There is help for paying the rent here, but only for people on low income, not if you’re unemployed. And claiming it is even more complicated… I spent 4 months trying, only to discover that because the process had taken so long I’d become ineligible.

The biggest problem here is not necessarily the complexity of the process, but more the impossibility of obtaining accurate information about how the process works. Relying on official lists of the documentation necessary for making a claim is the last thing you should do.

Incidentally, it’s also worth noting that once you’re receiving benefit there aren’t any further requirements other than you get a piece of paper stamped every three months (and even this can be done by phone or internet):

Maria Jesus,
Let me explain things to you very simply.
I don’t have any problem with fulfilling my responsibilities.
When Sol didn’t pay his last month’s rent I paid it.
We haven’t been able to find a new flatmate because the flat has been left in a bad state by you. I don’t want to lie to people who come to look at the flat like Cris lied to us by saying that the problems would be fixed.
So it is your fault that we haven’t had a flatmate for the month of June.
So we won’t pay for your failings.

I don’t want us to become enemies. But you’ve been a real numbskull with your messages, with your incapability to understand what we say, with your incapability to do what you should. Therefore, I’ve had to explain things like this, a little rudely.
I hope that you stop acting like an idiot and that you will finally get around to fixing things that in some cases you have taken years to fix, so that we will be able to find a new flatmate in September and that you won’t miss out on more money.

Cordially,
snailsnail

This all came about because we didn’t pay a portion of the rent last month because the flat was unrentable with the number of problems it had (including the oven, which IS now fixed).

The story continues:
She demanded the money, we said no, she demanded even more money, we ignored her, she threatened us with court, we tried to explain things nicely, she stopped talking to me, she started blaming weird things on us (her car insurance didn’t get renewed – which is somehow our fault?!), we are basically stuck because she’s impossible to deal with. Finally we will leave at the end of September and look for somewhere else, though this is a bit of a problem as we’re both out of work.

p.s. do you read JG Ballard?

Looking forward to August.