Best advice, find a bouncer built like a proverbial, have a word with him and offer him £200 to have a quiet word. I think you'll find that that landlord is never a problem again.

Fair Point! Could I have a thread merge then please?

It is albeit from a different perspective so I didn't want to confuse the two if that makes sense....

Hi all, I would be very grateful to receive some advice on the following matter. Last year my partner at the time and I rented a property together for a period of six months under an assured short-hold tenancy agreement. The property was let through a letting agent but was managed by the landlord. Shortly after moving in to the property I found out that my partner had been fooling around and this caused a pretty much immediate breakdown in the relationship. I was completely devastated and returned to my family home for a while. As I am sure you can all understand I did not want to be alone in the property that I intended to share with the person I found out to be cheating on me. Consequently I wrongly used the money I should have used to pay rent on petrol so that I could commute to work. My intention was to return to the property and make good the arrears. One day I drove to the property and found that the lights were on and that people were walking around inside.Consequently I drove on as I felt very awkward. The problem I now is that I am being chased for rent when I was not living in the property. I know that my tenancy agreement obligated me to pay rent for the whole duration of the tenancy; however, I was informed that the property was going to be re-marketed and that I needed to return my key to the letting agent that was marketing it. This issue is that I am now being chased for outstanding rent on a property that I was not living in yet the landlord did not obtain any form of possession order nor did I sign any deed of surrender for the property. What I would like to know here is whether I have any rights here please. Thank you all for your interest

Hello all, My partner and I are living in a private rented property which has now been without hot water (not even warm) for just under two months. We have incurred great expense of having to travel to relatives for our weekly bath/shower and also costs associated with continually boiling kettles for hair washing etc. Now, the problem is that our landlord has messed us (and others) about something chronic. My partner has lost days at work and I myself could well do without the stress at the moment as I am dealing with bipolar. I have spoken to my family and things have gotten to a stage where I now want to take my landlord to court for damages. I believe that the amount of time that he has taken to resolve this matter is outrageous (particularly given the time of year). This matter has made the property unihabitable. What is everyone's opinion on the idea of legal action? Many thanks, timetoshine

Consider yourself one of the lucky people that they choose to deal with. My partner and I are incredibly fortunate in so much that our MP has intervened. He has been very helpful indeed. NPower, in my experience, are a bunch of disorganised shisters!

Hello everyone, I have a little bit of an update. I have written to my local MP about the problems and he has very promptly written back advising that he is going to be writing to NPower on behalf of my partner and I! Result, I will post as and when more news comes in. timetoshine

Hi LaughingGirl, Thanks for your input - very much appreciated. You make a good point because I do not intend to be on benefits for life, hopefully only another 3 - 6 months. I have bipolar which is an interesting condition. In mania, I have achieved some of my greatest successes whereas in a depressive state life has been very difficult indeed. Once stabilised I look forward to returning to some form of employment and will naturally be in a much better position to honor my debts (don't actually have that many). I am happy to pay my debts and when possible will always do so. Thanks, timetoshine

Hi Mariner, Thanks for your post. The debt has not been sold to the debt collector as I still pay the ex landlord direct. As I mentioned before, if the ex landlord wants to take me to court then so be it. I am very young, not long out of uni and have no assets. I have no bank accounts of any value worth seizing, I have no assets that would even probably pay 10% of the outstanding amount, I have earnings for an attachment of earnings order. Overall, there would be no real point in the landlord taking me to court but I guess that is up to them. timetoshine

Thanks Conniff, What I think I will do is make the £1 a week standing order arrangement today and write to the landlord to let them know the situation. By doing that, the new payments will start going through before they receive my letter. Thanks for your advice, really is very much appreciated. timetoshine

Hi everyone, I am hoping someone can advise me with some problems I am having with a previous landlord. As I have explained in other threads I have in this forum I was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder in August this year. First of all, my employer, the NHS and my friends/family have been brilliant in helping me; however, as you can probably imagine I am currently living on a greatly reduced income. Essentially, on a monthly basis I do not have enough money to meet my expenses. In response to this, I have been able renegotiate with my creditors/utility providers (with the exception of NPower but that is another story lol). My problem is that I am paying off a circa £500 debt to a previous landlord in outstanding rent and really do not view this as a priority debt. Because I have to prioritise council tax, rent to current landlord (which is fully in order) I can no longer afford to pay anything to my previous landlord. The payments I have made so far have been made direct to them but negotiated by a small time debt collector who is working on their behalf. I am regularly reminded that they will take court action if I do not continue my payments; however, it is getting to the stage now where I am thinking that I should just let the matter go to court, accept the debt and let the judge order me to pay what I can afford - I firmly believe that this would be significantly less than what I am paying now. I know that I would get a CCJ but I am still very young and my credit is already blown to bits. I would certainly have time to recover financially. In the new year I will be starting a course that will very hopefully lead me back in to work but this wont happen for a while. What does everyone think - should I just fold and let them take court action. Please remember that this is not a case of wont pay it is simply a matter of can't pay (literally) Thank you all, timetoshine

Oops, sorry everyone - mods, could be two threads be merged please. I do apologise, I completely forgot that I made the first post. timetoshine

Hi everyone, Just looking for a bit of advice re NPower. I was diagnosed with bipolar this year and as a consequence have been on sick leave and a greatly reduced income. My partner and I are doing our best to pay what we can to who we can; however, there is always a shortfall. Our NPower account is just under £400 in arrears. We cannot afford to pay it all off in one go but have written to them to propose a monthly payment arrangement. They are always quick to threaten a prepayment meter installation so I am just wondering how would that actually work in practic. I know that a proportion of our top up would go to paying off our arrears but say we were to put £10.00, how much would actually go in paying off the debt. Thanks for looking and for any help you can provide, timetoshine

First things first, you are poorly so do not let NPower get to you and make you even worse. Personally, I would argue that your rent is a priority debt and more important than paying NPower. You need to keep a roof over your head. My first bit of advice would be make sure that you are getting all of the benefits that you are entitled to. You may well find that there is a lot more available to you than you realise. The website http://www.turn2us.org.uk is very helpful for giving you an idea of what other benefits you could get. My second bit of advice is that you are only human and money comes down to maths. You cannot pay what you do not have to give. It is as simple as that. Sit yourself down and work out what you can reasonably afford to pay NPower and, even if it is only £1, write to them and make the offer. If it is not good enough for them then so be it. Let them take you to court because the court will not make you pay more than you can afford - they really would be wasting their time. Most importantly, you need to challenge the value of this alleged bill. Remember that above everything else that your health is by far the most important consideration here. Keep paying your rent and your new energy supplier and do not stress too much about NPower. I have my own battle with them at the moment so I know what it feels like. All the best, timetoshine

Hi Crem, thanks for your comments and your advice. Further investigation reveals that although the car park is owned by the council, the trolley bays are clearly marked by Waitrose signs. This to me implies that they are responsible for them. I have written to the store manager essentially explaining what happened and stating that I believe Waitrose have been negligent. I have made my argument on the basis that if they are to provide shopping trolley bays then they must ensure that they are fit for purpose, just as the same as they have to ensure that the store is safe. I have written a rather hefty but very business like letter loaded with photographic evidence so I shall update when I hopefully receive a response from them. I am prepared to go all the way with this one so could turn out to be quite an interesting case.... Watch this space as they say.... timetoshine