Hi, I'm just wondering where I would stand as a single parent living in an upper floor maisonette with 4 young children under the age of 5. I have applied to the council for re housing in suitable accommodation and they have ststed that it is priority that I get moved but I had arrears from 2005 in a perivous property (which I have now cleared) but now they are saying I owe over £800 from b&b costs from 2005 for a 6wk week stay that was no fault of either myself or my ex husband I have been footed the whole bill and they refuse to move me until it is paid! I am very anxious to move as my eldest son is now 5 and needs to attend school but cannot due to where I live as it would mean me leaving 2 children upstairs (which is 4 flights of stairs) whilst I went to get the other 2 but not only that its taking a buggy down as well so the need to move is so urgent. Could you tell me possibly where I stand to fight this case? Many thanks Ms Perry

Your ex owes for the bill too, even if terms for old bills wasn't in the divorce decree.
I am only aware of 'b&b' when referring to bed and breakfast inns, so I'm not sure how you could stay somewhere for 6 weeks and not owe for it. But I'm in the US and I assume you are in England? I doubt anyone here can think of a way to get the council to budge, so I would go after your ex ASAP.

Ms. Perry, if you are in the UK there are a few groups which donate their time to provide legal assistance to people who cannot afford to hire a solicitor. Your best bet would be to contact one of these groups to see if they can help you clear up this problem. Here is a link to a web site for one such group:

LawWorks Home Page

Hi Many thanks for your replies I am in the UK yes. Myself and my ex were put into the b&b (bed and breakfast) as I was pregnant with my first child and was living in a shared house but the land lord would not let us stay as I was pregnant so the council put us into a B&B and said that we would not occur any costs for the stay as it was through no fault of our own to be put there (as they said there were no properties available) so now 5yrs down the line when I really need a house they are saying I have got to pay over £800 this is why I'm confused as to why they have waited until now to tell me of these charges..

Thank you Just_another_lemming I will check that out and see how I get on.
Many thanks again