Topic: Cornys been given notice to quit.

[cornykev]

I recieved a letter from the council on Friday asking me to pay my rent for 2007,  ??? payable within 28 days or my tenancy will be terminated.  >:  I rang the council and told them I have paid this and if I hadn't then I surely would not be able to have kept my allotment for the next two years and paid for 2008 and 2009. The rude bird on the phone said that their records show I haven't paid so if I haven't got a receipt to prove it I would have to pay or lose my lottie, I explained that I don't have the receipt because I no longer have it etc etc. Because I am advised by my council to be green I shredded my stuff and put it in my composter on the lottie, I know I should have kept it but I had a shredding session about three weeks ago and I think it went then, thinking I have the one when I started on the lottie and this years receipt I thought that would be OK but no, if you no longer have it then you will have to pay, well I lost my rag and swore as I slammed the phone down, ringing a bloke Monday to speak to him, not very happy.     >:( >:( >:(

[Columbus]

Hi Corny, >:(

Did you pay by cash? I ask `cus I had the same experience a few years ago but I had written a cheque so I was able to prove I`d paid. Now I always write cheques and get receipts which I ask to be stapled to the invoice.

I`d pay the B***gers ... And then always get receipts.
I wouldn`t give up my plot even if I had to pay twice over.

Col

[caroline7758]

When I paid this year, the clerk asked if I wanteda receipt. I siad no-hadn't thought something like this could happen! >:(

[flossy]

  Reckon it's thier fault kev for not  ' logging ' it  --  shoddy accountancy !

  You can't prove you paid it --  but they can't prove you didn't !

  If push comes to shove, tell them you will dispute thier alligations in court   ---

  don't think that you would hear any more from them !

  floss xxx

[shirlton]

The poor sods have picked on the wrong one here ain't they Kev.

[cornykev]

Thanks for the replies, yes I paid cash so no stub as proof, and I'm afraid I won't pay twice its just the way I am too stubborn I suppose, It sounds daft but I would rather lose it on principle and fight it later. When I paid it my OH was with me, she remembers because its in the same building as she works the Enfield civic centre. I have the phone number of the lottie bloke I met him on my plot this year when he re-measured my plot, he correctly said it was 6  poles not the 9 they had been charging me so theres a couple of years they've been over charging. I will be going to see them personly if I get no joy ringing this bloke on Monday and YES Shirl I will be taking my shop stewards head with me.  >:( >:( >:(

[kt.]

Ask them to show you their books proving you did not pay......  Good luck matey.

[chriscross1966]

Umm.... Monday's a Bank Holiday.......

Sounds like a major pain in the Harris though......

[taurus]

Its a bank holiday on Monday.  Take reporter from the local rag with you when you go.  And don't lose your temper it wont get you any where.  Good luck.

[ACE]

Sorry Ian but I knew you'd bite.
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I wonder if somebody has been taking the p!ss out of councillors. They do have a countrywide brotherhood you know.

[rosebud]

 Kev, go for it matey, ask them to prove you did not pay. Also they owe you for charging extra for 9poles. Stand your ground you are a 
      " cockerny ";D ;D ;D ;D.

[shirlton]

If it's Today that you are going to meet the councillors the Best of luck Kev. :)

[chriscross1966]

"This is not the allotment rent you are looking for....."

[cornykev]

Yes I forgot Monday was a bank holiday but I work them so it was just another day to me, I have just rang  the guy whose phone number our site sec gave me and I explained that my receipts are shredded and composting in my bin at the lottie he also has a lottie so is I hope a bit more clued up. He seemed to listen  :-\ and gave the impression that there have been a few mistakes on the admin side of things. So he said he would ring me back later when he looked into it.   ??? ??? ???      :-\ :-\ :-\

[Borlotti]

Enfield Council allotment department are useless, as they had noone in that department as she had left.  I did apply for the job, as it was advertised, when I had retired but got no answer, although I was probably overqualified for the job but too old.  They gave me an allotment five years ago and I planted it, then they said I couldn't have it because they had to evict the old tenant, so I looked at others and one of the ones they said I could have was the one they had given me that I couldn't have.  I have now got it, but luckily they have given me a full allotment instead of half, which I wanted it the first place, and I think they have got so confused, and I am confused that they just said keep it, as my lovely apple tree is doing well there.  I really don't think they know what they are doing, but I suppose that with all the sites in Enfield and no one in accounts, who knows if I had taken on the job I was have certainly have let you have it, but never, ever pay cash and don't keep receipts as you have no proof you have paid.  I think it is passed to different department and Civic Centre (not to misalign your partner) are not the brightest sparks in the plug, if you see what I mean.

[cornykev]

Hi Borlotti, from what I can make out nobody stays in the lottie department for any longer than two years, I think its a scale 2 so they use it as a side stepping stone to get to other departments, our site sec is getting tied of dealing with different people all the time, the bloke I spoke to today seemed OK and he was the one who came to our lottie to measure up and downsized mine from 9 to 6 poles, he has an allotment further up the A10 from you but I have heard he's going in 6 months so theres no real ambition in the department to keep them there.     ??? ??? ???

[Unwashed]

Hi Kev

If the council try to evict you they'll need to convince a judge at the county court that a.) you didn't pay the rent, and b.) it would be fair in the circumstances to evict you.  The council probably haven't thought through their action so there's a good chance when they see you're insistent that you paid your bill they'll give up, especially if they realize their accounting is in a shambols.  However, sometimes the trolls that people council departments are a little short on insight and they might just try taking it to court. You'll need documentary evidence that a.) you've been reasonable, and b.) you probably paid the rent.  Use the Freedom of Information Act to get from the council the number of other tenants who their records suggest didn't pay in 2007, and the number of them who subsequently turned up with a receipt.  Minute your conversations with the council objectively, especially the bits where they admit that there is some confusion in the accounting.  Invite discussion, but don't make any suggestion that there's the slightest possibility that you didn't pay the bill, or that you would be prepared to pay even the smallest portion of it again.  Make a formal complaint of maladministration and insist that the council process it through their complaints procedure - it'll take ages, and if they don't follow the procedure and try and evict you the judge will take a dim view of their behaviour.

If they're not cooperating you might want to go on the attack too.  Dig out your tenancy agreement and see what it says about rent and eviction - note that it won't be the "Notice to Quit" clause, it'll be the clause about defaulting on terms of the agreement - they're different.  It's possible that the agreement was drafted so badly that the council doesn't even have the power to evict you.  Does the agreement have a clause to allow the council to increase the rent?  If it doesn't then counter-claim for all the increases they've imposed since you got the plot.  Were you given 12 months written notice for any rent increase, and was the rent increased by reference to CPI/RPI, because if not any increase is unfair under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations, and again you should counter-claim for the unfair increase - back to 1999.  And then quibble about the validity of the S.146 notice they've already served on you.  They'll wish they'd never started.

[kenkew]

 Reckon it's thier fault kev for not  ' logging ' it  --  shoddy accountancy !

  You can't prove you paid it --  but they can't prove you didn't !

  If push comes to shove, tell them you will dispute thier alligations in court   ---

  don't think that you would hear any more from them !

  floss xxx

Love this one from Flossy: You have them by the same part of their anatomy as they have by your's....!
 ....and why pay the following two years as you have done.??
 Brave it out, Corny. You have common sense on your side.
Ken.

[Bill Door]

Not being nasty to anyone so please don't take offence but can I have Unwashed on my side?

Must remember to keep in unwashed's good books.

Bill

[Unwashed]

Not being nasty to anyone so please don't take offence but can I have Unwashed on my side?

No offence taken Bill. (now where's my little black book...)

Seriously though, I've seen too many good gentle people pushed around on their allotments, and we don't deserve this kind of rubbish.  Of course the first response is always to be nice and friendly because anyone can make a silly mistake, but there's something about being in charge of allotments that brings out the tin-pot dictator, and we shouldn't put up with it.