A father says he and his son have been left homeless after losing £3,000 in a rental scam.
Adam and his son Archie moved from Birmingham to Gloucester to be nearer family, but when they arrived at their new flat, they found there was already someone living there.
“I knocked on some poor lady’s door, and we kind of had a little argument saying ‘this is my place’, ‘no, this is my place’, and then it hit home. It turned out six people had been to the property that day,” he said.
The pair are living in YMCA accommodation in Gloucester at a time when the charity is warning of a rise in homelessness.
“You never think it’ll happen to you,” Adam said.
“It was a really, really good advert. I got in touch with the team – it was like an estate agent’s website – talked through it and agreed to take it at £1,500 rent and £1,500 security deposit.
“They even gave me the paperwork for the security deposit scheme, and the tenancy agreement appeared to be signed by a local solicitor.”
Adam later spoke to the solicitor and found out the signature had been copied.
“The police looked at the website with me and said it was one of the best they’d seen,” he added.
“The last thing you want is to be on the streets with your lad.”
Adam, a former roofer, is waiting for a knee replacement operation, so he cannot work.
YMCA Cheltenham, which also owns accommodation in Gloucester, has housed Adam and Archie since September.
With their help, Archie can go to school, and Adam has access to support.
“He likes it here and doesn’t want to leave,” Adam said of Archie.
“We’re like our own little community, and there’s always someone who can help with something.”
The pair made plans with other residents to share a Christmas meal on Boxing Day.
YMCA Cheltenham provided accommodation to more people last year than at any time in its 170-year history – a total of 843 people across Gloucestershire, including more than 200 children.
The charity’s head of communities, health & wellbeing, Rob Charsley, told BBC West: “It’s been a challenging year – we’ve seen increasing need and record numbers of residents that we’ve had to house.
“The YMCA here is needed now more than ever – when I started, we were all on one site in Cheltenham. Now we’re not just supporting individuals – we’re supporting families.”
Across England, more than 172,000 children are living in temporary accommodation.
The government has pledged to stop children living in temporary accommodation for long periods of time as part of its child poverty strategy.
