Bristol & Sutor about 4 year old debt on housing repairs

[TjW1072]

I hope someone can help,

 

On November 13th, 2007, my ex wife left her temporary accomodation and moved to a house owned by a housing association. She soon received a letter addressed to both of us from the council demanding around £3k for repairs and redecorations to the flat in question. We knew this to be the work of the Landlady at the time pulling a fast one as most of the repairs were due to problems such as damp, 10 year old carpets and ovens as well as damaged window frames. Luckily, at the time, I took photos of the flat when we emptied it for my ex just in case as I never trusted the landlady and we also had receipts from a professional carpet cleaner as we had them done every 6 months, as we tried to avoid this kind of bill.

 

When we questioned it, the council immediately halved it if we agree to pay but we still argued and sent them our evidence for them to review it.

 

Everything went quiet until last week when she received a letter from Bristol & Sutor demanding the money or risk court and a bailiff visiting. This has set her off in a panic and has me worried as we never received our evidence back from the housing department and I think I've lost the proof of postage for it due to moving a few times.

 

What I would like to know is whether it is any use fighting this or just agreeing to pay up. I don't want to phone anybody until we get advice as I would like to talk to them with a bit of knowledge behind me. We can't afford to pay really, so any help would be gratefully received.

[unclebulgaria67]

I think the post has been viewed a number of times without any replies, as I am not sure the position is understood.

 

From what you have said, the council appear to believe that a debt is owed in regard to a flat that was rented under housing association. You allege that the landlady (owner) of the flat, had made a false claim and you accepted liability to the council for half of the amount. The council then did not write to you again.

 

Is that a fair summary ?

 

If this is a fair summary, I think you are going to have to enter into a complaint with the council and ask them to review the previous correspondence. Send a copy of the letter to B & S, who are obviously trying to collect on behalf of the council.

 

B&S are a bailiff company and therefore you should never let them into your house. If you do so, then they will try to get you to sign something, which might give them walk in possession rights in the future. Don't let them in and don't sign anything. Deal with the council first and don't take no for an answer. The council will tell you that as bailffs are dealing with it, they will not get involved. This is not true. Make a complaint.

[TjW1072]

Thanks for the reply,

 

We didn't agree to paying anything. We argued our case and said we had our own photographic evidence to dispute the repairs our landlady was claiming. It was when we said we had evidence they offered to reduce the payment by half, but we rejected that saying we would send it in to them so they could have a look. They agreed and that was the last we heard form them about the matter for over 4 years until this demand letter appeared out of the blue.

The council at the time also refused to give us a breakdown of how the costs were calculated and it looked like they accepted her claim before speaking to us and also paid her straight away.

[unclebulgaria67]

Ok, so make a complaint to the Councils Housing Association manager and ask them to look into why they never responded to correspondence 4 years ago and have now engaged B&S. Deal with the council to resolve this and ask them to stop B&S dealing with this, until the matter is reviewed.

[bigegg]

Would I be right in thinking that this is related to the "temporary" accomodation mention in post #1

Have the council become involved because they gave a "bond guarantee" to a private landlord?

 

I was involved in such as case last year - I made a formal complaint against the council for giving away council-tax-payer's money without adequate proof of the alleged damage (which was wear and tear of paintwork)

They agreed to stop chasing my client (for want of a better word), and chased the landlord for a refund.

 

In an aside, I also reported the landlord to HMRC for adding VAT to his bill for the alleged damage without a VAT number.

He got two years for fraud (YD*N*FWTVATMAN)

[TjW1072]

Spoke to the Council in the morning and was told that it was still ongoing. I asked to explain why it's taken 4 years for them to suddenly call in the debt collectors and the woman said she would look into it and phone back later.

Waited until the afternoon and phoned back. Got told there was no record of my original phone call and they couldn't find the debt on their records all of a sudden. Really don't know what is going on there. Phoned Bristow & Sutor and explained it to them. They still asked if I wanted to set up a payment plan lol!!! I said no and they said they would return the debt

[unclebulgaria67]

If you have any B&S contact details, it might be worth sending a complaint letter to them and to the council, just confirming the situation from your point of view. Someone from the council has obviously picked this debt up and passed it to B&S. When B&S pass it back to the council, I doubt they will explain why they have done so and you will have to go through the same shenanigans. It might therefore be worth a complaint to the council with a copy to B&S, so that this is formally registered.