A council debt......

xangeleyes

Basically a few years ago my husband and I moved out of our council home to another council home, and we were given a list of repairs we HAD to pay for. It totalled up to around £400.
The things on there were silly and half of them were things that were faulty when we moved in! SO of course we battled it and all they gave us was £25 off! The cheek.
Anyway, it gave us so much problems that we gave up and started to pay it through clenched teeth.

Anyway, this was all about 7 years ago and I think the last time we ever made a payment was about 5years ago.
We've heard nothing about it, but we still owe about £200-£300 of it (low income meant we only had to pay a little each month).

Someone told us that if we've not been paying it for a certain amount of time and if the council haven't contacted us about it, then it can legally be written off - is this true????

We want to move from this house as we need more space, but we were told last year from the council that this debt needs to be paid off first (it was the only time they've mentioned the debt, and that was only minutes after giving in the house move forms).
Can I say to them that it should be written off? Or was I just told something that I wanted to believe?? lol

I hope this makes sense lol.

All in all though, out of years of struggiling, this is the only debt we have! So a message to everyong, perserveer and you can do It is hard though, but almost 99% problems can be fixed
Chin up

crafty*kate

Are you still living in a council house and you want to move to another council house?

I know some debts are statute barred after a certain period, but I think if you are still a tenant then this will always be on your account and they can use it to stop you doing transfers/mutual exchanges. Sorry!

lvm

I know after 6 years, some debts are Statute Barred however I've no idea about repairs that would need to have been done.

But...I would think that whether it is classed as Statute Barred or not and you don't pay, I think the council will still see it as an issue as they could be under the impression you will leave the house you're in with a similar number of repairs needing done and will have to pay them more money (which you don't have a reputation with them for doing).

If someone damaged your property and wanted to move into another of your properties without paying for the damages, would you let them?

Sorry to sound harsh but sometimes you do need to look at it from the other side...

xangeleyes

Yes I totally understand where you are coming from.
What annoys me though is that these repairs were for things that we didn't do, things like them charging us for a faulty draw. It was faulty when we moved in, yet they said I still have to pay for a new one plus the labour to have it put in etc. There were loads like this. There was a picture my husband drew on a wall (he's an artist, so it wasn't tacky or anything) and we got charged for the removal of that, and so I accept the charges on that one.

Yes we are still with the same council, and yes we want to move into another council property.

crafty*kate

I think you probably have to pay it if you want to move then, sorry. I work for a housing association and that's what we would do. Unless tenants have a clear rent account then we won't let them transfer/exchange.

I do understand your annoyance if it's for things that aren't your fault...unfortunately if you didn't formally query it at the time, I don't think there's a lot you can do now. It's a bit like renting anywhere, really. How much do you owe? Is it worth offering them a larger sum up front and asking them to write off the rest?