I know its probably a long shot, but.... If a seller on ebay lists and item where the spec is shown as significantly higher than 'normal' for the price, and you buy it. Can you hold the seller to the description and make them provide you with the item they have advertised (or equivalent). Or are you only entitled to a refund and nothing more?

It is only legal for them to break back in, if your dad was not in possession of the eviction order. If your dad had simply locked them out before going to court etc, then they would be known as 'displaced residential occupiers' and would have had the right to break back in. However, this is clearly not the case. Your dad does have a duty to protect any belongings, and as in the notice, give them reasonable time to collect them. This is even if the belongings appear to be rubbish, although of course they do not have to be stored at the property, and any storage costs are claimable against the ex-tenants.

You need to go and get a copy of the agreement from the lettings agency. This may be difficult, as ultimately they are paid by the landlord, and it is in their interests to keep the landlord happy. Its not unheard of for a LA to 'lose' bits of paperwork here and there. If you get a copy of the agreement, you can then prove it was signed, and check the dates on it. The earliest that a section 21 notice can expire, is no less than 2 months after the date of service (assuming rent paid monthly) AND no sooner than the end of the 'fixed term' or the end date on your contract. It is also not possible to serve a valid section 21 notice, if your deposit has not been protected in a government approved scheme (there are 3, mydeposits, DPS and TDS). Finding out if your deposit is protected could be quite important if you are unable to get hold of the tenancy agreement, as if they try to rely on this section 21, you will then have a solid defence to it. They can of course then protect the deposit and re-serve the section 21, but this will obviously take an absolute minimum of 2 extra months from them finding out. Also, it is important that you know if you deposit is protected, so that should your landlord try to make any deductions from this deposit at the end of your tenancy, you have an arbitration service that you can use to help fairly decided if these are legitimate. You should contact each of the 3 schemes to ask if your deposit is protected (whilst trying your best not to tip off the landlord or letting agent), this is simply a precaution to protect you against them trying to evict you unlawfully. Finally, can you post the wording of the section 21 notice (after removing all personal details), and confirm the date which your tenancy started, and the date of each renewal?

If you are a tenant on an assured shorthold tenancy, who's landlord does not live with them, and the home you occupy has no business attached to it, and your deposit is protected, the chances are you are right. So can you confirm: That you are in England/Wales? Have a look at the agreement you signed, does it say assured shorthold tenancy? Does it state start and end dates, and does it also say something similar to 'a term certain of 6 months'? Have you paid a deposit, and has it been protected? (if you dont know what this means, please dont ask the landlord as this may hinder you staying in the property, come back and we will assist) Does your landlord live with you, or share any communal areas with you?

The persual of a claim for breach of the Tenancy Deposit Rules, would never be heard by the small claims court. It should be a Part 8 claim, which exposes you to the LL's legal costs should you lose. It appears that you have a good case (subject to you checking the deposit registration did not exist with each of the 3 schemes), but you must take specialist legal advice (a high-street solicitor wont cut it) before deciding to pursue any claim.

If you find that this is not resolved by the landlord in a reasonable time, I would strongly suggest contacting the Tenancy Relations Officer at your local council. They act on behalf of private tenants, and they have the power to order the landlord to do the works, and if the landlord still doesnt do it, they can do it themselves and bill the landlord (plus a nice fine for their trouble). If it was me, I would ring them now to set up an appointment as they can take up to a week to come and visit. Then should it be resolved in that time you can always cancel. Just for info, if the TRO came out and found the heating/hot water not working, it would be classed as a Category 1 hazard, which carrys a fine of approx £350 to the landlord. I used this plan for a friend of mine who had been without heating and hot water for the last 4 weeks, after only two phone calls (one to the TRO, and one to her lettings agency) the problem was solved within 3 days (including a weekend) and she has a brand new boiler!

I went to work this morning, and unusually there were no spaces to park in in the usual carpark to the rear of my works building. So I drove round the corner and found a space in a nearby carpark. I thought it looked quite empty so I took a good look round to be sure that there was nothing preventing me parking there. When I returned to my car so that I could pick up my son from school, there was a clamp on it, and some signs had appeared. I read the sign and it said that you must have a valid ticket to be able to park there. I walked around the whole car park, and found one small sign hidden round the corner that said club members only. But no where that a 'valid ticket' could have been purchased or obtained. Now i'm £140 out of pocket just to have my car released, plus the £15 in taxi fare for the round trip to pick up my son from school. The receipt I got for the payment says I have 7 days to appeal in writing to the company address, but I have no idea how this works or what to put in it? Surely they cant be allowed to fleece drivers like this by putting up signs as when they feel like it??? Any advice greatefully received.

Not bad How do you prove the mileage to them though?

So it can be written into my contract, that i'm paid minimum wage, and still have to use my own car at my own expense??? Wonderful!

We dont have a manual at all, but my contract in a sub paragraph under pay states: 'In addition to your renumeration, you will be reimbursed all reasonable expenses, properly, wholly and exclusively incurred by you and authorised by a Director in the discharge of your duties under this contract upon production of receipts or other evidence for them as the Company may reasonably require.' There is no other section referring to mileage in any way. Seperate to my contract is an expenses sheet that I have been given which states 12p a mile.

I know that HMRC advise 40p per mile for business mileage when using your own car, but is there an actual minimum that an employer can reimburse? My employer will only reimburse a tiny amount and I'm pretty sure it doesnt even cover the cost of my fuel, surely this isnt right?

Congratulations on winning your case! I wish you the best of luck with claiming the money off the LL. I have a claim that I'm going commence in the next couple of weeks, so it brings me hope to others winning

Shelter are great for advice (dispite being v.overstretched), however the Tenancy Relations Officer at your local council is the person who can take action against your landlord. Speak to Shelter, get all the information you can, and then approach your TRO ASAP.

The car is a 52 plate, and we have covered approx 2k miles in it since purchased. I'm quoting my partner here on the things that need doing 'Brakes both rear. Headlight, and suspension arms' I'm quite concerned that the car seems to have some touching up done to the paintwork below the headlight thats now 'not at the right angle', this sounds like the dealership have botched it, perhaps even knowing that it wouldnt pass an MOT. I will have exact details of what the faults are once I get the paperwork off the garage in the morning, but hope the detail I have given can help some.

I bought a car at the end of May, and although it had high mileage, I could see that it had previously only had one MOT fail for a very simple broken bulb issue. However, since it has now become time for its MOT again, a whole range of problems have cropped up. Rear brakes need replacing, something to do with the suspension, an advisory notice for something to do with the steering column, and headlight not pointing at the right angle (didnt know this could fail the MOT!) and a couple of other things (I'll add them when I see the notice again). As its essential that I have the car to get to work, and to take my partner to work, we've put it in to the garage to be repaired, but they say it could be several hundred pounds! I know that the SOGA says that some things are covered for 6 months, do the things I've mentioned fall under that, and is it too late for me to do anything about now i've put it in a different garage to be fixed?? Just as a side note, we've already had a problem with the electrics, and therefore no rear lights whatsoever, which a very *cough* helpful *cough* police officer who followed us for 27 miles pointed out! This I paid £70 to be repaired, and didnt mention it to the dealership. Any help or advice greatly appreciated!

The police officer you spoke to was partially correct. Harassment of a tenant is a criminal offence, however this type of offence is dealt with by your local council. They are required to have a Tenancy Relations Officer, who can decide if a prosecution is appropriate. In most cases, however, an advisory letter is the action taken by them. Get in touch with your council's TRO, and if you feel that you are not getting a satisfactory response to your concerns (as some are great, others really rubbish), then a complaint to the council is the way forward. Can you clarify why you feel you are being harassed? I also see that you've asked several questions about eviction/harassment etc, these should really be in one thread as they all relate to your current situation. It makes it easier for people to advise and reply when they can see all the facts in one place, and questions don't have to be repeated.

The LBA should not be sent recorded delivery as your LL can refuse to accept it by not signing for it. You should send it normal first class post, but get a *free* certificate of posting from your local post office. It is deemed as received 2 days after posting so add this to your 14 days.

Would you mind telling us which court this was in, as judges opinions seem to vary greatly from area to area.

I beg to differ, Planner. In order to enforce the x3 penalty, the court must order the person 'who appears to be holding the deposit' to either return the deposit, or protect it. Then the court must ALSO, order the penalty of 3x the deposit as compensation. In this case there is no person that appears to be holding the deposit as it has already been returned. The court cannot order its return, and they cannot order it to be protected once the tenancy has ended. Therefore they cannot then ALSO, order the 3x penalty. I'd be glad to be corrected on these points, and many judges are not well versed with the legislation so may see it differently. But this interpretation seems to be the most common from cases I have seen, and was the advice to me by my solicitor when bringing a claim against my ex-LL.

My thinking is, that if you can get the first mortgage on your current property with the smallest deposit possible. Then the remaining would be sufficient/nearly sufficient for say a 2 bed build, i've done a (very) quick google, and the indications suggest that once you have the land a 2 bed property of average size has a build cost of between 65-85k. Then you have a nice rental return coming in after

haha! your very welcome! Without trying to be too personal, if you have a partner, have you considered a joint mortgage, then your wage in addition to theirs may well be acceptable to a mortgage company?

Is extending the property (therefore creating a separate dwelling) in order to rent it out, deemed as breaching those rules?

To be honest, if this was me, I'd be hunting for more hours/a 2nd job ASAP to boost my income. It does seem unlikely that with a higher income you'd be granted a BTL without owning your property first. However, buying your council house sounds like a great idea, and you could sit on your capital from the sale of this house in order to do your build. Can I ask why it is you'd have to wait the 3 years before attempting this?

On the point of them claiming you were not the tenant when you brought the case, this is something that some Judges believe means you cannot claim for the non-protection penalty (certainly in my area of the country at least). However, I feel it reasonable to counter this with a simple logic argument; if you are the tenant, then you are not able to claim your deposit back as you are still within the tenancy. Therefore, in order to be able to claim the deposit back, you cannot be a current tenant, so when returning your deposit to you (or part thereof) the Judge must (as it says in the legislation) ALSO order the penalty for non-protection. You cannot have one without the other, so as long as your deposit (or part thereof) is due to you, the penalty must be enforced. I am not a solicitor, however I have seen this used on other forums and was the advice given to me by my solicitor (my claim hasn't got to court yet).

As far as I'm aware, once the LL provides an address, all rent then becomes due. So if you bring this to the attention of the LL/agent, they will go ahead and provide an address and therefore you will not be able to claim any rent back.