To all I am writing this on behalf of a friend and would be grateful of any help as this has become an urgent and quite complex situation. My friend's husband racked up some Council Tax arrears before they got together at a house that she never lived at or even visited. They got married in 2008 and the council tax arrears was from 2005 - way before they even met. They have now split up and the ex has moved back to Poland. Post has now been re-directed to my friends house and she has received a letter from Ross & Roberts - Civil Enforcement Agents acting on behalf of South Somerset District Council. Bailiffs have also been to visit to recover goods but she didn't let them in. She has contacted South Somerset District Council and explained that they weren;t even together when the debt was created and they said that she is liable as his debts are now theirs as they are married. Bailiffs are coming back demanding payment and a regular payment plan or to recover goods. How can she be liable for a debt that was not hers against a house that she has never even stepped foot into let alone lived in - this doesn't add up to me - any urgent advice would be grateful as this has reached a serious situation. Thanks!

I missed two payments and called Hitachi to pay specifying that the money was to be allocated to the two months arrears and NOT default charges as I planned to dispute them. Hitachi took my payment and allocated it to charges instead of the arrears so an additional default charge was added to my account the following month! When I challenged this they claimed it was policy to allocate the money to charges first, I checked my credit agreement and this was totally untrue and in fact the opposite! They refused to remove the charges so I continued to pay on time by cheque and wrote accompanying letter instructing that the money was for arrears AND in settlement of all charges and if they did not agree to this settlement then they must not cash the cheque - they cashed the cheque but continued to chase me for charges, I sent another cheque and this time wrote the same terms on the back of the cheque too and they cashed it again but still continued to chase me for those initial charges in addition to charges they kept adding claiming I was still classed as being in arrears as I had not cleared the default charges. Can default charges be classed as arrears? Can a default be logged on your credit file even though you are up to date with agreed payments but have refused to pay default charges? Can Hitachi log a default when they cashed cheques agreeing to my terms of settlement?

I have recently had to move home after 28 years with the same landlord (he had a change of circumstances and needed to raise capital) and used all my savings/spare cash to pay for 3 skips and a house clearance. I don't know why I stuck my head in the sand and didn't pay the CT on the new property. I also stopped opening my mail. On Tuesday I found a bailiffs letter in my door stating I owed £1093.04 which included a £24.50 charge, I didn't even realise I'd been taken to court! Serves me right for not opening mail. Spent the rest of the day opening it all. I'd missed a couple of payments so now have to pay the whole years CT. The next day the bailiff called again - I was at work. I now had to pay another £18 for that visit making a total of £1,111.04. There was an offer to let me pay in 10 weekley installments of £101.01. If I had a spare £100 a week I probably wouldn't be in this situation in the first place! I was also supposed to fill in a questionnaire if I wanted to pay in instalments but some of the info requested I wouldn't like to give out - my employers details and my landlords details. I spoke to national debtline who went through a budget with me and are sending it to me in the post to use if I try to negotiate with the bailiffs but he is due to call again on Monday so it probably won't be here in time. I don't know what to do, I suffer from depression and diabetes and haven't felt that good since I moved. I saw my GP today and he doubled the doseage of my anti-depressants as I'm not coping very well. I'm on leave at the moment and all of next week but I'm so on edge at home I'm feeling very stressed and can't sleep. Any advice gratefully received.

Morning all! Thanks in advance, Ive always had great advice from everyone on here My issue is that I had lived with an ex for a number of years and we had run up just over £2000 in council tax arrears. I wont bore you with why, just that it's in both of our names and needs to be paid. I obviously only want to be paying the 50% I am accountable for however she is being very difficult and will not agree to pay any herself. In the meantime, the council are waiting for a proposal from me for an arrangement. My hope is that there is some way I can have just my 50% split so I can pay just that. The council said no but is there a way around that at all? I cant pay the full amount just because she is ignorant, surely? Thanks!

Hi there I have been paying my dedt off with this company for over 3yrs, I am now unemployed and in receipt of ESA benefit, I canceled my DD with hutton and today I received a letter saying they were wanting the outstanding balance. I called them today to offer them £10 a month (as thats all I can afford at the moment) and the lady said that the least I can pay is £20 per month, I tried to explain to her that I could not afford this, she was quite snippy with me after I asked to speak to someone else and asking for her name, I told her before that I am not refusing to pay the debt but refusing to pay at there rate! She did not ask me for details of my incomme and out goings and even implied that I should have paid all the debt off when I was working. She say's the sheriff officers will be at my door anytime soon and I will incur further charges. Question is how can they not accept less than £20 monthly or £5 weekly as they put it. I will be paying off my debt afterall Is there anyway I can pay off this debt at what I can afford

Looking for some advice om a commercial lease signed in personal names. Long winded, but here go's.... Signed a lease in joint names (business partner) for 5 years, for 2 units, with a break clause after 3 years. 2 1/2 years into this , we had to put company (ltd) into liquidation. At the time landlord stepped back and said he would not pursue for the remainder of lease (approx £140k), if we wanted to start again and remain in the building (using 1 unit). If things went well, then he wanted us to address the issue of the remaining unpaid liability of the lease. We made it quite clear that we would never be able to afford both units given the monthly cost , £4,700 , for a fresh out of the box business. We decided to start again, and after 3 months it was stated that if we were to remain in the building, then it should not cost the landlord for us to be there, and we were paying all associated costs for the area we were using. Our accountant thought we were mad , and suggested we vacate the property, and move to one whose costs were more in line with the size business we were running. We went against this advice, and remained, thinking this was the right thing to do. We did try to exercise our break clause, in an attempt to limit our liability, but as we were unable to pay the sum involved with this clause,therefore it was not accepted. On several occasions over the following 2 years, we were approached regarding payment of liability, but we were unable to due to the fact that the rent we were paying was too high for the business, so no extra profit was being generated for us to do this, but we did suggest that the fact that we had remained, and not left should count towards something, as the building would have remained empty, therefore no rent would have been earned. (There were no enquiries for our unit in those 2 years). This fell on deaf ears, and the terms of the lease were pushed under our noses. At the end of last year, our lease ran out, and the landlord was lucky enough to find a new tenant for our unit. We offered/were offered another previously un let part of the property for re location. Again, the accountant advised us to move, the landlords agent suggested that the longer we remained a tenant, the less the need for the full liability to be paid. We ignored the accountant (again!), and felt it was the right thing to do, given the liability. This time the landlord has refused a new lease, unless we pay increase rent. We stated that we cannot afford to pay any more, as the costs were still high for the business. He has now stated that if he can find anyone who will pay more, then if we can pay the new price we can remain, if not we need to move. Ho hum.... Then out of the blue, we have now received a letter from his solicitor demanding payment of over £80k, plus £6k interest, by way of £9k deposit within 14 days, with the rest payable over 3 years. It was also stated that interest was now being accrued at the rate of £8 per day. This is based on the feeling (not fact) the landlord has about our business, ie increased turnover. Any ideas where we stand? Can he force us out? What rights do we have/ It must be noted that since the formtion of the new business, the rent has always been paid on time, and we are not in arrears in that respect. Cheers

I have a secured loan on my home which is currently in arrears (the company say arrears of £9000) but this is made up in part with excessive charges, compund interest, visits from 'mortgage counsellors', etc.My first charge (mortgage) is up to date and never been in arrears.The second charge is threatening litigation, reposession, etc. What is the worst that they can actually do? My home is in Scotland.Thanks for any advice.

The Scottish Government has introduced a new law aimed at protecting tenants in the social housing sector with rent arrears from eviction. Under the amended Housing Scotland Act (2010) rental landlords will be required to undertake a series of actions before they can refer a tenant to court for eviction action. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/06/2337/0 The Scottish Government has stipulated that tenants be offered housing benefits advice and that landlords take “proactive steps” to put in place a payment plan. The new legislation, which came into effect this month, will also allow tenants to reach an agreement on rental arrear payments after a court eviction order has been granted. http://www.credittoday.co.uk/article/14265/online-news/scottish-law-to-protect-tenants-in-arrears

*SOLVED* Hi please could you offer any advice or direction. yesterday i received a letter (click for large) asking for outstanding arrears on my student loan. This has never happened before since i've always been able to defer and this time i had it deferred a number of years..i have a Debt Relief Order in place since last year and am on Long term Incapacity benefit..needless to say this is something i don't need.. Although its been passed to a DCA,is it worth contacting the student loans company and clarifying my position? thanks for any help you can offer.

My friend and I have been renting our house since 9th March 2012 through a letting agency. The rental of £475 has been paid in full every month, until.... During May 2012 we received a letter, recorded delivery, addressed to 'The Occupier' from Winterhill Largo with a Notice Of Inspection. The letter went on to notify us of a change in receivership for the property. After a brief phone call I was informed by Winterhill Largo that our landlord had missed mortgage payments on the property and therefore the house had been repossessed. I immediately notified our letting agency but they didn't know anything about it! Further letters were sent from Winterhill demanding payment to them, not the landlord or his representatives. We made copies of all the letters and gave them to our agency who informed us they could not get in contact with this company and adviced us not to pay anything to anyone until the situation had been rectified. We have received a letter today from our letting agency confirming our property is now under new ownership and demanding payment of £1250 in rent arrears! Does this disruption results in a breach of our tenancy agreement? We are now frantically looking for somewhere else to live and would prefer to use the money saved during this period to secure new accommodation. Do I have any rights?

I am currently in court with my mortgage lender in respect of around £1000 worth of arrears charges that I would like back. In my original mortgage contract it does state that they can add to my mortgage the cost of any litigation required if I was to take them to court. This has now happened I have received a letter this morning letting me know that they have added nearly £2000 to my mortgage for "costs due to litigation action" Has anyone else come across this when reclaiming arrears fees?

I am presently in arrears of £2057 council tax due to loss of job and business, I had spoken to the officials in charge and asked me to filled a form indicating how much I can afford. I offered £10 weekly payment pending when I can sort things out or find a job but the only letter I received from them was a bankruptcy proceeding letter against me which after reading indicating that they are taking over all my possessions once such judgement is passed by the court. My house is presently mortgaged and also in arrears but I am scared of losing everything and rendering me homeless. Please help. How can I deal with this issue.

Due to mis - management, both by myself and the County Council I have been left with some arrears of council tax. I've been summoned to my local magistrates court to explain/pay etc on 24/7. However, I'm not in the country then. Are councils lenient on cancelling appearances or would they expect me to return from holiday?

I've come across this today ... I paid a lump sum of £2,000 a few weeks ago towards my mortgage arrears. However, the interest on arrears is more this month than last month, even though they're now £2,000 less. I enquired about this and was told that arrears are on a variable interest rate which changes, capital is on the normal rate, so I'll have to call every month if I want to know how much to pay. This is the first time I've heard of this and thought the whole balance, capital and arrears, was on the same interest rate which i'm informed of when it changes. I've never been told that arrears attract a variable interest rate. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Hello all, I used to have a mortgage with GE Money (big mistake) from 2007. In January 2010 I got into difficulty due to losing my job and couldn't afford the monthly payment. GE weren't interested and began to stack on charges dragging it out for a year before repossessing the house in March 2011. (Having read about securitisation on here I can see why they did this as this was the time the fixed rate ended, but that's another story!) Anyway, back to the point, there was an alleged shortfall although GE never informed me that the house had even been sold nor a breakdown of charges etc, the first thing I knew about it was via a DCA letter demending £40,000! I am currently arguing this with them, and received a letter this morning stating they'll accept £22,500 in settlement. I believe they have bought the debt but no letter of assignment etc or a summary of how this figure has been derived, so am arguing that point. My main query is if I claim back the unfair charges from GE would this be passed to the DCA to offset the alleged shortfall, and would it jeopardise my case against the DCA, or would the refund be passed to me and the bought debt (the shortfall) remain a seperate issue? I apologise if this has already been covered but I can't find reference to it anywhere other than people's claims for settled loans/mortgages. Thankyou in advance for your time and assistance.

Hi all, new to the forum so hopefully I'm posting this in the right place. I lived in a council home with my two younger brothers, it's our family home. My brother was made redundant Sept last year. I was temping and unable to afford the rent but my brother was applying for job seekers allowance and help with the rent. I called the council and informed them of this. My brother is now working (on a much lower wage), I'm also working but we did have rent arrears, I was paying the rent April and May with an extra £30 each week, my brother made sure I didn't see any of the letters from the council until we received the eviction notice. I didn't know what to do and so spent the two days trying to get the arrears money so I could pay the council. Too little too late. I was evicted last Thursday. I made an application to my local county court (N244) for a judge to hear my case and the situation of why we had the arrears. Due to mis communication from the court I was not informed of the court date and it went ahead with out me today and the judge upheld the council's request for evicition. I have been informed by the court, that due to the mis communication, I can make another application for my case to be heard by the judge (without notice) and so am going down there tomorrow to make the application, I was told that I need to have LEGAL REASONS as to why the court should rule in my favour. Search for this has been a nightmare, I cannot get free legal advice (I earn too much) and cannot find anything online. What I want to know is how do I word the above in legal speak for question 10 on the N244 form. Any help you guys can give me would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

I am 21, never worked, always been on benefits, and in grands of debt from council tax and rent arrears from previous council accommodation that I don't think I am liable to pay. I am receiving JSA in which i get £70 per every 2 weeks because I am currently paying back crisis loans, and my rent is £30pw there are gaps in my claim due to depression which caused me to stay home all day and not eat or sleep properly, which then meant my income was nil. despite all that EQUITA is sending me numerous letters that don't even say how much they claim I owe. The most recent one received states the following: REMOVAL NOTICE Despite numerous previous applications for payment you have failed to pay the outstanding council tax due to Westminster city council. Therefore, I have been issued your case so that I can call at your home within the next week with a removal contractor when I may remove your goods to the local auction house. I would prefer that you were in attendance if your goods are removed and should another day be more suitable I urge you to contact me on the number below immediately. should you prefer to pay the balance outstanding, call me to arrange immediate payment. yours sincerely David Furlonger Bailiff in charge telephone: 07970634413 please advise me on what to do or who to contact. thank you

I have just attempted to start the process of small claim court action - and where you inpit the address, as SL's address is in Scotland it wont let me continue... Can anyone advise me on what to do? STANDARD LIFE WAS BOUGHT BY BARCLAYS recently - should i be suing barclays instead? Also, if anyone else has issues with SL id love to hear - i have many letters ive sent that might help you! Xenia

:???:I had arrears of £14K from a rip off loan (including all the interest that was added on immediatly at point of sale)... Egg have now uphel a complaint from me and paid over £7k in compensation for the PPI added on but now the debt company Arrow is chasing me for the rest. It doesnt seem fair that I have to pay all the reste coz if I had the £7k in my hand I could have insisted on a settlement figure and I am sure they would have accepted as I am currently repaying it at only £10 per month. Can anyone help or advise? I really want this debt to disappear as I feel I wouldnt have got into debt if they hadnt added all the rubbish on it to begin with. Thanks guys.

Hi Everyone i am in need of help...got a letter of a court hearing for respossesion by halifax. I do have arrears from an arrangemnet that had failed due to jobloss.the last agreement i missed 2 months and then in june my fixed interest rate came to an end bring my mortgage to considerable lower monthly payment ....halifax asked me to do a budget which i did offering to pay £100 on top of the now lower mortgage ..which i can afford easily. they accepted the offer via writting from their solicitors and asked me to make the first payment on 28th june which i have paid promptly...but they are still taking the matter to court to reposses the property....in the letter from the solicitors after agreeing to the arrangement..they stated ......"that they would ask the court to grant an Order for Possesion suspended upon the above agreed terms at the forthcoming hearing.Provided the agreed payments are maintained in the future, our client will be unable to obtain an eviction date by enforcing the order for possesion'' Please what should i do? .....i have always been in contact with them since the issues started....please what should i do....I am married but no children yet....i have the copies of all the letters. Can they still go to court to reposses despite having agreed to the agreed and I having paid.Is there something i can do to stop them I also noted that there has been several £35 charges throughout the start of the mortgage...i dont know the sum but with all times i have been seeing those charges letters it might be more than hyalf of the arears...if not all.Can i use this charges in my favour as i think it isquite unfair thanks for all your help...the hearing is on 28th July 2010

Hi all, I'd be so grateful if anyone can offer me any advice on this, I really don't know how to proceed. It's a complicated situation so please forgive the length of the post. 3 years ago I was living in a slightly(!) dodgy houseshare, it was originally a three bedroom house which the landlord converted to four bedrooms. He never visited the property, certainly I never met him, and there was no tenancy agreement in place. Basically the rent was paid on the 25th of the month and that's all he was concerned with, he did not mind who lived there. When someone moved out they found someone to replace themselves in their room and so got their deposit back that way, there was no involvement from the landlord or even from the other housemates. This meant zero accountability, it also meant that by the time I moved out there were 9 people living there! I would never have considered moving into such an arrangement but at my previous address my tenancy was up and not renewable and in 3 months of searching I had been unable to find anywhere else at all that I could come close to affording, I had no option. I lived there for 10.5 months and moved out as soon as I got a new job that paid a bit more, in July 08. When I moved out I was up to date with the rent and I made certain that I paid my housemates my share of the outstanding bills, including council tax. Unfortunately I did this in cash so can't prove it. They were not people I kept in touch with, although I did get a single phone call from one of them in September that year as the council had been tipped off to the number of people living there (10 by then, with a single bathroom I should mention!) and were evicting them as the place was deemed unfit for habitation. I was called because no one in the house could find the landlord's telephone number. Maybe an alarm bell should have gone off in my head right then! Well, I never heard from any of the housemates, or the landlord, again after that one call. But two days ago I received a council tax bill for the property for the period 1st April 08 to 31st July 08. There are just two names on it, mine and one other girl living there at the time. I think basically this is because I was once foolish enough to email the landlord when the toilet was broken and we couldn't get him by phone, so he had my name, and the other name is the girl who called me for his number when the eviction came - also she was far and away the longest resident, she had been there already a couple of years before I lived there. On the bill she is listed as a full time student, so there is a discount given, but that still leaves a bill of £420 to be paid - presumably that means by me. The other housemates were all from Eastern European countries (mostly Estonia) and I doubt they are still in the country; I certainly have no means of tracking them down as they changed so many often and this far down the line I can't remember even the first names of the people living there at that period! I know that technically we are joint and severally liable for the council tax, but given the absence of a tenancy agreement is there a case to be made against this? Also, should I tell the council how many people were living there to support my case? I worry that in doing so I will lose the student discount given and will have even more to pay if I lose. I should also mention that there is absolutely no way I can pay this amount all at once. Like many people I am struggling to make ends meet right now and at best I could pay them perhaps £10 a month. If I tell them that are they going to laugh in my face and take me to court? Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Hi, My flatmate of 4 years moved out in July at which point the letting agent revealed to me that he was 10 months in arrears with his rent. When I asked the letting agent why I hadn't been informed I was told that a letter addressed to both of us had been sent, but obviously my flatmate had intercepted it before I could. After much stress and argument I managed to receive half of the arrears from my flatmate, but he still owes the other half. I know that according to my agreement I am "joint and severally liable" for the payment, but my question is: Is there comeback for me against the letting agent, as they have left it so long to tell me about this (and they are still in no rush to let me know what they intend to do), and secondly, as my ex-flatmate has already accepted liability by paying half of the arrears, can I sue him for the other half, if he refuses to pay? I now have a new agreement with the letting agent with a new flatmate - as this is nothing to do with them, do the letting agent have any powers with regards to claiming the rent back? Any advice would be gratefully received!

I have a tenant who appears to have sold his business as a going concern. New occupiers have effectively moved into my property without my permission or consent beign sought. Now they are some 6 months in arrears of rent. I am really confised as to what to do? Do i serve a notice to the occupiers that a breach of covenant has taken place and so the property is forfeited or do i forfeit the lease on the basis of non payment of rent. I simply want these new tenants out. They are horrible brazen people. I understand if I demand rent i have deemed to have waived the breach but its the fastest way to get them out. I really need them out. Please advise!

The ECHR in September gave a final decision on a case that has been running through national and European courts for 10 years - Kay v United Kingdom, originally Lambeth Borough v Kay and others. The ECHR was asked to decide whether occupiers of land should have an opportunity to contest possession orders made against them on the ground that such orders were disproportionate, taking into account the personal circumstances of the occupiers. The challenge was made under Article 8 of the Convention. In finding for Kay the court said that "the loss of one's home is the most extreme form of interference with the right to respect for the home. Any person at risk of an interference of this magnitude should in principle be able to have the proportionality of the measure determined by an independent tribunal in light of the relevant principles under Article 8 of the Convention, notwithstanding that, under domestic law, his right to occupation has come to an end." The ECHR concluded that the decision by British courts to strike out the defence meant that the procedural safeguards for the assessment of the proportionality of the interference were not observed. As a result, the applicants were dispossessed of their homes without any possibility to have the proportionality of the measure determined by an independent tribunal. Although this case was to do with Social Housing tenants, the above paragraphs must apply to any claim for possession including those against private tenants and mortgagors. In fact only this week I used it in assisting a friend to appeal a possession and eviction order gained by Northern Rock. There were other grounds and the decision was made without a hearing, so I cannot tell how much weight the judge gave to this particular ground, but it seems to me that this must now become an essential consideration in all possession proceedings.

Can anyone give a definitive answer on this? On 4 Mar my DD payment of £50 was unpaid due to insufficient funds. I sought help from a debt advisor who wrote to my creditors offering token payments for 3 or 6 months to allow me time to improve my situation. They also asked for interest and charges to be halted. My creditor accepted. The same day (23 March) they sent me a Pre- SDN (statutory Default Notice?) letter. According to the printout of the transaction log for my account, Two weeks later (6 April) they issued a default notice with arrears of x, and with what i presume was 28 days to rectify the default from the text in the transaction log. I don't have the arrears notice but assume the value x because the transaction log for the same date shows arrears x. Seven days later (13 April) I paid x amount (rounded up to next whole pound) by debit card. 28 April I made the first token payment. Bang on the 28 days (4 May) the transaction log shows a termination letter was sent, and indeed a default was registered with this date. Here's where I need advice. I have no issue with the creditor issuing the default notice- the token payment was unacceptable, and they were entitled to do so. I do have to query the default though, as I believe I effectively rectified the default by paying the arrears, as i believe per the default notice that was sent. Surely this would reset the clock with regards to the default and mean a second default notice would have to be issued, with a new date and new arrears amount? Or is this irrelevant by virtue of the fact the interest etc had been stopped?