Thank you for your replies. Have never really considered claiming benefits for looking after father in law as it never really occurred to me. I've been more worried about them confronting him. Can I request that they not call to his house for medical reasons, in that it could confuse and upset him? Do they even have a right to call to his house? I do record any calls I have with Rossendales.

I have a debt of £2000 with hmrc. The reason it was not paid at the time was due to time off work (I'm self employed) with illness and the money I had put to one side for my tax ended up being spent on general bills and living expenses. I fully accept the debt and am willing to pay it off, however, it has been given to Rossendales and they refuse to let me pay it off over 24 months, which is all I can really afford. I still work for myself but am unable to work full time. After getting into financial difficulties I had to give up my rented cottage and now live with my elderly Father in law who is not in good health and is suffering with the early onset of dementia. The house is his, as is all the furniture. I have no savings and the only thing of value is my vehicle which I use for work. I pay the council tax and some other bills and maintain the place by way of payment for living there. what are Rossendales options? Can they refuse my offer of payment? Do they have the right to come to my Father in laws house? Can I bypass them completely and start making payments direct to hmrc? All advice would be much appreciated.

Good Day I was recently sent a council tax bill for a property I lived in 3 years ago. It was for £115 for my final months council tax. It was a genuine mistake on my part. The letter came to my house asking for payment within 14 days, however I was away from home for a long period of time so by the time I got the letter the debt had been sent to Ross and Roberts who now wanted £190. I wasn't sure the original amount was right so queried it with the council who asked me to post some details to them which I did recorded delivery. 2 weeks later came a phone call from the bailiff, so I got back onto the council who said they never received the letter. Gave them the recorded delivery number and alas they had. Anyway, they informed me of one or two things and I had to agree that the original amount of £115 was correct so I paid it to them immediately in full. Put the phone down and text the bailiff to say it had been sorted. Next thing is I have a voicemail saying I still owe Ross and Roberts for costs. Is this correct? Now the debt is closed with the council do they have the legal right to pursue me for their costs? Thank you for any replies in advance.

Thanks for the rapid replies. So what you are saying is that the debt is statute barred regardless of the default date on the credit reference agency? As far as naming names DX, the debt is due to Cabot Financial and the debt collection agency who have recently contacted me are CCS collect. They sent me a letter a couple of weeks ago asking me to get in touch concerning a business matter if I was the person named in the letter. I ignored this, then today got a letter saying they were representing Cabot and would accept half of the due debt as settlement. Should I just continue to ignore them?

I got into debt some years ago and managed to sort out most of my debts bar one. Recently I have been contacted by a debt recovery agency who are trying to recover the debt. I have had no contact nor made any payments on the debt since April 2007 so presumed the debt to be statute barred. However, I then went onto one of the credit reference sites to check my credit records only to find that the default date listed for the debt was in fact June 2008. How can this be possible and is the time of the debt measured by my last contact or by the default date on my records. Any information to clarify this would be gratefully appreciated.