Hi dx100uk, Thanks for your reply. Yes, I'm in Scotland. Regarding arresting my wages, I have so little in my account (and get paid so little) that there's nothing to arrest. Thanks for suggestion, though. Anyway, how shall I proceed?

Dear forum, I've been recently receiving summary warrant letters (one of them has been handed-in in person) from Scott&Co sheriffs claiming I owe over £1300 in Council Tax. This is amount that would cover more than 12 months CT for the property I've been staying in for just 4 months! The truth is, I haven't paid (I'm the sole person responsible for CT) CT because I work too few hours and can't get any benefits as I'm non-UK (I don't even pay the rent right now due to lack of sensible income, got a very understanding LL). I've looked through posts on the forum but it's not very clear to me what course of action would be best: a/ Should I ask Scott&Co to prove I owe the debt of £1300 and if I do (which is not true, it's much smaller amount), what is the amount and have them explain what the summary warrant is and why did they issue one. After all, I haven't been summoned to the court? b/ Ask the City Council if they'd consider writing my current CT debt off? c/ Or, should I pursue, at the same time, a and b options? It would be great if someone could point me to the relevant templates - again, I have looked through the forum but couldn't locate the right templates apart from a template asking City Council to write off the debt. Thanks, K.

Hi dx, Thanks for a quick reply. As I wrote above, they should've taken out 1/3 of £800 as I'm moving on the 10th this month. No, they haven't informed me. They just, I believe, forgot to cancel DD.

Hi floks, I think it's a reasonably simple issue (or so I hope). I have had set up by the property agency a direct debit for my rent of £800 from my account. It's been going smooth until today. The agency DD'ed the full amount - however, I'm moving out of the property 10th of this month. The agency, of course, knows about it as they have themselves informed me long time ago I had to move out as the landlord is sellling the property. I had in this bank account less than £800 so it shows right now that my balance is negative. I guess, it will have me incur, not because of my fault, various penalty fees on top of that. What next step should I take?

Got a MAN letter regarding appointment but the letter has arrived a few days after the appointment had been scheduled (perhaps Easter's got something to do with it). The Ingeus adviser thinks this is not true, since 'it could not have taken 10 days' for a 2nd class letter to arrive. Those are no signed for letters... how am I to prove that this is what actually happened - that is, I got it after the scheduled appointment?

I have produced a formal letter of notification of repair which clearly itemized what needed to be done as well as included pictures. This letter was sent to the agent signed for and a few days later I also emailed the letter to a number of people in the organisation (maintainance manager, supervisor of maintance, etc.) to make them aware of the issues in no uncertain terms. I think i was generous because they had almost two months to come up with, at least, a detailed plan of the repair actions. Sadly, this 'professional' agency hasn't replied to the letter of notifcation of repair and my emails so far! I had to spend money to buy radiators, endure cold temperatures in the house as well as not properly fiteed or working devices. At the same time I pay a hefty rent every month on time. I do feel like it is an injustice, not only to me, but also to the legal framework and the Housing Act. What do you guys recommend as the next step?

Hi P, Thanks a lot, that was helpful. However, what baffles me, all those guidelines are recommendations. My understanding is that recommendations are not lawful regulations, that is cannot be enforced. In other words, technically, the agent can shrug their shoulders, and say 'whatever'?

hi Stu, Thanks for your reply. I have made the agent aware, twice. I am about to send the agent a formal letter. I do not have contact details to the landlord. The heating is fully electric throughout the house. There is no radiator in the kitchen whatsoever. I have just checked temperatures: - in the kitchen: 12°C during day time, temperature outside 4°C, - in the living room 12°C during day time, temperatures outside 4°C - in the bedroom - there is a fixed radiator but it is too small and inefficient - after 60 minutes having the radiator set to max, the temperature climbed to 13.8°C during late evening, with the temperature outside 1°C. I feel cold in the flat all the time, despite wearing 3 layers of clothes, sometimes 4. K.

Hello everyone, I have a question regarding provision of heating in Scotland. I am renting a private accommodation and, as per usual, agent seems not to care, even though has been informed (emailed twice, now I am intending to send them a formal letter) the heating does not work properly. I have no boiler and only electric heating in the whole flat. Problems: 1) the radiator in the living room does not operate, tried all the switches that there are and it will not budge. (There is a small, fixed electric fireplace in the living room but it is only on/off and does not provide enough heat anyway when constantly on). 2) the radiator in a bedroom (smallish for the size of the room), whilst constantly on full power, never provides enough heat - as I am writing, being there, I feel cold, my fingers feel stiff and cannot bend them without minor pain. There is also draft due to improperly insulated windows in the bedroom and the the living room. 3) A heavy, vertical radiator in a bathroom is not properly fixed and is prone to falling of the wall which is a health hazard (apparently, the agent have been made aware about this by previous tenants as well and made no repairs). 4) There is no heating system whatsoever in the kitchen - is the kitchen excluded from provision of heating? My understanding is that the flat does not comply with tolerate and repairing standards and the issues I have mentioned above should have been addressed by the agent. I want to write a properly formatted, detailed letter to the agent but I canno find within the Shelter Scotland website (and others) or Scottish Housing Act precise information about the tolerable and repairing standards in respect of heating, that is: what are the exact minimum celcius temperatures in bedrooms and living rooms that the fixed appliances should provide at all times? I would be thankful if anyone could point me towards relevant legislation and/or guidelines as well as what the next step I need to take, should the agent disregard my formal letter of complaint. Thanks, K.

Do 14 days holiday mean that in calendar year I can take 14 separate days off? Also, do those 14 days include Saturday and Sunday or only working week days?

Hi there, I have a question about what to do about Housing Benefit being overdue. I've rented a room in a flat but found a flat with a cheaper room in the same city and decided to move in there. Because of this, the council said I need to fill in a new form and submit a new lease as well - all because 'change in circumstances'. I did that mid-October. In between moving to a new flat there was a week before I could move in to the new flat so, due to courtesy of my friend, slept at his couch (apparently this caused a partial overpayment). I don't think that this should bear any burden on the validity on my present claim, except of my having to pay back the partial overpayment. By now, I've been waiting over 6 weeks for the new claim to be re-assessed and all of my meager savings have been spent. I've called a council around 2 weeks ago and was told that the claim was 'being processed' and should be done in next 40 hours and that the council did not need any more documents from me. A full week passed and haven't heard from the council so called again, this time talked to another person and I was told exactly the same thing. Again, almost a week is over and heard nothing for the council. Each time I was asked If I've been receiving JSA (I have). This time I don't have enough mone to pay for my rent... Also, got a CT bill request I need to pay the full amount urgently, otherwise I'll face consequences, such as being in arreras, sheriff, etc. K.

Hi Steve, Thanks for your reply. To clarify the matter, what I know is that the LL is sort of an acquaintance of the tenant residing at the property. The LL is apparently doing some education related stuff abroad (I don't know for how long). The tenant mentioned that the LL would infrequently crash in the living room and, apparently, it happened only once in the last year. How should a clause incorporated to the lease look like to explicitily forbid a living in LL? I don't mind him crashing once or twice a year for a couple days but anything more is not a deal I'm looking for, especially paying a hefty rent each month.

Hi Lea, thanks for a very detailed reply, it is much helpful! I agree about the deposit scheme, though I'm not particularly worried about it as I can try to enforce it when the tenancy has already started. I know that the LL is not registered with the council. Again, It doesn't worry me that much for, as afar as I understand, it doesn't invalidate the lease agreement whatsoever (or am I wrong to a certain extent?). What, according to you, would be the most substantial aspects to be incorporated into the lease to protect my interests?

Hi guys, I have been served the following, ultra brief tenancy agreement and am not sure where do I stand with it (questions at the bottom). Here's the wording of the lease: ---Start Lease 1. The Tenant pays deposit of £____. 2. Rent must be paid on the first of every month. 3. Rent is £____ per month; bills not included yet. 4. The Tenant must notify the Landlord within 24 hours of entry of any disrepair or defect of appliances and report failure of appliances. 5. The Tenant agrees not to sublet the property in whole or part. 6. If the Tenant wishes to make changes to the confirmed booking, the Tenant must notify the Landlord as soon as possible. 7. The Tenant binds and is obliged to vacate the premises without demand at the end of the tenancy. Lease starts 01.09.2014 - until provisionally 31.07.2014, optionally to be prolonged through summer with first priority as well as for next year. Name of Tenant: _________ Name of Landlord: _________ Date, time and Place _________ ---End Questions: 1. Does the tenancy constitute an Assured, Short Assured, or some other type of tenancy? 2. Is this tenancy allowing the landlord to reside in the property? 3. Does the wording of the lease mean I'm renting the property or a room (There are two rooms, and another person who has their own lease agreement - exactly alike - and pays their own rent)? 4. Does the lease is generally missing some important information that should (or have to) be included? 5. Point 6. and 7. are not clear to me, what do they mean? Also, the landlord lives abroad and I'm not sure how to execute signing the lease to make it valid (witness, I assume)? Thanks, K.

Quite possibly the relation between Ingeus and Remploy is that of the latter being a sub-contractor. But then, can you explain what does that work like from a legal point a view? Why signing a contract by sub-contractor with a contractor gives the former a legal permission to access all the data that it wants? It doesn't add up (but I'm not a lawyer). For example, if X contracts to Y, (and then Y to Z, etc.), then Z now has access to data? This would be crazy, as any business would gain a permission to access data by virtue of signing a contract! The other thing is I've never been in a position to agree or disagree with what Ingeus just did - moved me to Remploy. You can't agree involuntarily, that's a contradiction in terms, by the way. It's not even the case of involuntariness. I have not been informed about me consenting or not about the decision that has been made. To me it seems that Ingeus is in breach of DPA but I'm not certain about it.