because of who you are – under the Equality Act 2010. This has been called ‘DSS discrimination’, after the Department for Social Security (DSS) which used to be responsible for paying government benefits. 

The problem is that landlords can still say you can’t rent from them if they think you can’t afford to. You can challenge this by making a complaint. Follow this template to write to the landlord to confirm that you can afford the rent 

Find out more about DSS discrimination 

Rent increases and contract changes 

You may be facing homelessness because your landlord says that you need to pay more rent. They can only legally do this if they follow certain rules about how to put the new agreement into practice. For example, it will depend on what your contract with them says about rent increases.  

If they offer you a new contract with a higher rent, you don’t have to agree to it. You can try to negotiate with them if you think it is too much, offering what you can afford to pay. 

It’s important to be aware that if you pay the new rent, it legally becomes your new fee – even if you're not happy about it. 

Contact the Centrepoint Helpline to find out more about your rights if your rent has increased. 

Get help 

Contact the Centrepoint Helpline who can connect you with local services. If you’re living in Centrepoint accommodation, you may be able to get free support through our legal centre. Ask your key worker for more information. 

Civil Legal Advice

You might be able to get free and confidential advice from Civil Legal Advice (CLA), as part of legal aid, if you’re in England or Wales. If you’re eligible, you can get help from CLA for problems including if you’re at risk of being evicted. 

Call: 0345 345 345
Visit the government information page Civil Legal Advice

Shelter

Call: 0808 800 4444 (8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 5pm at weekends)
Visit Shelter's Helpline website
Find your local Shelter service

Citizen's Advice

Call: 0800 144 8848
Visit Citizens Advice's Contact Us Pagec.  

Your rights when you are rough sleeping – the Vagrancy Act  

Under the Vagrancy Act, it’s illegal to sleep rough or beg in England and Wales. In fact, people sleeping rough can be punished with a fine of up to £1,000 and a criminal record. 

Thankfully, in February 2022, the UK government said they would scrap this old law. But this hasn’t actually happened yet. The government is still deciding what to replace the old law with. So, if you are homeless, you may still be punished for sleeping rough under the act. 

Contact organisations that may be able to advise on your legal rights. 

Eviction rights  

It is illegal for a landlord to evict you without following the correct legal steps. You don’t always have to leave when they first give you notice. In fact, if you do leave straight away without anywhere to go, it may affect what support you can get from the council. The council may say that you’re ‘intentionally homeless’ 

A section 21 eviction is the most common type of eviction notice. Your landlord can use this eviction notice even if you haven’t done something which goes against your tenancy agreement. They don’t have to give a reason for doing so, but do need to give two months' notice. You might also get this type of eviction notice when your tenancy agreement has ended. 

Your landlord will use a section 8 eviction notice if they think you have done something which goes against what you agreed in your tenancy agreement and they believe they have a legal reason to end it. 

You can challenge an eviction that isn’t valid. It’s your right to do so. If you’ve been kicked out or locked out of your home by your landlord without warning, for example, the eviction is probably not valid.

Your landlord will probably need to go to court to evict you. Then, only bailiffs from the court can carry out the eviction. Find out more about what bailiffs can and can’t do. 

Find out more about the eviction process. 

Get help 

Contact the Centrepoint Helpline who can connect you with local services. If you’re living in Centrepoint accommodation, you may be able to get free support through our legal centre. Ask your key worker for more information. 

Civil Legal Advice

You might be able to get free and confidential advice from Civil Legal Advice (CLA), as part of legal aid, if you’re in England or Wales. If you’re eligible, you can get help from CLA for problems including if you’re at risk of being evicted. 

Call: 0345 345 345
Visit the government information page Civil Legal Advice

Shelter

Call: 0808 800 4444 (8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 5pm at weekends)
Visit Shelter's Helpline website
Find your local Shelter service

Citizen's Advice

Call: 0800 144 8848
Visit Citizens Advice's Contact Us Pagec.  

Rights to access benefits 

If you are sleeping rough, or have no permanent address or bank account, you are still entitled to benefits. Find out how to apply without an address or bank account here.

You can use a benefits calculator, like the Turn2us one, to see what you might be able to claim. 

It’s important to know that when you earn over a certain amount of money, your benefits could reduce.  

If you disagree with a decision about benefits, you can ask for the decision to be looked at again. The letter telling you about the decision on your benefits will say how long you have to do this. It is usually within a month of the date the original decision was sent to you.

For Universal Credit, you will need to communicate through your online account if you disagree with any decisions that have been made. You can do this through your Universal Credit journal. 

Get help 

Immigration rights  

The council will want to confirm your immigration status before assessing you for a homeless application and to decide whether you are ‘eligible’ for support.  

Your immigration status is the type of permission you have to be in the UK. How long you can stay in the UK and what you can do while you’re here depends on your immigration status. It also affects what kind of help you are entitled to, including housing support and benefits.  

EU citizens  

If you’re an EU citizen, to keep your right to live and work in the UK, you need to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. The scheme’s official deadline has passed but the UK government is still accepting applications.   

If you’re an EU citizen living in the UK and you have not already done so, you should apply through this scheme as soon as possible.  See below and here for organisations that can help you work out if this applies to you and support you with making the application and gathering the evidence you need.  

The housing support and benefits you are eligible for will depend on whether you are given ‘pre-settled’ or ‘settled’ status as an EU citizen. 

Find out more on our I’m not a UK citizen page. 

Get help 

  • If you’re living in Centrepoint accommodation, you may be able to get free support through our legal centre. Ask your key worker for more information. 
  • Contact the Centrepoint Helpline and we will connect you with local services who may be able to help. 
  • If you aren’t sure of your immigration status or eligibility to live in the UK, it is best to get specialist immigration advice. Unfortunately, immigration work isn’t covered by legal aid. So, if you find a private law firm through this government website, you will probably need to pay for legal advice yourself. 
  • The Law Centres Network may be able to help. All Law Centres offer legal advice in person and some run a telephone advice line. Look for the centre closest to you and check if they offer immigration and housing advice. 
  • Refer yourself to the Advice on Individual Rights in Europe Centre for support with keeping your right to live and work in the UK as an EU citizen. Download the referral form from here and email it to info@airecentre.org.
  • Contact Coram’s Migrant Children’s Project if you’re a refugee or asylum seeker for one-to-one legal advice about your immigration status. You can send an email to mcpadvice@coramclc.org.uk. 

Stop and search 

‘Stop and search’ are the powers the police have to stop people in order to search them. You might feel like you have been stopped for no reason and aren’t sure of your rights. 

Liberty, an organisation which challenges injustice, has a useful guide to help you understand your stop and search rights. In summary, if the police stop and search you, they must: 

  • give their name and police station 
  • tell you what they expect to find 
  • explain the reasons for the search 
  • make a record of the search – unless it’s not practical to do so. 

Get help 

Download the Y-Stop app to find out more about how to handle a stop and search. Through the app, you can connect with lawyers and get support if you have been stopped and searched by the police. 

Employment rights 

Perhaps something has happened at work which has made you at risk of homelessness or homeless.  

It’s important to know that when you are working, you have certain rights. You don’t need a formal piece of paper to have these rights. Even a WhatsApp chat, for example, is an agreement between you and your employer. It’s worth getting legal advice to understand your employment rights if something has happened which doesn’t seem right. For example, if:  

  • Your job has ended with little or no explanation 
  • You haven’t been paid  
  • You have been treated unfairly 
  • You don’t think you are being paid at the right rate, like the legal minimum wage 
  • You are being made redundant  

Get help  

  • If you’re living in Centrepoint accommodation, you may be able to get free support through our legal centre. Ask your key worker for more information. 
  • Find out more about your rights at work through Citizens Advice. 
  • Contact your local Law Centre for free legal advice.  

Acas

Visit Acas's website is an independent public body that provide free and impartial advice to employees. You can call the Acas helpline for employment law or workplace advice.

Call: 0300 123 1100, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. 
Visit Acas's website
Or download their template letters about workplace issues.  

Consumer rights 

You might be facing homelessness because of debt. 

You may not realise it but when you take out, credit, a mobile phone contract or gym membership, you’re entering into a contract, a legally binding agreement.  

The law says that you must be at least 18 years old to enter a contact. If you’re not, the contract may not be valid. Sometimes you might be chased to pay for something that you don’t actually legally need to. 

You can’t normally leave a valid contract early, like a mobile phone one. But if you’re finding it hard to pay, you may be able to negotiate a payment plan. 

When you sign a contract, check what payments you need to make, by when and what happens if you miss a deadline. 

Get help 

Debt Advice Foundation

Call: 0800 043 40 50. 
Visit the Debt Advice Foundation website

Other helpful resources  

  • If you’re living in Centrepoint accommodation, you may be able to get free support through our legal centre. Ask your key worker for more information. 
  • Citizens Advice has some information on young people’s rights. 
  • Law for Life is a charity that helps people access justice by helping you become aware of your legal rights. Check out their series of guides on everything from dealing with eviction to challenging unfair benefit decisions.  
  • LawStuff is a website run by Coram’s Children’s Legal Centre. It allows you to search by age to see how the law applies to you. 
  • Youth Access is a charity that runs youth information, advice and counselling services around the UK that can offer advice on your legal rights.