My husband left, leaving me and the children to cope on our own with a €750-a-month rented flat, which I can’t afford to pay for on my own. He was supposed to pay the rent one last time before he left, but he didn’t, so now we’re a month behind on the rent. In my opinion, it’s not just that – the rent’s always a bit late. The landlord isn’t flexible, doesn’t want to understand the situation and won’t come to an agreement. The flat is awful and old; the shower cubicle is small and cramped, and the door has broken, so you can’t even clean it properly – yet he won’t agree to have it repaired either. The oven broke, and in his view that’s my fault too; he won’t agree to buy a new one to replace it. Someone in this block of flats has been stealing our belongings, and I’m scared that the next theft is just around the corner. It’s already happened twice. I want to move out of here into a smaller flat, but because of my rent arrears, I can’t get out of here. I’m about to be evicted, and my rent will go towards the debt recovery, so I won’t be able to get a new flat – which means I’ll have to move out into the open with my children... I need help; this is a desperate situation. At the turn of the year, my income dropped by almost 700 euros; I’m on partial unemployment benefit and have only been receiving 44 euros a month in housing benefit, and I’m anxiously waiting to see what happens with the housing benefit review. that benefit should go up now, but I’ve heard it might only be up to 300–400, which isn’t enough to cover the rent as my income is so low. I’m constantly looking for extra work and hoping something will come through, but that doesn’t help with the here and now, or with the fear and insecurity caused by this exorbitant rent, the poor condition of the flat and the incidents of theft. I need help to sort out the rent so that I can move away from here with my children. I haven’t received any help from anywhere, and my relatives don’t want to help – though, of course, some of them aren’t in a position to do so either. Please help me; I beg you most humbly. The car repair costs were higher than expected, and I can’t afford to pay for that either right now, but I need the car to get to work as it’s so far away that there’s no other way to get there. Soon the car will be repossessed too, as I can’t pay for it.