In the wake of losing a relative, the last thing anyone wants to do is navigate their finances.

But greed knows no bounds!

When one housing association mercilessly hunted down an innocent tenant, the tenant decided to fight back, and actually ended up with a little extra money in their pocket.

Read on for the full story!

Housing association wants me to pay my late aunties debt? No, pay me the money I overpaid instead.

Before I lived in my current place, I was living with my Auntie.

She was the main tenant who sorted the bills, and I would pay her a lump sum each month as board payments.

In early 2021, she passed away unexpectedly.

Naturally, I didn’t want to continue living in this place; bad memories and bearing the responsibility for an entire place alone wasn’t feasible for me financially at the time.

But moving out wasn’t going to be so simple.

After speaking with the housing association, I was informed that the only way to end the tenancy would be by getting the tenancy agreement moved over into my name before terminating the tenancy when I was ready to move out.

What I didn’t know at this point was that my auntie was in arrears on the rent payments.

The tenant just tried to pay what they owed and move on with their lives.

When it came to the point of leaving the tenancy, I had money in savings and just settled up the rent entirely, paying ~£500 of my auntie’s arrears on top of the rent I personally owed from living there alone.

I then stayed at the place for a few more weeks before closing the tenancy.

In hindsight, I probably should’ve queried the payment, but at that point, I just wanted rid of the place.

But the housing association wasn’t going to move on so easily.

After moving into my new place, I was getting pestered by the housing association, who said I still owed ~£300 on the previous house.

There was a lot of back and forth before I asked for a copy of the rent statement.

So the tenant tries to get outside council.

Around this time, I was speaking to people about this money I supposedly owed.

I was informed that I ‘probably’ shouldn’t be liable for my auntie’s debt since I didn’t receive the estate and wasn’t the next of kin.

However, there was also an argument to be made that I was liable for the debt since technically my name was on the agreement and I became the main tenant.

So they did some sleuthing of their own.

With this information in mind, I looked at the rent statement, worked out how much money I owed from the first week after my auntie had passed, and deducted it from my total rent payments made after that point.

It turned out I had paid ~£200 extra (assuming I wasn’t liable for the debt).

They present their findings to the association.

I presented all my working out in a thorough email and sent it over.

I didn’t hear anything back from them after that conveniently and assumed it was all over.

I decided not to pursue this as I was sick of being pestered by them and wasn’t 100% sure if I was or wasn’t liable for this money.

But they still refused to let it go!

Fast forward nearly 2 years, I received a letter last month just before Christmas stating that I still owed this ~£300 and that it would be sent to debt collectors if nothing was done.

At this point, I was ticked off.

So now the tenant is done playing nice.

I spoke to someone who was able to tell me for sure that I am not liable for the debt in this particular situation, so I sent a firmly written email detailing how I don’t owe this money but in fact, they owed me.

I provided all the evidence and threatened small claims if the situation wasn’t rectified soon.

It took weeks of me pestering them via phone calls and emails for me to finally get in contact with a lovely woman who apologised on behalf of the company for how I was treated.

Finally, the tenant got the justice they deserved.

She then got the ball rolling, and eventually, my ~£200 refund cleared the other day.

This was a particularly satisfying end because if they would’ve just left it, I wouldn’t have chased it up, and they would be £200 better off.

What a shame!

Never underestimate the value of fighting back!

Let’s see what Reddit had to say!

The information this tenant was given was not accurate in the slightest.

Corruption knows no bounds sometimes.

One would think landlords would have their affairs in order, but they often don’t.

Preying on a grieving family is a different kind of sleazy.

After months of back-and-forth, the tables were finally turned, and this time the housing association was the one left scrambling.

There’s nothing better than beating someone at their own game.

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.