Seeing as I am going through this right now I thought I'd jot something down here while it's still fresh in my mind.

Since my conviction last spring(2011) which resulted in a community sentence, I have always known that my mortgage on my house would be under threat. I managed with the help of family to struggle along but while JSA will pay the interest on your mortgage they will not pay the repayment side of things. Also in my case I had remortgaged twice to support my business so that was also not included. It was therefore a matter of time unless I could find work which never materialised in time.

So after a last ditch attempt last Monday to get the eviction order revoked and a final plea for more time ignored by the lenders, on Thursday the bailiffs and locksmiths arrived and took possession of the house. I had managed to get most of the stuff that matters to me into storage (books, music, hifi, computer gear, etc) but I had no choice but to leave all the bigger items behind. A nice leather suite, decent bed and a lovely oak desk but... and I guess this is the point I wanted to make here... if you are fortunate like me to not have the additional stress of kids or a partner to worry about AND you have somewhere temporary to crash (currently typing from my bed/couch in a friends house). In my case, after all the crap with the arrest, trial and conviction and probation etc., for the first time in more than a year I felt a great weight lifted off my back. Literally the worst thing I could imagine as a once well off business owner had happened (short of prison) and I have left it all behind me. The last week I have no worries about paying bills or not answering the door to debt collectors. I feel like I can make a fresh start (minus of course the probation side of things) and get on with my life.

Yes I'm still unemployed at present but I'm starting my own business through the New Enterprise Allowance scheme (will write more in another post about this but ask your JSA advisor at the Job Centre for more info) and also have five interviews coming up for jobs in the next week (fingers crossed on the CRB side of things but you gotta keep trying).

Also I have managed to find a few one bed flats that I really like and now I can get Housing Benefit (and with a load from some good friends for the bond) I can see a new life ahead of me in a new place and leave my old mad bad world behind me.

I guess I just wanted to write this as losing my house has been my biggest fear since my arrest and now it's happened it's like turning on the light as a kid and finding out the monster is really just a shadow.

As long as you have your friends, family and/or at the very least your life and liberty (however much it may be curtailed as a result of your offence) then you have something to look forward to in the future.

Don't sweat the trivial things. As an ex-offender you have already dealt and are dealing with things most people can and never will experience or understand.

A house is just bricks and mortar and can be replaced.

Cheers

R2S