Threatening letter from council

theartfullodger

jon8871 wrote: »

Hi People, hoping someone here can give me some advice. Today we received a letter from the council accusing us of "Anti-Social behaviour, crime and policing act 2014"

We have received this letter as we haven't responded to the council's correspondence requesting that we make contact to arrange an appointment to carry out a PIR (Electrical Installation Condition report). We haven't acknowledged any letters, we get so much junk mail a lot of it just gets left on the side. I am sure nothing in my tenancy agreement says I must open letters immediately and respond. There is no law that I am aware of that says you must open your mail straight away, or ever.

They have also said that "we have failed to allow Officers, agents or contractors sent by the Council into the property to inspect or carry out any repairs or improvements." No one has knocked at our door asking to inspect our property, or a card been left to say they have knocked.

The letter also states that "our refusal to allow the Council access to undertake these works constitutes a hazard to you, other building users and your neighbours in the event of a fire or other related incident." I haven't refused anyone entry to undertake these works.

I have uploaded the back of the letter that threatens us with a criminal record and possible eviction.

We are all law-abiding citizens here, I think this is absolutely disgusting behaviour from Dartford borough council and has caused us a lot of stress. Phoned the council today, but they said no one would be able to deal with this until Monday. We now have to go all weekend with the stress of this. Treating us like criminals, we have been good tenants for over 30 years, never caused any trouble or missed one rent payment.

Could this be slander?

Hope someone can help

Thanks in advance

Can't see it being slander.

But there may be a case for the actions, or lack of actions, of certain parties being many other things...

As "good tenants for over 30 years" presumably these tenants, if private, in charming Dartford are I guess "Rent Act" tenants where landlord's repairing obligations and abilities are interesting. Wonder if landlord is trying to force repairs?

jon8871, please, what is your landlord? ---- council, housing association or private (or one of the few, rare, other sorts)? An answer to that may help us find solutions to your challenges.

Best wishes to all

NB Bing won over Google on this one.

00ec25

theartfullodger wrote: »

NB Bing won over Google on this one.

that is very useful to know, but at the same time rather worrying that G has a gap in how it controls us

for future reference: it is not slander, for Slander is Spoken, libel is written .

Seems if OP has MH issues and cannot deal with normal correspondence associated with normal living then perhaps that is where the help is needed. The council sent a perfectly normal letter in response to no contact. Seeking to blame them for not trying to phone just shows how one sided OP's view of life is, and why he perhaps needs some help to become more centred.

SnooksNJ

jon8871 wrote: »

So many judgement people on here. maybe somedays, weeks, months, depression is really bad and I don't care about opening letters. The council made no attempt to phone me to ask if I have acknowledged the letter or letters.

They have accused me of refusing to allow the council access to undertake the works. Correct me if I am wrong, but is not responding, refusing?

Maybe Dartford Council doesn't have the funds to pay someone £20 an hour to call people up asking if they open up their mail.

t0rt0ise

worried_jim wrote: »

So when I get my home re-wired you will be contributing towards it?

As a council tenant your rent is subsidised by the tax system meaning we all pay towards it and it's up keepk

That isn't really true. Just because private landlords overcharge does not mean that social housing landlords undercharge.

davidmcn

t0rt0ise wrote: »

That isn't really true. Just because private landlords overcharge does not mean that social housing landlords undercharge.

Quite - this sort of maintenance is funded by rent. The only significant subsidy would (probably) have been cheap loans for the original construction of the housing.

jon8871

worried_jim wrote: »

So when I get my home re-wired you will be contributing towards it?

As a council tenant your rent is subsidised by the tax system meaning we all pay towards it and it's up keep (nothing wrong with that if you need help with housing) where as my home isn't paid for by the taxpayers, just the sweat of my own labour. This is what has irked every single poster on here about your situation, you are for all appearances being offered a free service (via a narkie letter) which we would all have to pay for ourselves which will benefit you and your property and you have thrown your toys out the pram.

Thus most of the posting has been gentle teasing in the hope you would have a lightbulb moment and say to yourself "I'm being a bit silly and overreacting" take a step back and a deep breath and crack on with the day like most rational people.

Re-wiring can be messy but better it be free messy than I'm paying for this mess out my own pocket- don't you think?

"So when I get my home re-wired you will be contributing towards it?" I am not going to answer that ignorant sarcasm Jim.

" your rent is subsidised by the tax system meaning we all pay towards it and it's upkeep" I am no expert, but am pretty sure this is not how the system works.

" just the sweat of my own labour." You don't know me as a person, you have no idea how hard I have or haven't worked in my life. That is just another ignorant comment from you Jim. You quite obviously have a problem with poor people imo.

"This is what has irked every single poster on here about your situation, you are for all appearances being offered a free service (via a narkie letter) which we would all have to pay for ourselves which will benefit you and your property and you have thrown your toys out the pram." Jim you still don't seem to understand what I posted about. I am not refusing to have the work done.

AnotherJoe

jon8871

theartfullodger wrote: »

Can't see it being slander.

But there may be a case for the actions, or lack of actions, of certain parties being many other things...

As "good tenants for over 30 years" presumably these tenants, if private, in charming Dartford are I guess "Rent Act" tenants where landlord's repairing obligations and abilities are interesting. Wonder if landlord is trying to force repairs?

jon8871, please, what is your landlord? ---- council, housing association or private (or one of the few, rare, other sorts)? An answer to that may help us find solutions to your challenges.

Best wishes to all

NB Bing won over Google on this one.

Hi, it's council. There are no challenges, I just thought being threatened with eviction, fine, and a criminal record for not responding to a letter was a bit unreasonable and wanted to see what people here thought. Seems like most seem to think its pretty reasonable. The way people have gone on here is like I am some sort of criminal. Maybe I am the crazy one, or its just everyone else. I have no idea

Madmel

In a final attempt to be reasonable - thanks Artful for posting the original text - I think the OP has over-reacted. Yes, the text is written to show the lengths the council can go to, but I don't think it means that he will be prosecuted immediately.

OP, to be fair to the council, they may not know you have MH issues. As far as they are concerned, they have a duty to inspect the wiring and you have not yet facilitated this. They are worried that if one of your near neighbours has a fire which could be attributed to your property's wiring, they could face litigation. By your own admission, them taking legal action against you for this would be pointless because you are "poor". They would then be picking up the bill for the householder with the fire plus in all likelihood damages. They have a duty to mitigate such losses and a routine inspection is one way they can do this.

The best course of action IMO is to phone them on Monday morning and apologise that you have not been in touch sooner. Suggest a couple of dates to them for this inspection then follow this up in writing (keep a copy). An inspection does not mean everything will be rewired, but it should give you peace of mind, not only electrically, but that you will have got the council off your back.

This forum has some immensely knowledgable people on it. In their haste to help as many posters as possible, sometimes they get straight to their point without necessarily thinking about or typing the niceties. It does not mean that they are rude or unhelpful. They are, however, absolutely correct that if you owned the home or rented from a private landlord, things would be very different. For the sake of a couple of hours' disruption, you could have this issue completely resolved. If a complete rewire is needed, come back and we'll help you further.

theartfullodger

It's a free country, you don't have to open your mail. But you surely must have realised the consequences? Sounds to me like the Council are being entirely reasonable.

The council should be able to work out who you are from the posts , some of which will help them understand the sort of person you are:. (I make no comment).

Wonder what else you've not opened, - cheques, letters from long-lost relatives or friends, notification from solicitors that you inherited whatever...... etc etc etc ...

Your decision:. Your problem with the consequences.

Do let us know how you case progresses.