Would it be worth asking the council for my money??

Debt-Free-Wannabee

Hi everyone,
About 15 years ago I was a tenant in a council flat,I bought it from them 7 years ago and still live there now.
Now yesterday I was talking to the neighbours and they mentioned that about 12 years ago we had alot of repairs done to the flats.We had scaffolding around the flats with a green sheet over them so basically we couldnt see through our windows for about 5 or 6 months.(God it was depressing)

Now unbeknown to me all the residents recieved £1,800 compansation when all the work was finished,I didnt recieve anything:(

I didnt recieve any letters saying I would get it and I recieved no cheque,yet I found out yesterday that everyone on the flats recieved this huge amount of money,why they missed me out i,ll never know??(and yes I was straight with my rent,I didnt owe them anything!!:T)

Now we have a different council to the one we had then,in fact its changed 3 times since the compansation was given.

Now somewhere there must be a cheque floating around that has my name on and im wondering if its worth trying to claim it back,it wont have been cashed by me that I know and I lived on my own at that time.The neighbours are 100% certain everyone recieved their cheque but I definatly didnt,that Im 1,000% certain of.

Would it be too late to try and ask the money???

I spent most of today asking the rest of the neighbours if they recieved a cheque all those years ago and they all have said yes they did recieve a cheque for £1,800

david29dpo

What have you got to loose in asking? Ask them!

princeofpounds

Ask, but suspect it is covered by a statute of limitations meaning it is too late now.

(They might tell you it is too late, but that is not the same thing as being too late legally)

Debt-Free-Wannabee

Thanks David and prince,Im going to ring them this morning and see what they say.
Im not holding my hopes up but I,ll just say if no one(especially the council)didnt inform me then how was I to know I was entitled to it?
Thinking back to the time 12 years ago I was in alot of debt,if I had known a cheque was winging its way to me I would of sat under that letterbox with my arms outstretched waiting for it!!
Thank the Lord Im no longer in those dark days,however £1,800 would certainly put a smile on my face right now.!

lincroft1710

You will probably have an answer from the council by now.

But you are well out of time to pursue this as there is a 6 year time limit on recovering money owed. Also as your council has changed several times, I would be surprised if the "paperwork" hadn't got lost in one of the changes.

Errata

It would appear the money isn't 'owed' as it was an offer of compensation which other tenants received and DFW didn't for some reason. It follows that it's not a debt and is not covered by the statute of limitations.
A chat to the council would start to clarify the issue. at best the OP will get some money, at worst the council will explain why they didn't offer compensation.

lincroft1710

But is not compensation "money owed", if it is not paid when it should have been.

What appears strange is that in 12 years this have never previously been mentioned. You would have thought one of the neighbours would have asked what are you spending your money on when they got the cheques.