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Hi,
I had a tenancy with Birmingham City Council which ended in June/July 2008 and in February of this year I recieved a letter from a debt collection agency saying that they were acting on behalf of BCC to recover an outstanding balance of £114.00 from my previous tenancy. I was confused because when I lived at the previous address I was in receipt of full Housing Benefit so as far as I am aware, I should not owe anything. I phoned BCC to find out what the outstanding balence was for but was told that because the debt had been passed to a debt collection agency they no longer had any details and I would need to speak ti the DCA. I then phoned the debt collection agency (Moor Croft) and asked them to provide me with details as to what period the debt related so that I could aascertain whether or not I was even living at the property in question at that time. However, I was told that they didn't have any details other than the address the debt related to and that they would have to get in touch with BCC for the information.
A few weeks later I recieved a letter from the DCA stating that they were chasing the details from BCC and would not continue to attempt to collect the balance until they could furnish me with the details. However, I haven't heard anything since and assumed it was a mistake.
The problem is I am once again a BCC tenant (since 2011) and have recently discovered that the non dependant deduction of £15.33 from my HB should not have been charged, as I am in receipt of Disability Living Allowance Care Component. Fresh Winds has been helping me claim the money I have overpaid back from the rent team and get my HB adjusted to the full amount. I have just had a response from the Benefit services saying that I am now in receipt of full HB and this has been backdated to April of this year, meaning they owe me £306. However, when I phoned the rent team to find out when I could be expecting to be reimbursed I was informed that they would be deducting £114 from my refund for arrears on my previous tenancy. Can they do this?
If I owe the money, then fair enough but my point is that I don't see how I can owe this money when I was having my rent paid in full at the time with HB. Furthermore, if I owed them this money why has it taken them until Feb 2014 to even mention it? I feel it is a bit unfair of them to just deduct the money from what they owe me without even first proving that I owe the money.
What do I do?
Thank you in advance for any help.
I had a tenancy with Birmingham City Council which ended in June/July 2008 and in February of this year I recieved a letter from a debt collection agency saying that they were acting on behalf of BCC to recover an outstanding balance of £114.00 from my previous tenancy. I was confused because when I lived at the previous address I was in receipt of full Housing Benefit so as far as I am aware, I should not owe anything. I phoned BCC to find out what the outstanding balence was for but was told that because the debt had been passed to a debt collection agency they no longer had any details and I would need to speak ti the DCA. I then phoned the debt collection agency (Moor Croft) and asked them to provide me with details as to what period the debt related so that I could aascertain whether or not I was even living at the property in question at that time. However, I was told that they didn't have any details other than the address the debt related to and that they would have to get in touch with BCC for the information.
A few weeks later I recieved a letter from the DCA stating that they were chasing the details from BCC and would not continue to attempt to collect the balance until they could furnish me with the details. However, I haven't heard anything since and assumed it was a mistake.
The problem is I am once again a BCC tenant (since 2011) and have recently discovered that the non dependant deduction of £15.33 from my HB should not have been charged, as I am in receipt of Disability Living Allowance Care Component. Fresh Winds has been helping me claim the money I have overpaid back from the rent team and get my HB adjusted to the full amount. I have just had a response from the Benefit services saying that I am now in receipt of full HB and this has been backdated to April of this year, meaning they owe me £306. However, when I phoned the rent team to find out when I could be expecting to be reimbursed I was informed that they would be deducting £114 from my refund for arrears on my previous tenancy. Can they do this?
If I owe the money, then fair enough but my point is that I don't see how I can owe this money when I was having my rent paid in full at the time with HB. Furthermore, if I owed them this money why has it taken them until Feb 2014 to even mention it? I feel it is a bit unfair of them to just deduct the money from what they owe me without even first proving that I owe the money.
What do I do?
Thank you in advance for any help.
