Council have asked for deposit back from a property I rented privately 5yrs ago!

amberrh

Any advice gratefully received please on this matter....

I rented a property in 2004 from a private landlord, through an estate agency. I had a real nightmare finding a landlord who would accept tenants in receipt of benefits, so settled for what I could get. A run-down 2b/r bungalow in need of complete refurbishment, but it was a roof over my baby son and I's heads and I couldnt afford to be fussy!

As common place, we had to come up with a months deposit and the first month's rent. After a struggle and numerous visits to the council, they agreed to pay for this and we moved in!The same year I was declared bankcrupt. We stayed for over 2yrs (the rent always paid for by benefits/part benefits) until the landlord sold up and I managed to secure (after again,months of struggling!)a home through a housing association. I was working again by then so paid my own deposit/rent.

I vaguely remember receiving a cheque for about £900 from the estate agency in regards to the deposit back a couple of months after I moved out. It was made out to me so of course I cashed it but didnt spend it in case it was a mistake (in fact I put it in premium bonds for safe keeping).

I forgot about it and the years have passed. Since then I worked for a few years until this Feb when I was made redundant. I was then forced to go back on benefits. Then last week, I receive a 'sundry invoice' from the council for £1810.00 !! For deposit on my old property! There was nothing on the invoice apart from a note stating it could be paid in affordable installments!!

I can't understand why it is for so much as I was on benefits when it was issued. I don't think I should have to pay the first months rent, as that would be covered by benefits I was on surely? Can anyone advise me what I should do? I dont have that sort of money and couldnt even afford to pay it back in installments of £5/mth at the moment! Does anyone know if I would have a chance of arguing it as I was on benefits at the time (and am now)as well as being made bankcrupt?

Many thanks for any advice.

silvercar

If you were repaid an amount after going bankrupt (but due before) then the payment should have gone to the official receiver, not the council.

If they repaid your deposit to you in error and then you went bankrupt owing the council the money, it should have been included in your bankruptcy and so written off.

McKneff

You hvent said anything about cashing the premium bonds.
Just cash them in and pay the invoice. Job done

clutton_2

how mcuh was the original deposit you paid to the landlord (with council money i assume)

tbs624

silvercar wrote: »

If you were repaid an amount after going bankrupt (but due before) then the payment should have gone to the official receiver, not the council.

If they repaid your deposit to you in error and then you went bankrupt owing the council the money, it should have been included in your bankruptcy and so written off.

I read it as the OP going bankrupt in 2004, the same year in which she moved into the property? So she was already BR when she received the cheque some 2+years later and if the Council had initially paid the tenancy deposit on her behalf then clearly the repayment of that money by the EA was not intended for her anyway - it was an error made by the EA. The tenancy deposit wan't a loan in the same way as a normal loan, in that it was being held by the EA to be returned to the Council at a later date? Surely only any portion of a deposit that got retained by the EA would get written off as a debt of the T (provided that dates of BR fitted)?

Do most people who get a sizeable sum of money they think/know they may have no entitlement to, cash it & then stash the proceeds away in premium bonds and "forget about it" for a few years? The OP says she "vaguely recollects " receiving this 900 quid but most people who were on benefits, had gone through BR and "struggled" would surely *clearly* remember such a sizeable sum.

It must be difficult for you OP to finally be caught up with, especially when you have recently lost your job, and it is possible that there is an error with the first month's rent but why did you not just contact the Council/EA at the time & query it then?

Your best course of action would be to get along to the local CAB for some advice, but I agree withthe poster above that if you still have those "forgotten" PBs then you should encash them as part of sorting all of this out.

Nice to see that Councils are so careful about recouping their money promptly...3 years?

Sammy85_2

Surely you owe them the full amount on the invoice?

Yes you were on Benefits at the time, but the deposit was theirs and you should have passed it straight back when you got the cheque.

With regards to the first months rent in advance, i would say you owe them that back too. They very kindly paid it for you so that you could secure the property. Did the council withhold a months benefits because they had paid your first months rent for you already? Unlikely.

Im afraid you'll just have to cash in the premium bond and/or make arrangements to pay them back in installments.

At least they havent charged you interest on the loan! Imagine what it would have cost you if you owed 5yrs interest too.