Debts to the council

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Debts to the council

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December 10, 2013 at 6:00 pm

#700516
[deleted]

@[deleted]

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Hypothetically speaking, suppose someone owed two months of housing benefit to the council because they didn’t inform them that their JSA had stopped. Suppose this debt had been passed on to debt collecters, but they have no idea of where the person lives. What kinda situation would this person be in?
December 10, 2013 at 6:25 pm

#972509
1

Pat McDonald

@pat-mcdonald

Participant
They would be “In dishonour” and liable for the amount, although without an address the agency would find it hard to get a court order giving access to break and enter and take goods to the value of.

In practical terms it’s probably less of a hassle to pay a certain amount per week cash over the counter (Councils have VERY long memories) and then tell the debt collector to go fuck themselves.

Statute of limitation is 7 years for financial debts in the UK, which is quite a long time to spend off the electoral roll (if you are into voting, then of course you have to register, and the councils do all talk to each other and indeed sell electoral roll data to whoever will pay for it).
December 10, 2013 at 6:43 pm

#972504
[deleted]

@[deleted]

Guest
cheers for the info Pat, I thought you might have something to say on the issue. Does that mean then if supposed person manages to dodge them for 7 years then the debt will be forgotten about?
December 10, 2013 at 10:27 pm

#972508
1

leveret

@leveret

Participant
only if they haven’t tried to collect it for those 7 years. if they did try, even though unsuccessful, then the debt is still due.
December 10, 2013 at 10:53 pm

#972505
[deleted]

@[deleted]

Guest
alrighty cheers lev
December 14, 2013 at 4:15 pm

#972510
1

Pat McDonald

@pat-mcdonald

Participant
@joksgez 559653 wrote:

cheers for the info Pat, I thought you might have something to say on the issue. Does that mean then if supposed person manages to dodge them for 7 years then the debt will be forgotten about?

Pretty much what happened with the poll tax – people went mobile, kept changing address every six months, didn’t give the Councils a chance to lock onto them.

The national systems that were supposed to keep track of people were networked 286’s, cost a fortune and just didn’t do the job.

Things are different now, with a lot more co-operation and data sharing between the local authorities and others. So I guess the next step is to start burning down the data centres while they are unoccupied over holiday periods. Hypothetically speaking.
December 14, 2013 at 5:52 pm

#972506
1

Acidfairy

@acidfairy

Member
It’s actually 6 years in England and you have to tell them that it’s statute barred they can still chase you for it, infact there’s a large business in old debt purchase. There’s letters on the net you can send them saying it’s barred bugger off basically…, in Scotland it’s 5 years and after that it’s illegal for the debt to be chased.

The conditions for it to be considered statute barred are:-
That the creditor has not taken court action against you, eg CCJ, AND You have not made any payments on the debt over the last 6 years, AND during the years, you haven’t written to the creditor acknowledging that you owe them money.
As you can see all three conditions must be met in order for the debt to be “time barred”.
December 14, 2013 at 5:55 pm

#972507
1

Acidfairy

@acidfairy

Member
IHTM28384 – Liabilities: law relating to debts: statute-barred debts
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