Ross and Roberts Re unknown overpayment

bugahdug

Hi there,

my partner has recently been contacted by Ross & Roberts for an overpayment from our local council.

We don't know what this is for, we pay all our rent and council tax and have done for just over a year now since I moved in with my partner. Before this she was claiming single person discount on council tax and receiving housing benefit, these stopped after i moved in.

We recently received the letter from ross and roberts early in Feb stating we owe nearly £500 to a local council.

As a side note, this letter was dated 23rd jan with a '7 days to get in touch or they start proceedings' and we received it more than 7 days later.

When trying to call them via the automated phone system t discuss what the overpayment is for, it doesn't recognise out client reference number, so i have to make all contact via post (which isn't such a bad thing)

So i wrote to R&R and to my local council stating that the debt is being disputed as we never received any contact from the council regarding the overpayment and want proof of the debt before it will be paid.

Today a letter arrived from R&R saying:

Thank you for your recent correspondence, of which the content has been noted.

However Ross and Roberts ltd do not deal with disputes, if you have any queries with the liability or the amount owed we recommend you contact your District Council to discuss this matter.

Please be advised Ross and Roberts ltd action will continue unless we receive instruction from our client to cease action.

Yours sincerely
<Name>

Ross and Roberts Limited

Our local council has to be one of the slowest companies to deal with in the country and it takes them months to sort anything out, so the chances are R&R will be likely to continue their 'action' before the council even respond to our letter.

What steps should we take?

We have received no notice prior to the R&R letter of any debt/overpayment to the council at all, at the moment we don't even have any copy/proof of the original debt.

TLDR
Received debt letter from Ross&Roberts for a debt we have no prior knowledge of, they are ignoring the dispute of the debt and 'action will continue' until our slow non-responsive council get in touch with them.

paragon909

Go to your local council office and ask to speak to a housing officer with all your proof that you are paying rent and council tax etc...

The collection agency can only collect what the council pass on to them, They aren't there to dispute the amount of what you owe, Legal proceedings could be arrest of wages or deduct money from income related benefits.

So I would contact the council.

bugahdug

Okay thanks, we don't receive any income related benefits any more, i'm waiting for the council to respond to my letter.

I will go to the office though and try to hurry it along.

I don't like the way R&R are just refusing to send me any proof of the debt. From what else i've read online they are a horrible company to work with.

At the moment though, with no communication received from the council, we may not even owe anything and are being chased by R&R for a mistake

[Deleted User]

Personally I would contact one of my local councillors (you should have 3 to chose from), ask them to put a rocket up the councils a@se

CIS

Ross and Roberts will have the court order which states the money is due so are correct in what they say. They will not be given any background information regarding any debt.

The council can instruct them to cease action and discharge any balance but that is their prerogative and not Ross and Roberts.

Craig

Alice_Holt

Also get some debt advice re debt collection agencies from your local CAB.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/action-your-creditor-can-take/creditor-takes-you-to-court-for-debt/
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/help-with-debt/dealing-with-urgent-debts/dealing-with-council-tax-arrears/

rockingbilly

Would it not be simpler to pay the debt on a 'Without Prejudice' basis and then continue to get to the bottom of it with the council?
It has always worked for me - pay the disputed amount and argue later, at least that stops the matter escalating further.

bugahdug

I can't just pay the debt and try to claim it back as i don't have the money to pay it in one go.

Our local council is that useless that there is a change we don't even owe any money, they have just made a mistake, so i'm not paying out £500 to get it back at the end of the year.


Hopefully I can get something sorted with the council shortly when i head over to the offices, if not i'll head over to CAB afterwards.


Just when everything has been fine for a year, to randomly receive a debt collection letter for something we know nothing about is a bit suspicious, i'm sure you can all understand my concern to not just pay R&R without any prior knowledge of the debt.

bugahdug

Okay, so council was useless, tried to get me to contact R&R which I said I did, and was told to dispute the debt with the council.

Council wouldn't even send out a copy of the debt to the address because I wasn't my partner and the letter is in her name, even after I provided ID and proved I was paying the rent & council tax for the past year.

Receptionist was also insistent that they would have sent lots of letters before it gets this far, I asked 'are you sure you're even sending them to the right address?'


From that point she just kept going with the 'you need your partner to get in touch'


Hoping my partner finishes work early now so she cant get in touch with them and get this damn thing resolved.

pmlindyloo

If you have been paying full council tax since you moved in then this is possibly a debt from before you moved in (i.e your partner's) or during the crossover period when you moved in and reported a change of circumstances. The letter addressed solely to your partner may 'back this up'.

Whatever it is or isn't your partner needs to ask them for a breakdown of the debt, when it was for etc etc and then go from there. Without those details it is pointless going to CAB for help as they will require that information before they can help.

bugahdug

Okay thanks pmlindyloo, that sounds reasonable as to what it could be.

Not sure why it's taken over a year for us to suddenly be notified of the debt though.


I'll update on here when we get some info and are on our way to getting this resolved.

Thanks!