Housing Benefit Overpayment 7 years ago Scotland

mcscoty1973

Hello subject says it all. My other half has just received a notice from the local council stating that she owes them 1800 for period of Jan 07 to April 09 and that she has 14 days to repay it. The letter implies that a previous letter was sent, but none has been delivered.

This is the first time that my other half has had any notification that she owes this money, there is no explanation in the letter as to why this overpayment occurred in the first place.

I would like to know, can the council get away with dredging up something like this from 7 years in the past. Its not as if this is a previous debt that was know about and ignored, it has just come out of the woodwork. As this has happened in Scotland, is it not time barred because it exceeds 5 years (stauate barred)

I think it is ridiculous that they can wait 7 years to claim this alledged overpayment, but can't wait more that 14 days to reclaim the total value, and not provide any reason as to why the overpayment is valid in the first place.

Really disgusted about the way this has been carried out and would appreciate any help in sticking two fingers up at the local council. Not because we don't want to pay what we are due, but 7 years is too long.

marliepanda

Statute barred means they can't pursue it through court, not that the debt disappears.

if your other half currently claims benefits, even through a claim with you, they can and will recover it from that.

They will usually agree to set up a repayment plan rather than require the whole payment at once, but if she ever claims benefits ever again, if shes not currenty, then the money will be recovered.

[Deleted User]

First of all you need to contact Housing and find out how they say the overpayment occurred. Then decide if they are right or they are wrong in deciding an overpayment of Housing Benefit was made.

If they are right.., they can pursue it, the money is owed. Sorry, that's just the way it is. Don't waste your time getting angry over it. If a mistake hasn't been made, your partner must have known there was an overpayment for three months. Just having post forwarded at the time would have meant she could have appealed. Now its probably too late (I was in this situation). The notification of an overpayment would probably have been sent to the address the overpayment occurred on (this happened to me). Then after a few years, they finally did a search for your partner's present address and sent another notice (again, happened to me). Unfortunately this is guess work on my part, every time I phoned I was told a different story as to what had happened and how.

So I am afraid all you can probably do is make arrangements to pay an amount each month, if a mistake hasn't been made.

If you feel that Housing Benefit has made a mistake that housing benefit was overpaid, you can ask for the debt to be 'struck off' (the term they used). At the time I was told by HB that this almost never happened lol.

I did manage to get a mental health social worker to confirm that I was in dire straits at the time the overpayment occurred, it wouldn't have occurred if a mistake (by housing benefit) hadn't been made, and I moved out of emergency accommodation a week before the notification was sent (seriously) so I was unable to appeal - and to be honest my health wasn't good at the time. In this case, the overpayment was written off. But I should imagine being able to do this is not an every day occurrence. But I've told you what happened to me, just in case this is something your partner can argue for (she will need to get a professional to confirm what she says or have very good paperwork if a mistake has been made - I did). Initially HB tried to say that I should have known an overpayment was made.., they were quite 'blaming', but I was able to demonstrate that the overpayment wouldn't have occurred if they had contacted me in a timely manner or followed the paperwork they were given stating I was in emergency accommodation elsewhere and in a bad way mental health wise.

I have just moved, post forwarding was a priority this time lol. I never want this to happen again.

konark

If your other half does claim any benefits maybe it's time to put them in your name.

I agree 7 years is too long to drag a debt up from and the debt will be statute-barred meaning they can't take court action BUT thanks to some sneaky new laws the council have powers to drag debts up from as long ago as they want, and which can't be proved or disproved, and take the money from benefits or even your wage.

They can't do anything if your wife claims nothing and earns nothing.

In fact you don't really have to do anything; if they can take the money from you by monthly instalments they probably will, if they can't they won't.

mcscoty1973

The really annoying thing is my wife thought she was debt free and she had paid all her dues. This isn't a debt for HB for out current address, the council have obviously put two and two together and worked out my Mrs had now moved in with me then imagined this over-payment up because she was not aware of it before hand, and they haven't tried to claim this back over the last 7 years.

Just wondering if anyone knows for sure, if this is definitely time barred in Scotland, I know council tax is exempt for this, but Housing Benefit? Time barred is the equivalent of statute barred in England and Wales, but my understanding is the Scottish version means that the debt actually ceases to exists unlike statute barred.

I think we will probably pay it off if they can prove for sure that she was technically at fault. I am pretty certain she would have just taken what she was given and assumed it was correct though, so find this extremely unfair. Surely they should have provided a reason for the overpayment in the letter though?

I think offering to pay this off at a rate that would take another 7 years is reasonable, and if they don't like it, then tell them to stuff it because it is time barred is a reasonable enough approach :-) I know I am being awkward, but pretty peed off about this.

[Deleted User]

Seems you are right https://www.nationaldebtline.org/S/factsheets/Pages/23%20SCOT%20Time%20limits%20for%20recovering%20debts/Page-02.aspx

mcscoty1973

_shel thanks for that. Can you paste that page if possible. Every time I try to get to it I can a 503 error - The service is unavailable.

NYM

In Scotland HB debt isn't 'written off' for 20 years

mcscoty1973

OK I have figured out that Housing Benefit is indeed "Time Barred" under the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act of 1973. Under this law, a debt becomes extinguished after 5 years of the last contact regarding the debt.

My question is this, does this then apply if the debt has only recently been realised by the council, even though the basis of this debt is over 7 years old? Could this be a way around this law for the council?

mcscoty1973

NYM wrote: »

In Scotland HB debt isn't 'written off' for 20 years

No NYM that is Council tax, housing benefit is 5 years.

NYM

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/405778/hbopg-courts.pdf

:think: But that's been archived, so I checked Housing Benefits Overpayments which applies to England, Scotland and Wales.

Not sure the first link will be 'linkable'