Old housing association charges in dispute , notice of default .

Mr_Poves · 30 April 2015 at 8:45PM

Hi guys , I'm hoping someone can advise me , I moved out of a rented housing association home about 3 years ago , we received a final bill which I settled promptly , about 6 month's later I got an invoice for repairs to the property which I am in dispute over , I never heard anything in the month's after moving out and indeed in the period after the keys were handed back in regarding the "making good" of the property .
I never got chance to see any of the alleged repairs in question , or argue my case , just a final invoice which they expect me to pay .
I have explained more than once that the way it was dealt with was unacceptable , and never heard anything for the last 12 mth's.
Today a letter from a company called "medina" has dropped through the door titled "NOTICE OF DEFAULT"
There are now extra charges on top of the original amount , and they threaten recovery action etc , I don't want this to affect my credit rating , is there anything they can do as it's not actually a credit agreement ? and I have never agreed to anything to default from , is it all empty threats , should I contact them or not ?

MisterBaxter · 1 May 2015 at 3:58AM

I would suggest that you lodge a complaint with the 'Housing Ombudsman'. Good practice would suggest that they should have given you a schedule of defects that required rectification prior to you moving out; this would have given the opportunity to put the defects right yourself, argue that they weren't defects or agree to the housing association putting them right at your expense.

If they didn't visit before the tenancy ended it would be reasonable to expect them to have provided a full schedule of works that you were being charged for. If they didn't provide that then it is unreasonable to expect you to pay without the opportunity to question the charges or the basis of the charges. Again good practice would suggest that they had a full schedule of works with photographic evidence of the defects that they were charging you for.

I'm sure someone else will step in and offer advice on the notice of default, to recover they would have to go to court and if they haven't properly evidenced the debt in the first place it will impact on their ability to prove the debt. If the Housing Ombudsman agrees that the housing association hasn't acted reasonably they will cancel the debt in any case and if there are any markers left on your credit file you should be able to get them removed, if they aren't then it's another complaint to the ombudsman, this time about the housing associations unreasonable behaviour in not removing the markers.

The only problem would be if they did provide a full schedule of works with photographs proving that your were in breach of your tenancy agreement and that you were responsible for the defects.

Mr_Poves · 1 May 2015 at 7:01PM

Hi , thanks for the reply , I have actually spoken to the housing association today and have resolved the issue , bill was split in half so I'm happy with that .

MisterBaxter · 2 May 2015 at 3:56AM

Mr_Poves wrote: »

Hi , thanks for the reply , I have actually spoken to the housing association today and have resolved the issue , bill was split in half so I'm happy with that .

Glad it worked out the way you wanted. Check your credit reports just to make sure nothing negative has been recorded against you. Just do the £2 statutory reports.