My girlfriend lives in a rental property which is unfurnished except for a cooker, fridge freezer and washing machine. On Friday evening the washing machine packed up, she has searched the internet and had tried several online fixes, nothing that involves taking the machine apart but just stuff like unplugging it and letting it stand for an hour. She has emailed the letting agent about the matter but won't hear back from them until Monday morning as no one works at weekends. My girlfriend is concerned that the letting agent is going to come back and and say that she will have to either pay for the washing machine to be repaired or for a new machine. Neither of which is an option as she is currently unemployed. Can someone please advise as to what her rights could possibly be? Thanks

Hi im hoping someone can help !! im in the process of claiming repossession of my property through the accelerated procedure. section two on the form asks for written tenancy agreement which i have from when the tenancy started. it then says one or more agreements have been entred into which one other agreement was issued of which got destroyed by damp. will this affect my claim for possession .

Hi everyone I have lived in my rented house for the past eight years, during this time I have had three different agents. Agent number 1 decided he didn't want to be a letting agent and disappeared with rents and deposits that he had never passed on to the landlords. Agent 2 was approached by my landlord to manage his properties, my current five year lease (which i am half way through) was signed with this company. Last year the agent retired, we received no notification until a letter stating that a new company was now dealing with our rental and we should make all contact with them and pay all monies to them. This new agent, agent 3, took over agent 2's offices but it is clearly stated that they are two separate companies and are under different names. I have never been asked to sign a new lease or anything. I have a couple of queries about my position with agent 3, the main one being does my old lease from agent two, still apply? He has mentioned verbally that he will charge £25 for any late payments and that he will make inspections of the property from time to time, there is nothing about this in my lease from agent 2, so can he really do this? When agent 1 went, I was advised by agent 2 that as we had (at the time) not signed a contract with him, that he could only oversee the rental of the property and would not be in a position to enforce eviction etc etc if the need ever arose. I'm just a bit confused, agent 3 seems a very pushy chap and I want to know where I stand with regards to my lease and it's validity. Thanks

Hi, I have been in dispute with my rogue property management company for over two years. In a nutshell my chimney leaked significant rain water just before I was planning on installing a much needed electric fire in it (cold flat). I have had to endure two winters since with no fire so I have stopped payments until the works have been carried out. I have made it clear that I am more than happy to resume payments once it has been completed but I have had no meaningful response, just lies about builder trying to call me but when I asked for his number all emails stopped. To my horror today I got a letter from the "Property Debt Collection Ltd" for the collection of arrears of £3582.56 with an added cost of £192, the management company are called Redcourt Limited. Is there anything I can do, I am about to let the property to a tenant in a few weeks and relocate and I am extremely distressed by this letter! Regards

Hello, I wonder if anyone has had a similar experience with being constantly disturbed by viewings in a rental property and can help in telling me the best way to deal with them. My landlord is selling the flat I live in and as I am in the process of buying a property I can't move out as I would have to sign into another minimum 6 month contract elsewhere which isn't practical. The property has been on the market for over 2 months now and he has it on with 2 different agents. They booked 3 viewings at 10.45am, 12.45pm and 3.15pm last Saturday and so I was disturbed 3 times. As I don't want this to happen again I have now asked that 1 agent does a block viewing between 1pm and 1.30pm and the other agent does from 1.30pm to 2pm. Both agents have agreed to this but to be honest I wasn't expecting the viewings to go on for this long and I think the flat is over-priced in the market which is why they aren't getting any offers after all the viewings they have done. This means I will continue to be disturbed every weekend for an hour for the foreseeable future. I text my Landlord last Friday to ask if he thought it was fair that I was to be disturbed 3 times on a Saturday - my weekend and the only time I have to relax and he completely ignored me. They also do viewings in the week and usually email in the morning to say thy have a viewing that day and as I am at work I tell them it's fine and to go ahead. I am working from home today and have just had an email at 12.30pm from one of the agents saying he is coming at 3pm today to do a viewing. I have checked my tenancy agreement and it says I have to have 48 hours notice for someone to gain entry to my flat yet I am allowing them to do the viewing so as not to be obstructive. I was also working from home last Friday and exactly the same thing happened. As I am being constantly disturbed in my home and not enjoying peaceful enjoyment of it - do you think I am entitled to ask for a rent reduction? I pay a lot of rent to live here and resent doing so now that it is being invaded on a daily basis. Any help or advice you can give would be very much appreciated as I am going to write to my landlord to tell him I am unhappy with the current situation and paying full rent. This could go on for months and I have been extremely accommodating so far - even changing plans 3 times to meet with agents for them to measure up and take photos - which really isn't my responsibility but the landlord's. He doesn't seem to appreciate it - rather I feel he is taking advantage of my good nature now and am very fed up with the whole situation. Thank you in advance for any help or advice you can give Pickles18

Hi All, I am looking for some fairy urgent advice please as i am kind of stuck to sort this out at the minute due to working away from home. My partner and i split up 3 weeks ago and she moved out finally last week. The details> 1. We are not married 2. We had property on 75/25 with Barrats. The house is on £33000 negative equity 3. Halifax wont transfer her name to just me - bank says showing some late payments NOT for mortgage but for other stuff but not behind on anything either 4. in 5 years we had the house she has never paid a penny towards it 5.She wont give me the keys as apparently she has a right to have them still 6. The above worries me as when she moved out last week her and her parents have been through ALL of my personal stuff like pensions, wage slips, will etc and have taken documents. 7 As i work away a lot i am worried that she will just enter the house and open letters anytime she likes What are my options? What are my rights? What rights does she have? We have a 5 year old son, and she wanted £355 from me via what the csa have advised. I have said if she goes that route i cant pay the mortage and then we will be both be liable. Eventually she saw sense, and we have come to an amount i can afford. Sadly i think i will get done over by her. I think that if the mortage comes out of her name then she will then go via the csa and then i am right in trouble. So any thoughts on this on at all please??????

Hi (newbie on board) My late father brought a half share in a bungalow where he lived until he died. Everything he owned has been left to my brother and I including this half share of the property Probate has been granted and everything else has been sorted out! We found that there had been an overpayment on the "rented" half of the property but this has now running out Problem is now that the property has been on the market for a while, but as the credit in rent has neared to an end the housing company (that own the other half) have sent a letter saying they can reposess the property if the rent is not paid My brother is living in the property at the moment and doesn't have to pay rent Could anyone out there help me with what forms I need to fill in to exchange the ownership into our names I have been ripped off by solicitors in the past, wanting to charge me £1500 for probate and I did it myself for £100 so i'm dubious about using them for this.... I have already been quoted £500 but want to see if I can do it myself Any advice would be fantastic:whoo:

Heya guys, Was hoping someone could help me with this. A friend of mine has asked me to help her with a claim to the council for damaged property due to a leak. She recently moved into a council property which had a brick shed for storage. She reported a leak and the council replaced a window in the shed, presumably resolving the situation. She then continued to use the shed for storage of expensive fishing and camping gear, along with other misc. items. However, the leak was actually due to an improperly sealed roof and continued, damaged the items inside beyond repair. She is now completing a form from the council to claim for the cost of replacing the items, with photographic evidence. The form urges people to claim from their insurance and she is insured and has considered this. Apparently, the insurance company can then recover costs from the council if they believe they are at fault and this won't affect no claims bonus. However, this is IF the can get the money back from the council. The other route is to directly claim from the council and this is our preferred route at the moment. She also has severe mental health problems and losing a lot of her stuff, which she had accumulated with her partner over a life-time, has been very upsetting, not to mention the effort of making the claim. That is why she has asked for my help, so we are also thinking of claiming for health as well as personal belongings. We have said we believe the council is liable because they have a duty, as the landlords of the building, to maintain the structure and exterior and this was not done. After initially reporting the problem, they failed to properly investigate it meaning the leak persisted unresolved, ruining the contents of the shed. Therefore, the work the council carried out was not suitable and failed to prevent these damages. My friend, having reported the problem believes that she has done her bit to ensure the council was aware of it, in order to get it resolved. She had acted in a way to prevent these damages as a tenant. Basically, I was wondering if anyone knows how straight forward these cases are and if the council are likely to pay up. Also, if we have a strong enough case to prove liability. Surely the council had to do some sort of safety checks before she moved in and should have noticed the shed was leaking and either fixed it or recommended she didn't use it until it had been fixed? Thanks for reading and looking forward to your input!

My brother died last year and because he died alone and was found by me thepolice took some of his things (PC, 2 x Memory cards & his mobile phone).13 months on and the inquest was held in January and no suspicious circumstanceswere found, we are still waiting to get his things back. I spoke to the coroner’soffice today and they have lost his property (except the PC) during a move atthe station. My mum, who is 68, is distraught as the memory cards had photos ofhim on them that were not on his computer. If anyone knows where we stand orwhat we can do about this I would be very grateful if you would let me know. Thanks

Folks, I have started a petition on www.change.org to have section 136 of the act changed such that assignees of a debt can only charge a multiple of the price the paid for a debt , rather than the current practice of trying to recover the full amount, usually by frightening a hard pressed debtor into a financial arrangement he cannot afford. If you feel able to support my petition place go to the change.org website and sign. Title is Amend the 1925 Law of property act S136 Thanks

This is my first post and I am trying to find out what happens to propertys that the Kensington mortgage company repossess.A friend has had their home of 30 plus years repossessed by these people after falling into arrears due to lack of work when his business declined because of the global financial crisis it happened very quickly and they have been evicted. We would like to help them buy it back if possible, I would be grateful for any leads on where to find information on how or where the property goes from here whether it goes to auction or tender and who would handle it. the property is in scotland Thanks in advance arbee

Hi, hope I am not breaking any rules here but I am a total novice at doing this kind of thing! Where can I post asking for advice on obtaining a court order to force a sale of property please? Thanks lots sewsew

Please can you advice me on best way forward and if I can claim back charges from my manangement agent for my flat in Scotland. Over the years I have paid them 2857.46 in fees bewteen letters and solictor letter fees. I pay monthly by direct debit and in the last 3 years I have in fact been in credit twice howver they charge their 6 monthly service charge in advance and can never catch up as I cannot pay this in advance, this always results in letters with charges or solictor letters for court action. Please advice if I can use the bank changes templates to issue a claim for refund. A list of the charges are below: 29-Apr-05 Commission Fees - 22.03 28-Jun-05 Collection Fees 22.03 13-Oct-05 Collection Fees 66.09 13-Oct-05 Collection Fees 11.08 10-May-06 Administration Fee for Late Payment 228.27 26-Jul-07 Legal fees 23.50 13-Aug-07 Late Payment Admin Fee 294.45 30-Jan-08 Solicitors Fees 58.75 27-Aug-08 solicitors fees 514.18 1-Oct-08 263.98 20-Jan-09 Interest on Arrears as at 31.12.08 44.08 1-Apr-09 Interest on Arrears as at 01.04.09 221.40 26-May-10 Deficit for period 01/11/08 - 31/10/09 41.34 4-Jul-11 Deficit for period 01.11.09 to 31.10.10 46.58 30-Aug-11 Notice of Court Action 36.00 8-Sep-11 Late Payment Admin Fee 79.52 7-Dec-11 Notice of Court Actio 36.00 14-Dec-11 Late Payment Admin Fee 200.44 10-Jan-12 Interest on Arrears as at 01.01.12 13.92 24-Jan-12 Tracing Enquiry 35.00 2-Apr-12 Interest on Arrears as at 01.04. 9.91 25-Jun-12 Solicitors Fees 365.00 29-Nov-12 Deficit for the period 223.91

Hi, I need some advice as I am unsure of my position at the moment. Oct 2012 I found a property to rent through a local letting agents, I paid £300.00 in fees. I applied for the Council bond scheme which had no end of issues with it, fast forward too today it is now all sorted. I am now at the point of signing the AST, however a recent inspection of the property has found both white and black mold all over the place, the wall are not just damp but soaking wet, and the damp proof that was supposed to have been done, wasn't. When I viewed the property in Oct 2012 none of this was evident, and without stripping wallpaper there was no evidence of damp and/or mold issues. At the moment the property is uninhabitable, my partner has serve asthma that a temp drop can set off an attack, it can also affect my health seriously. The Landlord is not refusing to get it sorted but is very apathetic about the whole property. I have found another property that is in better condition etc and tempted to take it, but my question is what can I do to recover the £300.00 in fees I have paid as this is no small amount as I am unemployed after ill health and struggling to find a Job. The fees where to paid for one credit reference on me, drawing up a tenancy, and guarantor paperwork and reference. I have also refused to sign the AST until the issues are either sorted or I get my fees back bar a reasonable charge for the above items.

Hi there, Hoping someone can give me the answer to the following question. Can my employer accuse me of theft of customers property, investigate it and possibly discipline me? I've received an invitation to an investigation and I'm being accused of stealing customers property. I can't say what company or what has been stolen. My time with the company has been 2 years and a few days, no previous disciplinary issues with the company.

I lived overseas and following a relationship break up had to move back to the UK. My home overseas was placed on the market and with 3 children (one severly disabled) I returned to the UK. An accident prevented me from working and I claimed income support. The dss accepted the overseas house was on the market and no income was generated from it. I was required to give updates every 6-12 months and during that time reduced the asking price. Our situation remain unchanged. Last week I was sent a letter telling me that benefit was suspended as they had not received the latest form back. I had posted it 2 wks earlier and phoned the office immediately. I was told that if I went to the office and filled out a new form my benefit should be reinstated. However I have done that and they are now saying it all needs to go to a decision maker to determine if I am still eligible as I still have the property as capital. I am floored and worried sick! Last Sept the dss asked for an updated valuation on the property and I couldn't get an agent to value the property without charges that I cannot afford. I provided the initial valuation and evidence that the property was up for sale, and they accepted that. I now have debts overseas as I have been unable to keep up with local taxes (council tax equivalent) on the property. Advise please.

Hi all, im not sure if im in the right place but here goes Im ground floor tenement block , My upstairs neighbor flooded me. I had no insurance (cancelled because i lost my job), I reported the issue to tenant above, who told me he was just leasing property - i contacted the letting agent and all they did was repair the cause of the leek in their flat, I was left with a damage in my cealing, they did nothing. I wrote to them re problem as the damage was a direct cause of the flat above, owner is refusing to communicate. I cant afford the repair... I thought if i send a final letter and enclose a small claim form he take it more seriously. I found forms for small claim online but have no idea how to work them? "Damage from property above to my property and he is refusing to rectify damage? " or is there better wording i could use? any help i would really appreciate it thank you x

my ex father in law has a charge on my property - if/when he dies, does the charge end?

Believed the sales pitch that the government back leaseback scheme were solid investments, self funding and borrowed close to 100% from the french banks to purchase some properties with different lenders. Operator went bust and never paid the guaranteed rents, leaving banks to reprosses, what action will they take now in the uk? Any thoughts please...

Good morning all, Hope this is in the correct place and someone can give me some advice, or confirm I am doing the correct thing. On 22nd October 2012 a Yodel driver attempted delivery of a parcel (not for us but for a previous tenant) to our address. We were not home. He forced the item through the letterbox. In doing so he must have caught the item on the letterbox guard on the inside of the door and ripped it off. When it ripped of it splintered the inside of the door. As we live in a small block of flats the door is fire resistant. Once I got home and discovered the damage I immediately called Yodel. They told me to send an email, which I did that night. I called our Housing association and informed them of the damage. The HA rang me back the next day to tell me they had spoken to the people who made and fitted the door, and they told me the door could not be repaired as it was a fire door and as such and repair would invalidate the 'warranty' on the fire resistance. I then emailed Yodel again to explain this. I was told the complaint had been sent over to the depot manager to investigate. During the course of the next 6 weeks I kept emailing them every 2 weeks to ask for an update, to be told each time that they were still waiting for an answer from the depot manager. On 3rd December I was asked to provide me telephone number so the depot manager could visit the property to see the damage. I provided this straight away. I was told on 4th December that it was passed on to the depot manager and he would contact me to arrange a suitable time to visit. I emailed them again on 20th December to say no contact had been made by the depot manager, to again have an email come back saying it would be done that week. On January 14th Yodel emailed me to say they were sorry for the damage caused to my property and that corrective action against the delivery driver had been taken. They asked me for 2 letter headed estimates for the repairs to be sent to them at a postal address. I had 2 local companies round to give me the estimates and sent them off recorded delivery on February 2nd. They were signed for on February 4th. I chased Yodel up again via email at the beginning of this week as, again, I have heard nothing from them. I recieved an email Tuesday saying they had not received my estimates. I provided the tacking number and suggested they look for them as they had received them and had signed for them. Wednesday 20th I had an email stating they could not find them and could I send them again, this time via email, which I again did. Phew, if you are still reading this, well done! Today I get an email from them stating that they are currently dealing with the claim and that the depot manager would contact me to arrange to visit my property to inspect the damage caused! The visit they were going to do 5 months ago nearly. To be honest I am getting fed up, they seem to have no intention of resolving the issue, and I seem to just be going round in circles. I have already asked them to provide me with their registered head office details in case I wish to take this to court, they refused. I have looked it up online and found that they are Home Deliver Network etc. Can I now just take this through MCOL? I feel I am just wasting my time speaking to them. They have admitted fault in writing, asked for quotes to compensate me in writing and now we seem to be back at square one. Thanks for taking time to read all that, I would appreciate anyone's advice.

I am one of 26 freeholder properties among 44! The other 18 are lease holders. The company that owns the lease hold "Landmark Investments" aquired the leasehold from the original builder approx 12 months ago. My story is: that we have been at this development for 8 years and have had no issues with the previous management services company until RMG were apointed by Landmark Investments at the same time of their owenrship of the leasehold land. All of us have to contribute 1/44th of the cost approx £200 ea per annum, however the management company now says that they are working on behalf of the leaseholder only and that any services that we had as a freeholder will no longer continue! The result is that open grass areas are now partly cut, or leaves are partly removed (only in front of leaseholder homes, brick walls & railings that were kept clean & painted are not in front of free holders properties, but lease holders are! Selective work is now being carried out on behalf of the lease holder, although we as free holders are still expected to contribute to the cost! Those of us who have decided enough is enough and have not paid , have been charged another £400 on top for late payment! Does anybody have experience of these issues, or could they advise a good legal company with expertise in these problems. RMG use bully boy tactics to get their money, but will not compromise in anyway!

Hello, I am desperate to find some help with an issue that started by a car I had on a personal lease being stolen. The Insurance company refused to pay and then RCI FINANCIAL l in conjunction with MATTHEW, ARNOLD AND BALDWYN SOLICITORS somehow managed to get a CCJ against me. The next I heard was that I had to go to court for them to make an order on our property for £1700 which they claim that I owed. This was made up of repossession charges (Car found by police) and also storage charges plus the outstanding payments up to the end of the lease. I attended court and was told I could have applied to have this set aside - I would have tried this had I known because the solicitor never wrote to me until I had to attend the court for the property order. I write a letter explaining I was on a Debt management programme and had been for some years but the court just treated me as a formality and granted the order on my property which is also owned by my wife. This happened in MAY 2012 and charges of £250 were added to the debt. I was told by the solicitor in court that as long as RCI know they have the order on our property they will not pursue this matter or can they force us to sell our home. We have 4 children under the age of 11 so we need to protect them but this is a real struggle - we barely manage to feed them and ourselves and often do not heat the house as we cannot afford both. We think we had been mislead by the solicitor in as much as they have the property order they will get their money if and when we sell the house, this is because we showed them we could not afford to pay anything. Now I have received an attachment of earnings order which to me seems sheer bloody spiteful and all I know what I can do is ask here for some advise and to also make the debt management plan CCCS aware. They have also added another £100 to the debt. If they are allowed to take money from my wages our home and and the other debts will not be possible to pay and I will be out of a job and we will be homeless.. I just feel so desperate that I am prepared to tell them to send me to prison and the solicitor has again not written to us and proceeded straight to another court action. I would be ever so grateful for any advice please.

I moved into my current flat in April 2012 on an initial 6 month short assured tenancy. When this came to an end in October I then signed a new lease for a year. About 2 weeks before signing this the letting agent carried out a check on the flat whilst showing a surveyor round at the same time. His words were "It's just for an update on the state of the flat, the landlord isn't going to be selling any time soon" Then at the start of this month I received an email from the letting agent informing me that the landlord has put the property up for sale and once sold they would give me two months notice to move out (unless bought by another investment landlord then things wouldn't change) I have checked with Shelter who have told me that no matter what happens, I don't have to move out until the end of my current lease in October, even if the flat sold tomorrow and a normal family wanted to move in, they would have to wait until October. Anyway, the advice I'm asking for is, since this happened I have applied to about 6-7 housing associations, many of whom have given me extra points for being close to homelessness (as I have 3 young children) So if I was to be offered a property before this one sold, where do I stand in trying to end the tenancy early? Also, since I moved in I have had permission from the landlord to do all sorts to the property (dig up stones in garden and lay grass, replace the mouldy blinds with brand new ones, re-paint the chipped front door, re-paint internal doors, paint and decorate rooms) As I was told that this property would likely be mine for quite a long while, is there any way to get some sort of compensation for making the property look far better than it did when I moved in. Feel like the landlord was just saying yes to everything now as it would help them when they wanted to sell.

Good Evening All I have a property with an ex boyfriend. We split over 4 years ago, for 3-4 years I have never paid anything towards the property, his also been letting out the property, which I again have never had anything to do with it, I've never signed any paper work either. Now he wants to sell the property, however its in negative equity & there is a loan which was taken out with the 100% mortgage, so if he sells I shall be left with a lovely debt yet again. What I'm trying to find out, is there anyway I can sort this out as I've had nothing to do with the propery for a few years now. Thanks in advance & any information provided is most appreciated.

Hi there, I'm new to this forum and hope somebody can help me. I purchased a leasehold flat in September last year (2012). The company managing the building alleges that they sent their first service charge bill (for period Jan-Jun 2013) on 1 January and then a reminder on 16 January. I am sure that no bill arrived until 5 January because I was redecorating the flat and I checked the post daily in person. After 6 January, tenants moved in and they tell me they forwarded all correspondence to me (no service charge bill was forwarded to me). Among the correspondence forwarded to me by the tenant was a letter from the administrators' solicitor dated 5Feb2013, stating that I am in arrears with service charge for the period 1Jan-30Jun 2013, and that I now must pay an extra £183 (on top of service charges) and that they will take me to court if I don't pay by 19 February. I spoke to their solicitor (who signed the letter) that there was no question about payment (of course I'll pay and promptly). However, I am appalled that they wrote such threatening letter, even though I am sure the bill dated 1 January was not delivered (because I checked the post myself) and I am pretty sure the tenants did not receive the reminder either, for they would have forwarded to me as they forwarded other post. Incidentally, in previous correspondence (last year) with the administrator I had provided him with my main (permanent) address for correspondence, telephone number and email address. Even more appalling in my view is that they are charging an extra £183 (on top of the normal service charge) for "administration and legal" costs (i.e. their solicitor's letter). Please can someone advise me if I am being treated fairly? I feel that if only they had tried to contact me directly by phone or email this would never have happened, as all other bills that arrived in the flat (or were sent to me directly) were paid promptly and I have never been in arrears with any service before. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Since I am dealing with their solicitor I feel the whole thing is terribly heavy-handed and full of jargon. Also, even though I could have paid this last month (if I had received the bill), it would seem that there has hardly been any delay (effectively) since the services are for the period January-June 2013, of which period only one-sixth has passed. Is there an ombudsman that could help me deal with such aggressive tactics and surcharges from property management companies? Thanks in advance.