This topic was closed on 09 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 09 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 03/08/19. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

Posted on behalf of a family friend who is employed as a wagon driver and normally receives a monthly bonus of £500 which is due this Friday. He has been handed a letter today which he was told he had to sign to continue receiving the bonus. The letter contains conditions which he feels are unreasonable and he feels are an attempt to avoid having to pay the bonus. These conditions include: The vehicle must be in immaculate condition inside and out at all times. (The role includes delivering blocks and concrete to building sites.) Your attendance during the month must be 100%. Managers discretion may be used for genuine sickness, otherwise phoning in sick for work will result in loss of bonus for the month. You will have a flexible attitude to work to suit the needs of the business. Any incidents of not carrying out your duties as requested will result in forfeiture of monthly bonus. In the event of you giving notice to leave your employment with the company your monthly bonus will be forfeited. Can his bonus be stopped if he doesn't sign the letter and can the company impose the new conditions legally? Any advice would be appreciated.

Latest from Argos: Unfortunately because the item is older 12 months old and we only have a 1 year warranty on all our products we wouldn't be able to honour a replacement or refund. However if you were to take the item to say curry's and get an independent report done which will state whether the item has a definite fault. If the item has a definite fault we will then be able to take further action and reimburse you for the report.`

Thanks for that helpful advice. This has been passed to Argos and the initial response from the CSA is still the same, so I have asked for the matter to be escalated to a formal complaint and `passed up the line`. I will update further when I hear back

Yes I have an e mail trail for everything connected to it. As above it was first sent back in April 2016.

I purchased a £200 Garmin Sat Nav from Argos in August 2015. By April 2016 I was having problems with `Live Traffic` and updating maps via PC. From that time until now I have dealt with Garmin direct due to the problems being of a technical nature. These problems have been pretty regular between then and now, resulting in sending units back at my expense and periods of up to two weeks at a time without a sat nav. I work as a professional driver and rely on a good Sat Nav to provide a good service. After still having problems with another replacement unit sent out in March I stated that I no longer wished to continue with the constant problems and requested a refund. Garmin are telling me my contract is with Argos and Argos are saying its out of its 12 month Warranty period so cannot do anything. Under the circumstances stated, do I have any chance of a refund and if so who should I pursue? Any advice would be appreciated.

Many thanks for your prompt reply. I am 100% sure that there is no written contract with either our predecessor or the freehold owner. Would a verbal agreement constitute a contract? I think from what you have said, it would be best to treat him as a sub-tenant, as when we have taken the overall lease, we have done so knowing he was in the building, therefore implying we accept him as such, even though there is no mention in the tenancy agreement. To be honest, we are resigned to the fact we probably wont get any of the monies owed, and just want him gone with the least amount of problems possible.

We have inherited a sub tenant in a unit we are renting, who has no contract with us and has paid no rent at all since we took over. We have now asked him to leave as we were receiving visits from Bailiffs and customers who had paid for work that hadnt been done. We have now changed the locks on the main entrance, and are awaiting him moving the rest of his stuff out. Someone he owes alot of money to has come forward and said they want to put claim on his belongings in the unit to offset the debt he owes them, can he or anyone (including ourselves) legally do this, with or without going through the courts? We have a contract for the whole unit with the landlord, and the sub tenant has no contract and doesnt exist there as far as the landlord is concerned. As we have changed the locks, does the sub tenant have any legal right to enter for his property, and can he force entry to recover his stuff? He intends returning in the next few days to collect his stuff, which is all business related and doesnt include any personal belongings. Any advice would be appreciated.

Surely though, the old tenancy agreement is worthless as its an agreeement with the old Landlord?

No, its a new Assured Shorthold Tenancy.

Just been reading through a few other posts, and just to add, no tenancy deposit scheme being used and no written notice of change of landlord, if it makes any difference..

I have been living in the current property sice Dec 09. I initially signed an Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement, which was for six months. The property is now just changing hands, and there are a couple of things im not sure of: The new landlord wants an addition £250 on top of the original deposit, which I assume has just been passed over to the new landlord. The new tenancy agreement states that if I vacate before the termination of my agreement I agree to pay any resonable costs incurred in the Re Letting of the property together with the rent until a new tenancy takes effect up to and including the full term of the agreement. Does this mean that the initial tenancy agreement doesnt count towards anything, as if I was still under that I would only need to give one months notice if im correct? Any advice would be appreciated.

I have recently bought an off road motorbike for my son from E Bay. At first the bike appeared OK, but developed numerous faults after a short while, which lead to the engine having to be stripped down, and numerous parts replaced due to being worn out. I am aware of `Buyer beware` for private sales, but in the item description he stated `Full engine rebuild 8 hours ago` (8 hours being the amount of time the bike has been ridden since). Would this now therefore fall under the `Not As Described`category included in private sales, as if it had been fully rebuilt all the worn out parts concerned would have been replaced already? I have tried e mailing the seller, and been through all the dispute processes offered by Paypal and E Bay, without any response at all from the seller. I am now contemplating small claims.

9 months on and two tenancy agreements later..... The latest tenancy agreement has just recently arrived in the post, dated 7th April 2008. The term is 6 months from 7th April 2008, with the deposit shown as being paid at the beginning of the 1st agreement on 1st October 2006. From what has been previously stated, and what I have read on the forum since, am I correct in believing that this should now be covered by the TDS? Also I received one weeks notice of a rent increase by £10 a week, am I correct in believing that I should have received a months notice of this? At this stage I have replied requesting justification of the increase, (As requested by the local council, as I have contacted them to request assistance) as I now have to find £20 a week as I receive housing benefit and this has just been reduced by £10 a week effective from the same date! At this stage, I havent signed or returned the Tenancy agreement. Any advice on the best way to proceed would be appreciated.

How does stamp duty affect renting a property?

Thanks for that. Any idea why the landlord would want to issue a new AST, instead of just letting the original run on?

So which would be the applicable date, the date it is signed, or the date on the Agreement? The agreement has been dated 01/04/07, but wont be signed until now by me.

I have just received in the post a new AST for the property that I am renting, which the Landlord requires signing and returning. The first and original AST ran from 1/10/06 - 1/04/07. The new AST is for 1/04/07 for 6 months. Along with the new agreement is a note apologising for the delay in sending it out, as obviously it should have been done at the beginning of April. Firstly, I find it unusual that a new AST has been sent out, as I thought the old one would continue on a month to month basis. What would be their reason for doing this? I have done some reading about the new Tenancy Deposit Scheme, in which it states it only applies to AST's from 6th April onwards. Will this affect me at all, as although the agreement is for the period 1/04/07 onwards, it will not have been signed until well after the date that the TDS comes into being. I would like to be covered by the TDS if at all possible, to avoid any hassle at the end of the Tenancy, so I would like to know if I can use this to do so. Any views or advice would be appreciated.

Looking for some advice on behalf of my MIL, who last year was involved in a minor bump. It was the usual roundabout situation, where the 3rd Party was in the wrong lane, and subsequently cut across the front of MIL, causing a collision. The problem that she has is that they are insisting that the matter is settled on a 50/50 basis, despite the facts showing the other party were to blame. I am aware of the other posts, and advice relating to independant witnesses, which in this case, there weren't any, but in this case the circumstances are slightly different. Both parties agree to the positioning of the cars before during and after impact This coupled with the road markings (Taken from Google live overhead at the scene) show the third party was in totally the wrong lanes to carry out the manovuer that she did. Despite this Sage are still maintaining that due to the lack of independant witnesses they will settle 50/50. If this was the case, and the parties were disputing the events that happened, I could understand it, however it is not. My MIL is prepared to take it all the way if neccessary, but what are her chances, can she refuse to allow Saga to settle 50/50, or does she have to let this happen and then start the complaints procedure? Any advice appreciated.

No, as it was so close to the original figure he said `Quits`. Just because he didnt recognise ARLA doesn't mean yours wont.

Well, just over two hours in with the District Judge and it has been dealt with. The DJ heard from the witnesses, and then basically went through each point on the landlords list of `damages`. I didnt even get to go through my case in full which I had prepared notes for! He did say though that he had read all the paperwork prior to the hearing... The DJ did not take into consideration anything to do with redecoration not being claimable, and as such awarded small amounts for areas of redecoration. He commented that in the Agreement it states not to alter the decor without written consent, which there wasn't, just verbal. He also found it irrelevant that items claimed for were not noted on hand over. Basically he wasnt interested in anything that may have been in dispute as to was it or wasnt it. As far as he was concerned, if there was a picture it was eligible to be claimed, with some exceptions, namely things not on the initial inventory. What he basically did with each item was establish its age, remove an amount for dimunition, then awarded the remainder to the landlord, with the odd allowance for fair wear and tear. There seemed to be nothing with regard to my points about returning it to a rentable condition. In the defence bundle submitted by the landlord the total amount claimed on the inventory submitted was just under £2000. I accepted damages of just under £150. The final ruling was that the landlord was awarded a total of £530,the initial deposit being £500. However due to the total amount they submitted being nearly £2k, I asked for a determination as the landlords had stated that they reserved the right to counterclaim at a later stage. The DJ agreed with this, and an `agreement` was made than no futher action could be taken on this matter. Not exactly what I wanted as an outcome, but it could have been worse I suppose. It seemed that the DJ had his own interpretation of how it was to be dealt with, and paid little attention to the ARLA guidelines. This of course is just the details of what happened in my case, and a different DJ may deal with different matters differently.

As you are probably aware, I am in the process of taking my previous landlord to the small claims court for non return of my deposit. I have just read the post on rent increases, and also gone back through my tenancy agreement which in relation to rent increases states the following: THE SCHEDULE 1. The Landlord may at any time after the expiration of 6 months of the term review in an upwards direction the Rent payable under this agreement by giving not less than 21 days written notice to the Tenant ("The revised rent") stating that the revised Rent and the date upon which the first revised Rent payment is due ("the due date") 2. From the due date the Rent will be the revised Rent. ------------------------------------------------- The tenancy was a Assured Shorthold Tenancy, which commenced on 1st June 2003. The rent was increased after giving 21 days notice in Feb/March last year. This co incidently was shortly after a long term problem with the boiler, which eventually had to be replaced, at a cost of approx £2k to them. In the `Sticky` on Rent Increases it staes that it must make reference in the Tenancy agreement to how much the rent can be increased by. Has this increase been carried out properly, as there is no reference to this in my agreement? Any help is much appreciated.

Yep, we're all still here, just waiting. I've just updated my post, court next Tuesday!