If my landlord has his way, me, my husband and our four children will be kicked out of our home a few weeks before Christmas. We have got nowhere else to go.

Our money problems started when my toddler accidentally bought a yearly online subscription, leaving us in £600 of debt that we couldn’t get out of. Struggling with the rising cost of food, clothes, electricity and heating a damp and mouldy home, our debts have mounted, and we’ve gotten behind on our rent payments. We tried to organise direct payment of rent to our landlord to pay off what we owed him, but he refused this arrangement, and instead told us he was evicting us from our home.

My two eldest children have been crying since they found out we were losing our home. They’ve been through so much already. When they were both little, we became homeless after I was forced to flee a dangerous domestic situation. The shared temporary hostel we were moved into was terrifying. There were so many violent, angry people living there. Every night, I would push the bed against the wall to stop anyone from getting in. My children would only go to sleep cuddling up next to me, because they were so frightened of the noises they could hear and the things they’d seen in that hostel.

As a mum, I feel terrible that I might have to put them through all this again.

All my children love it where we live now. They feel safe on this estate and in this community in Maltby. My baby plays out in the garden. My three older children have friends nearby, and they all love their local school. If we get kicked out, we’ll have to leave all this behind.

We’re trying our best to clear our debt to our landlord, but we need to pay £500 before our court hearing on the 31st October, otherwise our eviction order will be granted and we’ll have to leave. If we can pay this off, we will hopefully be able to keep a roof over our heads for Christmas. Any money we raise above £500 will go towards paying off our rent debt.

Thank you so much for your help.

Emma and Phil