Not just social media.................http://nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/2009/02/its-not-a-deposit-honest/

I am aware of my obligations and will fulfill them but to cut a long story short, has the correct legal procedure been followed by the LL in the scenario outlined. I will defend if he goes through with it and request all agreements and payments history as I think he has short changed my daughter in the past when I have stumped up rent and the Council has then double paid him and we have had to fight to get any money back. Lets be clear...I WILL pay if required but if he persists as above then I WILL make him work for it. The Short tenancy period has now expired (6 months) and is now a rolling contract. Only 1 months notice required to quit.

Hi all, Need some advice please. I stood guarantor for my daughter for her rent on her first home. She is experiencing difficulties due to preferring to work rather than claim benefits but the Council are really dragging their heels over sorting out any help she will be getting. I am aware of my obligations and am not trying to wriggle out of them however the Landlord is not one of the nicest people in the world and we find out later he has a reputation for being a bully boy and going to the courts at the drop of a hat. My current query is that today I received a copy of a letter sent to my daughter saying her rent is overdue (1 months) and that if payment is not received by 1st September he will commence Court proceedings against me for payment. The letter was to my daughter and I was just sent the copy. I am seriously aggrieved that he has not contacted me personally in all this and is threatening my daughter over 1 months rent when he knows she is waiting for some assistance to come through. I don't mind paying for her but I object to his approach and was wondering if he did issue papers would I have any grounds to object because there is some procedure he should have followed. I really don't like his attitude and want tomake him work for any payments off me because of this. If he had sent me a letter explaining the shortfall without threats than it would be a different matter. Looking for somewhere else for her to go but when she vacates I fear he will use me as a cash cow to renovate his dump of a house.....he has done this before,claimed for all sorts of cleaning and repairs off the guarantor despite the house being reasonable. (wonders of social media) Any advice appreciated....except the don't be a guarantor type.....heard it all before thanks, lol.

Have spoken to a friends wife who works in this department. Advice was to claim the contributions based benefit which should not be affected by the insurance. Many thanks all

Thanks all,very helpful. My employer sent my SSP1 to me with the letter informing me of my pay stopping so thats one hurdle over. Regarding the claim affecting credit worthiness.....my daughter recently asked for an overdraft at her bank but was refused despite the fact she had previously had one for £1500 and had paid it all off. She went into the branch and had to be interviewed to get one for £500 and was told the reason for refusal was that she had received benefit into her account.....for 1 week only when she changed jobs I suppose looking at this it is more of an internal trashing than a CRA trashing and that's what I am hoping to avoid.

Hi, I have been off work for some months now after a pulmonary embolism and treatment for an enlarged right ventricle (found during my stay in hospital) I was signed as OK for sedentary duties some weeks ago but my employer said they have nothing for me and I must remain off work. I have received a letter from them informing me all pay and sick pay has now ended. I am currently being made to jump through hoops to prove I am able to do my job at some point before they will consider letting me back on a phased return. I tried to make a claim online but was told I would have to do it via post as for some reason they had my address at somewhere I had never lived and so I failed security..???? I am a single adult...kids at home but non dependant. I have a mortgage which is only a 10 year one so quite high payments and I have £7500 in the bank. Hopefully I will be back at work within a month but in the meantime as you see, I do have enough to pay my bills although that money was earmarked to pay off part of my mortgage which is part interest only. I also have an insurance policy for sickness which is paying me £300 per month...nowhere near my outgoings but it helps. I have worked for this employer for 22 years so don't consider myself a scrounger but my question to those in the know is will I actually get anything or will my circumstances mean its pointless claiming. The other side is that a benefit payment into my account will apparently trash my credit rating for a while (it happened to my daughter...told by the TSB) Any thoughts on my predicament...? Thanks in advance.

I did as you suggested Brigadier and Equifax has me as a good risk although there are a couple of issues not showing on Experian. There is a default from a linked address......one which I left in 1983.....not mine I would add although the person concerned has the same Surname but different Christian name. Also still showing as financially linked to my ex despite being apart for many years. Also I am showing as having been on the Electoral roll at one point at this address but not currently...which is also incorrect as I have the letter from the council now confirming it. Don't know if its worth the effort of correcting anything as I am not seeking credit for the forseeable future.

Hi, Well all my debts are now behind me with Lowell the last ones to acknowledge it was game over and sent me the letters to prove the accounts were now closed....well they were 10 years old. I bit the bullet and decided to see what my Credit File was like as for a couple of years things have been steady for me and I have been able to get credit. The reason I decided was I was offered credit at a good rate last year but this year just out of curiosity when I did an online cost checker at my bank, the interest rate offered was 29.9 percent..... My Credit score 783, showing as fair and I wasn't showing on the electoral roll so I queried this with the council and this was corrected. My score then went up to 838 which according to Experian is still only Fair. I have no defaults, all payments up to date going back several years with no late payments and still a fair amount of available credit left. The only possible thing I can think of is I had a Wonga loan 20 months ago as I had just had a big unexpected bill which would have meant an unplanned overdraftso in this instance, Wonga was cheaper than the fees. According to Experian I have no adverse info, all good accounts yet still only a fair score. Anybody any ideas on how this works ?

All the years I was being threatened, despite the promises, they never visited once. They never stole my granny and held her to ransom, they didn't seize my dogs and put them up for adoption nor take my kids and put them in a workhouse. In short....they are full of useless threats and promises in general so even though you have won the DCA lottery and actually had a "qualified field recovery agent" visit you I would not lose any sleep over it.

To add to this,I also received the same offer and I too got caught out answering the phone as they called from what appeared to be a mobile number rather than the more recognisable one I regularly ignored. I went through security to be asked what I was going to do about my debt......Nothing I replied. Q Oh...why is that then A You do know how old this is don't you Q Yes we realise that its an old account. A you will realise that its statute barred then. Q Yes we know we cannot take legal action. Is that the only reason you are not paying. A Yes. To which the final reply was, That's fine, thanks for your time, Goodbye. I also received the same letter today Very pleasant woman who spoke to me. I was impressed with her conduct. More impressed with my letter today though.

Why not....it makes no difference to the outcome.

Update.....after much badgering and contact with the Council, a cheque was grudgingly sent to my daughter, 14 days after he agreed to do it. Just got to wait and see if it clears now.

In my case, I all I got was a letter saying that my defence had been received and if no response by a set date, the case would be stayed. This was 6 years ago for me now and I can't find the original letter any more. The issue of papers now exceeds 6 years and apart from letters offering repayment options, no mention has been made of any Court action. My last 'offer' from them was last year around September time, I have heard nothing else since.

The LL is aware the payment was for the 2nd months rent which I had already paid...it was the Council who dragged their heels which resulted in this delay. He wont refund it though even though my daughters argument is he has now had 2 months rent for the same month. He will get the next month rent paid by the council too which means he is always a month up. I am assuming he is hoping the paperwork to prove this will go missing over time. I will ask my daughter to see if she can get the next month paid to her and see what he does then.

Hi all. My daughter has recently moved into her first home with her partner and baby. I stood guarantor for her as she was going to claim housing benefit. I paid the 1st months rent for her in advance but her claim still wasnt sorted by the time the next payment was due so I paid the 2nd also on the assumption I would be paid back when it was sorted. The Council then settled the claim and paid the landlord direct 2 weeks later but the Landlord is refusing to give back this money. As the Council are paying direct, there isnt the option to not pay this time around. Is there anything that can be done in situations like this as I imagine he is hoping the details will be lost over time and he has won a months rent for nothing. Thanks

Any update to this sleepingdog ? I am currently experiencing a fairly frenzied campaign of calls and letters (both phones ex directory and new numbers but they got them somehow) I am wondering how much more of this I can take.

I defended using a standard defence from here, a CCA request had been made which had not been fully complied with. They contacted me asking what I thought was the problem and asked me to contact them again, needless to say i didnt so up to now it has been stayed and I heard nothing else until out of the blue calls and letters started to appear again. They have not yet applied to lift the stay nor mentioned it but forewarned is fore armed as they say

Just looking for some info, what are the experts opinions on a DCA being allowed to remove a stay after 5 years, the original debt now being over 9 years since last acknowledged. I am aware of the Statute law and the commencing of proceedings but could such an application be contested on grounds of time taken to get to this stage, ie, unfair practice etc.

The other side of the coin is, if you agree you owe the money and dont want to contest the claim, pay the claim for the interest only and then when they try for the second bite knock em back with the split claim ruling...ie, they cant do it. Debt finished with for good.

Its so far back I cant find the original paperwork I was sent but I would imagine that route is not open to me either. I guess i will just have to carry on watching over my shoulder and wondering. Not a good position to be in after all these years.

Hi Sleepingdog. I would love to force the issue but at the minute, if I do and it backfires and I lose, I would probably never get back on my feet again as the amount outstanding would cripple me. I would still be paying it back after retirement so its not the best idea to go rattling the cage of a sleeping snake. If DonkeyB can find that case Law, I could well be tempted to try for a strikeout on the grounds of the length of the stay and age of the debt.

Thanks DonkeyB, that could prove useful. I would imagine after a good few years has passed such an argument could be used even if there was evidence, why wait for so long even if such evidence is there. Its a form of mental torture. In my case my last payments or acknowledgements to any debt was way back in 2003 so theoretically all should be statute barred. According to Ganymede, I have the sword of Damacles hanging over me for as long as a DCA wants to keep me under pressure. Not good, I should be looking to move forward now, not forever watching the mail and wondering when the dreaded letter may arrive. I will say though that this particular DCA offered me a 90% reduction if paid by a certain date, sadly, even if I wanted to I dont have the funds to settle and get it off my back for good.

Sleepingdog, Ganymede. I also dont like to name names because of the lurkers but I also feel aggrieved at companies who issue court papers 3, 4, 5 years after the default then do not carry on when defended. Roll on another 4 or 5 years then the case is still stayed but would have been statute barred a good while ago otherwise. I feel that it is a possible ploy to wait until we are back on our feet perhaps then come gunning for us again. I hear a lot of comments from people that the DJ's will not look favourably on reopening such cases after such a length of time but then I am also reading more and more instances where DJ's are granting such requests, in truth the system seems to be swinging back heavily in favour of the debt purchasers. If after 6 years, a debt is still stayed then why should it be allowed to be reopened, in fact once a case has been stayed a year or so I feel it should be an automatic strike out, you often hear of criminal cases that have been dragged on so long they are dismissed for that reason, (as in the trial process having been delayed and adjourned repeatedly) If a creditor allows say 4 years to pass, then another 5 before applying for a stay to be lifted, why should they be allowed to take action when the last cause for action occured 9 0r 10 years previously. I would be attempted to apply for a strike out but would be afraid of opening a barrel of worms, let alone a can in the current situation. Most unfair but then fairness counts for nothing in the debt purchase game.

So....7 years after a claim is issued but nothing has happened, it can still be resurrected. What would be the DJ reaction to a request for strike out once the file has been stayed over 6 years. Again hypothetical but might come in useful next year.

Here is a question and it relates to a genuine situation, not a hypothetical one. A debt which has fallen off CRA files because it is so old but Court papers have been issued and the case has been stayed for 5 years. After 6 years of no action could the limitations act again be used as a defence or can the creditor in practice take action whenever they feel like it...subject to DJ consent (which seems to be given regularly now)