Please bear with me. This may be long and is complicated. I realise that I ought to have dealt with this much sooner to avoid it having gone to court in the first place. Unfortunately due to many overwhelming personal matters over the years I left it on a backburner until now.
Back in 2010 I had to leave my council tenancy to move to another very quickly due to DV from ExH. I had cleared everything from the house (of that I am sure). The only problem was that some of the light fittings had been changed.
Several months later I received an invoice from the council, alleging that I owed £639.99 for work done to this former tenancy. Of this, £65.76 was for changing the light fittings. The remainder was for replacing a lock, softboard, and two rubbish removals: small clear to vacant property (£82.65) and large clear to (? - unspecified) costing £321.43, plus an administration charge (10% of total).
Accompanying this invoice were photographs (evidence?) but these were all of a different property, there were boards in the photos specifying the address, which was the same house number, but on a different road.
I had a phone call from the finance department shortly after asking when I would be paying the amount. I explained that I disagreed with the amount, that I agreed to the costs for the light fittings but not to the rubbish and other charges, and that the evidence was for a different address. I was advised to begin making payments (I offered £5 a week as it was all I could afford at the time) and that the department would investigate for me.
I paid this for about a year, then after checking my finances I realised I had not heard back from the council. So I called again and was advised that they had nothing on record, not even the original invoice or the evidence of what I was supposed to be paying for. Unfortunately at that time I could not find the original invoice, I had thought it could have been thrown out with other old documents. The woman I spoke to told me to keep paying, but I knew I had probably already paid more than (or close to) the amount I admitted I owed. So I said I wouldn't continue to pay until the problem had been properly sorted out. She said the department would send me the details, but again I heard nothing back, and eventually forgot about it again (my bad, I know I should have dealt with this). Luckily, I did manage to find the original invoice.
Fast forward to last week. I received a notice of claim from the county court. The council are requesting £280.99, plus interest, legal and court fees (totalling £516.97).
There is no breakdown of this amount claimed, nor any reference to any payments I have previously made.
If we deduct the amount being claimed (£280.99) from the original invoice (£581.81) it would seem the bill has been reduced by £359, though I really don't believe I have paid THAT much!
I'm struggling to figure out where this particular amount has come from.
I am panicking about this now. The last thing I want is a CCJ against me, but can I pay the whole amount in full. Nor do I think I should have to pay it. There has clearly been some mistake - the pictures are definitely NOT of my former tenancy, nor have the council clarified what exactly I am being charged for.
I only have evidence of some of the payments I have made (perhaps half of them). I may be able to get the bank to check, but would have to go in branch and suspect they may charge me for each copy of statements (which would be a lot, going back to 2010!). The evidence of payments I do have is almost the same as the amount I admit to being liable for, for the light fittings (just under £10 short).
A part of me is wondering whether my ExH may have done something to the house after I left (he didn't know until after, it was a very scary time for us).
I feel that I should dispute this claim, admit to the amount for the light fittings (which I do owe) but not to the rest. But can I do this with what I have (the original invoice, evidence of payments already made)?
What will happen if the court disagrees because I left it for so long without pursuing my dispute?
Any advice would be very much appreciated. I just want to sort all of this out ASAP so I can stop worrying about it.