HA Harrassing me for arrears i do not owe them from 2000

lowlowlola

Dear MSErs i wonder if you can help?


Its a bit complex so i will try to make it as brief as possible.


I am a joint assured tenant with a Housing Authority and have been since 1997. My weekly rent is £220. Today they have written to me to say i have arrears of £420 and that they will be seeking to serve a notice of possession if i do not clear the arrears by 5th October.


Payments were made by cheque and standing order each month from 1997 at the time my flatmate and i paid half each so two payments were made each month. Nothing was input onto the accounts system until May 1998. At the time the Feb. 1998 payment was not input and they also added an anomalous charge of £112 which we were never told about.


In Jan and Feb 2000 we underwent some financial difficulties and paid half the rent for those two months and brought everything back into line in March with a cheque being issued and a wire transfer. These were not credited to the account


In May 2000 we were served a Notice to Seek Possession because our payments had not been credited, statements were sent, they apologised on the phone and i heard nothing more. We also switched to a single direct debit and have had an unblemished payment record since.


In August 2001 they took TWO direct debits from my account and refused to refund as there were arrears. Statements were sent and again and the money refunded i had thought the matter closed


In Around 2005/6 i received an arrears notice and called and was told “this is a normal administration mistake and not to worry as i was a good tenant” i remember this vividly as was so unprofessional it incensed me!


In March 2009 I received an arrears notice AGAIN saying i owed £420 – when i queried it they said it was accurate and that my account had been in arrears since 1998, I requested my full file under the Data Protection Act and confirmation in writing of exactly WHEN the alleged arrears took place. I heard nothing back from them and when i chased I was given a postal reference number to chase at my sorting office – this comes up as not yet delivered. I was exceptionally busy at work and did not have the time or energy to pursue it, as i was advised that as a matter of law it is up to them to prove the debt


So fast forward to yesterday and i receive this letter.

My questions are:


I am right that this is statute barred under section 19 of the limitations act 1980as the issue predates 2004 and i have never acknowledge the debt and have an unblemished direct debit payment records since May 2000 and they are in fact harassing me


Have they breached any code of conduct as my understanding that they can only do this, as the tenancy is assured, if there a 8 weeks rent outstanding on mandatory grounds and section 10 for unpaid rent is discretionary


I have every piece of paper to prove payment bar 1 x £340 payment from 1998 would that be a problem, although i have letters from me stating it was sent.


I have replied to them today to say i do not, and have never accepted that any arrears are on my account and asked them again to put the alleged date to me in writing and referring them to the statute of limitations.


Any advice is gratefully received. :beer:

PS I should say that AT NO TIME have i recieved rent statements.

clutton_2

what an appallingly incompetent HA.... no rent statements ever ??

i think you are time barred....

even if you are not time barred - if they claim arrears they have to send you a full statement of how much rent is due, when it was paid, how many arrears have accrued and the cumulative arrears over the period...

i reckon they will have changed their accounting procedures in the last ten years, and now dont have access to the old records and are trying to bluff their way through......

i would send one final recorded delivery letter, denying any arrears, and asking them to provide you with a full rent statement of your entire tenancy.

It is up to them to prove you owe the oney... not up to you to prove you dont

Let them take you to court.. they wont win.. and they will just look stupid.....

DVardysShadow

Wot clutton says.

And particularly asking for a full rent statement for the entire tenancy so that you can verify their claims. This will probably cost them as much as they allege you owe - and after they have done that, as you have every piece of paper, bar 1, you might well find your missing piece of paper accounted for. So you will have peace of mind. And then you can tell tehm it is statute barred.

DO put them to the bother of proving the debt - they would have to if it went to court. It seems to be fashionable these days to use 'data mining' to uncover anomalies which are turned into claims against people - often I suspect, quite spuriously. It deserves to be made into a very expensive process for those who try it on.

lowlowlola

thanks - my 5 year old nephew could do a better job than them
I am thinking of getting a speacilist solictor to write to them on my behalf as frankly they need tellling

thanks for taking the time to reply

DVardysShadow

lowlowlola wrote: »

thanks - my 5 year old nephew could do a better job than them
I am thinking of getting a speacilist solictor to write to them on my behalf as frankly they need tellling

thanks for taking the time to reply

The solicitor will cost you more than the value at stake in the dispute. If you think they need telling, you tell them. But you are best to stick with the advice to get statements out of them first.

clutton_2

Being a LL of 11 years... here is what you should write .......

your address

HA address


date



Dear HA

RE TEnancy at ..... your address......

thank you for your letter of x date, in which you claim that i owe you £x. I dispute this. Please send me a full rent statement for the entire tenancy from x date to the present date

thank you

yours faithfully

your name


keep a copy and send it registered post.

(a solicitor will charge you around £180 for this letter.....)

let us know what they reply with ......

lowlowlola

I am utterly exasperated with my HA. They now have sent me my full file and statement per my request and have asked me to attend a meeting to discuss the arrears - ignoring my request for clarification of what they allege i owe. I simply do not want to attend a meeting before they have clarified to me in writing what the alleged arrears are and when they occurred.

Sorry to trouble you again but where do I stand? – can I force them to state the exact amount and dates. My concern about attending a meeting is that it will be yet another verbal exchange (and I am so frustrated I may actually cry) and nothing will be sorted. I want it all in black and white so there is no confusion and I can prove that payment was made or take advice as needed. As I have previously stated this all goes back to pre May 2000.

I am at my wits end

Thanks for your time
LLL

clutton_2

try to stay calm.. you are dealing with idiots...

what exactly are the headings on the financial statement they have sent you ?

you do not have to go to a meeting if you dont want..

If you are feeling bullied by this, and i suspect you are, then you need a person on your side.. - you could ask your local councillor to look into things for you - that is what they are there for.. or your MP

also you could go to CAB and get them to write to the HA for you.....

you dont have to do this on your own..

b w

lowlowlola

Thanks for taking the time to reply

They have sent a full rent statement and copies of all the correspondance over the years. Due to their incomptenance the statement is a mess as prior to 2000 it seems they had a manual system for standing orders and cheques and they have not input data at the right time so it is completely out of sync - what it does show however is that i have always made payments and that i have 10 years of direct debits paid on time and the copy of my file shows my correspondance trying to sort this out time and time again!

you are right - i am feeling bullied by these idiots - which is unusual for me as i went to an all girls school and i wasn't bullied there - in that school it was dog eat dog and i have always been able to stand up for my self ever since:rotfl:

I will pop down to my CAB for further advice

Many thanks for your response
LLL

DVardysShadow

lowlowlola wrote: »

I am utterly exasperated with my HA. They now have sent me my full file and statement per my request and have asked me to attend a meeting to discuss the arrears - ignoring my request for clarification of what they allege i owe. I simply do not want to attend a meeting before they have clarified to me in writing what the alleged arrears are and when they occurred. [1]

Sorry to trouble you again but where do I stand? – can I force them to state the exact amount and dates [2]. My concern about attending a meeting is that it will be yet another verbal exchange (and I am so frustrated I may actually cry) and nothing will be sorted. I want it all in black and white so there is no confusion and I can prove that payment was made or take advice as needed. As I have previously stated this all goes back to pre May 2000.

I am at my wits end

Thanks for your time
LLL

[1] Then don't attend a meeting. Write and tell them that their records are in a mess and you require a complete schedule of which payments have been allocated to which months and which months they allege re missing.

[2] If they want to take it to court, they are out of time, but they would have to state exact amounts and dates. They have to make their claim specific. A trick to watch out for is that they do not try slipping the alleged arrears forward to a date where they are not statute barred. Do you have any annual statements?

My feeling is that they know they are on weak ground and they wish to extract a negotiated settlement from you by having a meeting. Personally I would be telling them to identify in writing which actual payments are missing. But you might need to trawl through it all to prove that you have paid it all.

clutton_2

dont forget - that it is up to them to prove that you owe them money.... if they cannot prove that, it is not up to youto prove you have - unless they take you to the small claims court.. and in there they will look utter idiots as they have not beeen able to identify the DATE each alleged arrears was incurred..

even if they did take you to court they can only claim alleged arrears from Oct 2004.... which is why DVS's post above is so spot on....

How much are they claiming you owe and what is your weekly rent - so we can put this into some sort of context ?

""i have 10 years of direct debits paid on time"" -

on reflection - i

I would write them a simple letter say

"it is clear from the documentation you sent me, and from my own bank records, that i have paid yourselves 10 years of direct debits on the correct date, and for the correct amounts.

As a result of this, i now consider this matter closed.

yours faithfully


shove the ball back in their court.....