Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

A right good Rodgering and the £500 service charge...

299 replies

Hiphopapotamus4 · 21/05/2017 07:53

Sorry for not coming back sooner with an update. To be honest I was a bit creeped out that more than one of you had looked on Rightmove at every single house for sale in the entire county. I mean, there are literally thousands, who has the time for that?!
But also I didn't want to be like the Victorian safe poster and some of you did offer some helpful suggestions so I am back.

The bad news is, this is looking more like a scam. The council don't have any record of it and the local landowners and parish council know nothing either.
Roger called a street meeting and the 10 houses that pay agreed that a "man from the council" had come round years ago to explain what it was for and they have all paid it since. The other house that doesn't pay and us are much newer to the street which explains why we don't pay and neither of our solicitors mentioned anything when purchasing.
Some of them have a direct debit set up and some of them send a cheque. The bank details and address are different to the council tax ones Sad
Roger has reported this to the police and I'm awaiting further updates from him.
Some of them want to keep paying it because they are convinced it's real and don't want to get behind on their payments. Two of them think we are just kicking up a fuss to try and get out of paying it Confused

The general consensus at the end of the meeting was that it might be a scam, but it might not be. I'm convinced that it is Sad

Sad news all round really (but Rodger did come and now my lawn with his new mower!)

OP posts:
ComputerUserNotTrained · 21/05/2017 17:29

It would take the police all of five minutes to establish whose bank account this really is.

zeeboo · 21/05/2017 17:54

Stocktongala aren't you just a sweetheart? Councils do vary in standards but your post is just offensive. People who staff councils are paid a very low wage to work very hard up against sometimes unreasonable targets and every one of them does the job to help serve the public.
This has scam written ALL over it so please don't use this thread as a way of bitching about local authorities. There is no way on earth our revenues team would say there was no services charge unless there was no service charge.

StocktonGalaDays · 21/05/2017 18:00

Zeeboo. Sorry no offence meant. I also work for a local authority and know well how hard we work. However departments have been cut back so much ( 4 people doing the work previously done by 20 for example) that I can easily imagine how a mistake might have been made. Incompetence was the wrong word and I apologise.

ComputerUserNotTrained · 21/05/2017 18:08

The council might not know what the money is for, but that's not the same as saying that they haven't been collecting the money. It seems perfectly possible that, given staffing cuts, this pot of money has been overlooked.

I don't work for a local authority, but I have worked for large, complex organisations where (relatively) small amounts of money have gone out or come in, and nobody's quite sure why because the records have been lost in the mists of time.

PenguinOfDoom · 21/05/2017 18:10

I am genuinely surprised if it does turn out to be a scam. It just doesn't seem typical at all for a door to door type scam.

TheManeEvent · 21/05/2017 18:13

My bet is that it's not a scam too.... but we shall see (I hope)

Thing is is that it woukd actually be best for the street if it were a scam as they could stop paying it. If it's legit then they will have to continue. 🤔

velvetcandy · 21/05/2017 18:29

This is madness!

Can you find out roughly the time/date it happened and a description of the person who came round regarding it. Hopefully the police can trace it with address the cheque is going too etc.

It's not like a landscape company your neighbours used to pay for like communal landscaping etc thatthe company don't carry works out on your street anymore is it? That's the only thing I could possibly think it could be unless it's an obstacle scam.

velvetcandy · 21/05/2017 18:30

Obvious*

bakingcupcakes · 21/05/2017 19:27

Thanks for the update OP. Awful that it looks like it's a scam. Your poor neighbours.

killerlego · 21/05/2017 20:19

Could you look up the sort code/account number of the bank details and phone up the bank and coyly ask them if this is a council sort code or put it into google and see if something comes up? I'm pretty sure I did this once with a sort code/payment that I didn't recognise and I was able to find out a lot of detail by googling.

angryladyboobs · 21/05/2017 20:26

You've done brilliantly trying to get to the root of the problem!

I hope they get their money back.

angryladyboobs · 21/05/2017 20:31

500 per year for 10 years. And 10 houses. 50k. Unfortunately someone is laughing all the way to the bank.

Lozzie12 · 21/05/2017 20:33

Great to see the update but how dreadful to think these people may have been scammed for so long.

Biggreygoose · 21/05/2017 20:39

Given the amount I'm still betting on a charge for a private or council drainage system that's now adopted. OP , do you pay a sewerage charge on your water bill? Do your neighbours?

Account has probably just been sitting there collecting cash since 2011 and the council have forgotten about it. I have seen weirder things happen. Good news is that if it is that then it will be super easy to claim it back.

I have met a lot of Rogers, they can be a pain in the arse, or awesome if their energy and bloody mindedness is harnessed for good.

If it is a scam then the perpetrators deserve to be hung up by their testicles.

GaelicSiog · 21/05/2017 20:41

The amount not changing for 10 years backs up the assertion it's a scam though. And that the OP and the other house were never contacted to pay.

FlouncingInTheRain · 21/05/2017 20:45

What makes me so annoyed is the emotional effect something like this can have. The realisation that you've been scammed is tough on any of us. But if you're slightly lonely, a bit vulnerable, it can start a rapid downward spiral.

You sound like you're a lovely neighbour, if theres anyway you can continue with your wonderful spirit and encourage a little more neighbourly interaction in the aftermath, it may help the most vulnerable people through.

Biggreygoose · 21/05/2017 20:46

Not necessarily in my scenario. Lots of sewers were transferred from council/private ownership in 2011 automatically. The amount wouldn't have changed because no one would have reviewed it and any residents moving in after that date wouldn't have been approached.

It's not unusual for a single street to be served by several sewerage systems (where catchments swap due to levels etc), so the charge may genuinely only apply to some houses on the road!

GaelicSiog · 21/05/2017 20:48

Seems a bit coincidental that the houses who don't pay are the only ones new on the street though. I hope you're right, but I'm not convinced there's going to be such a happy ending.

shinyredbus · 21/05/2017 20:52

Thanks for coming back OP!

I hope that they haven't been paying this fee for long. I really can't believe anyone could be so mean - especially to the elderly. Sad

Tapandgo · 21/05/2017 20:55

Thanks for the update - this is amazing to have a scam on this scale over time.

Biggreygoose · 21/05/2017 20:55

Without writing an essay; If it's newer houses that don't pay then it makes even more sense.

SquinkiesRule · 21/05/2017 20:59

OMG your poor neighbors, I hope they catch whoever is doing this (should it really be a scam)

notapizzaeater · 21/05/2017 21:15

I really hope it isn't a scam for your neighbours sake, they will never trust anyone again :-(

GaelicSiog · 21/05/2017 21:16

I meant the point about the service charge not necessarily applying to every house on the road. To me, the fact that the two houses it never applied to are the two houses with newer residents is too convenient.

DoctorGilbertson · 21/05/2017 21:21

Trading Standards have a scams team that might be relevant

www.nationaltradingstandards.uk/

www.nationaltradingstandards.uk/work-areas/scambuster-teams/

www.nationaltradingstandards.uk/work-areas/scams-team/

Swipe left for the next trending thread