In a former business as a director I guaranteed the lease for the business, as did the other directors. I have not been involved with the business for a good number of years. Due to various reasons the business owner has accumulated delinquent rent and the way the lease is set out means all guarantors are jointly liable for the outstanding rent + the rent for the remaining period of the lease. We cannot terminate the lease without the landlord agreeing, and in this economy she will unlikely agree to. In addition, my fellow guarantors: the business owner has already transferred his assets a few years back preemptively; the other former-director actually had his wife as a guarantor, where he may likely control most of the family assets. I currently co-own a property (fully paid), and potentially even with my share in selling the property I cannot pay the outstanding rent + rent thereafter. A schedule of inhibition has been placed on all THREE guarantors. Presuming the other two guarantors default and have nothing. Is it even worthwhile retaining legal advice from expensive sources(small firms do not want to touch this)? And should I advise the person whom I co-own property with to take action protect her interests. She has a mortgage on another property, the sale of our property would more than cover her mortgage with her half. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

By law, the local authority must give you 14 days written notice that they have obtained the Liability Order and that it will be sent to their relevant bailiff company for enforcement. Therefore, it is vital that you try to stop this process if you are unable to pay. Does this apply to NDR also ?

HMRC are claiming £350.00 underpayment for the tax year 2009/10. The problem arose because I had two jobs: a daytime job, which was my main source of income, and an evening and weekend job which was the second source. It seems that the second employer failed to inform HMRC and claimed the full allowances for me for that year. My employer was certainly aware of my other job as it imposed restrictions on my availability, and I'm sure I completed the relevant paperwork. I have no job at present and am not in receipt of any benefits, so have no income of any kind, nor any reserves. My wife will ahve to pay and we are finding thinks thin enough as it is Am I liable for the underpayment, or, if so, can I request that the sum is added to my tax bill when I do find work?

Hi there - i took out a public liability & general construction insurance policy last November for me as I was self employed and have been paying monthly eversince but I recently took a full time job. I now no longer need the insurance. I have emailed the broker about 5 times and asked them if it is possible for me to cancel the policy and if there was a cancellation charge but i still have no reply. The policy was financed by 'PRemium Credit'. Im quite happy to pay for the policy if this is what i need to do I am not trying to get out of it in any way but i have read through the contract and it does not mention anything about cancellation and Im just wondering if legally I should be able to pay a cancellation fee and end the contract early, or do I just have to see it through to the end of the contract. Thank you for any advice here Cheers!

I went Bankrupt in 2009 later that year chandlers arrived at our doorstep asking for monies cause they say my liability has been loaded onto my wife she agreed to pay it monthly but it has cheesed me off as i thought it would be wiped by my BR. However on the Liability Order that was issued her name was interpreted incorrectly (christian). I had a meeting with the council cause it appears that her name has changed over the years sometimes her name was spelt correctly and on other bills not. Surely as the order was in the wrong name they were wrong to demand money on that agreement? had we have left that and allowed it to proceed to court it would have been thrown out? unfortunately the total has almost been paid now but im asking for repayment due to their error?? Advice please!! Thanks

As my previous thread, I had a fairly minor accident a few weeks back. I was on a roundabout, another car joined the roundabout. He failed to give way to the right, I braked but because the road was slippery & wet I crashed into the side of him. His insurers are claiming I changed lanes, I do not dispute this, I had to change lanes as I was leaving the roundabout. However if the other driver had obeyed the give way road markings and given way to vehicles on the roundabout this would not have been an issue. My insurers are saying its the other party at fault the other party are blaming me. I have now been in a hire car for a number of weeks and am getting seriously annoyed at the length of time this is taking. Can I do anything to speed things up? Twice weekly phone calls do not seem to do anything

Hi, I was hit my another driver on the 29th of may whilst driving into my local town. I was in the right hand lane of a dual-carriage flyover (a 2 lane part of the A46 which crosses a bridge in between 2 roundabouts). I was minding my own business when a lady drove straight into the side of me - she had decided she wanted to come into the right hand lane, and rather than signal and look, she just moved across and hit me as I was side by side with her. She admitted liability - both to me in person, and also to her insurance company whilst on the phone to them in my presence (I was literally within 2 feet of her). So, since she drove into me, and admitted fault, I believed this was a done deal. Since then, my OWN insurance company have said that I will most likely be told to pay my excess as the blame will be split 50/50. I argued this on the phone with them, and I wanted to know how was I in any way to blame. They told me that because this woman left her lane and drove into mine when we were side by side, this is automatically a disputed claim and the insurance company would decide who to blame, and that it would most likely be both of us. Obviously, I am absolutely furious about this. I don't understand how my insurance co (RAC/ u.w AVIVA) can speak with her insurance co and decide that it is 50/50 when this lady has driven over into my lane and smashed up my car. I have sent evidence of the damage to both vehicles which backs up what happened (its obvious to anyone who sees the photos of my damage and the area on her car which did the damage). I also had a passenger who I don't reallly know too well, they have spoken with him and he also confirms what happened. Even the lady who hit me confirmed my version of events. I don't know why I should pay out £500 excess that I cannot claim back, and also lose my 7 years no claims when I was innocent in this accident and was driven into by another person. The insurance companies seem to have already made up their minds on this one, the 3rd party has contacted me and confirmed her insurance co are also saying it is 50/50, but it truly wasn't. PLEASE HELP! I don't know how to fight this. So I need help! Thanks. Scott.

I'm currently in dispute with a previous insurer who voided my car insurance policy after an accident and am wondering how to proceed without their representation. The accident happened when my car was driven into whilst stationary at a busy junction - I was unable to stop a witness and the driver of the other vehicle has refused to accept liability. The driver's employers are represented by an accident management company who I have been corresponding with. They have details of the accident (I explained that I strongly refute their client's version of events and would be accepting no responsibility), together with a written estimate for repairs to my car. An assessor has inspected the damage to my car (which is still not repaired after five months) on their behalf. The accident management company are still maintaining that their client is disputing any liability. The client's vehicles are fitted with video cameras which should show clearly that my vehicle was stationary at the time of the accident, but I have been told that footage is not available for the date of the accident (they were unable to explain why). Should I be instructing a solicitor to take the vehicle operating company to court? Are any other options available to me?

Hi Peter I realise that this is quite an old post, but I have recently received the very same letter from screw fix solicitors with the same guarantee wording signed by me. Could you let me know how you got on with your defence as I am about to reply using the wording given in reply to your post. Many thanks Nick

Hi all, I’ve been following some of the threads on this forum and was just hoping to get a bit of advice on my particular situation! I hope I've posted this in the right forum, it seemed most applicable. Essentially, my car was parked in my work car park when it was hit by a 3rd –party. They caused significant damage but left without leaving a note. There were, as of yet, no witnesses. With regards to the car park, it is provided for staff only (and signposted as such) and run by a private parking company. We pay a monthly and daily fee for the use of the car park and it is supposed to be barrier controlled – this, however, broke some time ago, and actually lies by the side of the road, so the public do have free access to it (and it is, to all intents and purposes, open access). Due to the position of the car park, members of the public do enter it on occasion to turn their cars around. There is CCTV covering the car park, but so far no one at my work place (Security, the Private Parking Company, Facilities and Estates) is actually owning up to having access to the footage! I’m working on tracing this at the moment. There are also the usual signs up disclaiming responsibility for any events that take place within the car park. My questions relate to liability here: -I would hope to be able to identify the ‘perpetrator’ here through the CCTV footage (if I ever get it), but is this a civil or criminal issue? Does it make a difference as to whether the ‘perp’ was a member of the public or a fellow employee? -Does the PPC or my employer bear any responsibility for this given the barrier has been in a state of disrepair for some time now? Presumably this is only an issue if a member of the public caused the damage? -If I am unable to trace the CCTV footage, is there an employer liability issue here (given that there are several cameras covering the area, but no one is owning up to having access)? -I’m not sure how long they keep the footage for, but given that it’s already taken 2 days to get this far, if the footage gets erased before I get to it, is there another liability issue here? Sorry if these questions are elementary but many thanks in advance for your help! Cheers and Merry Chrimbo to all! P

Hi everyone at CAG, I found some great advice on this site already and now I am at a point to ask my first question(s). We had a leak in our kitchen sink which caused some (possibly minor) damage to our and the downstairs flat. It was a very unfortunate coincidence: The tap was dripping slightly and filled up a bowl in the sink in the course of several days (we were out for the extended weekend). But instead of overflowing into the sink and through the (unblocked) outlet, it was absorbed by a cloth which was hanging halfway into the bowl, and which transported the water straight on to the worktop, causing the leak. We had previously addressed the dripping tap with the agency, and we received a confirmation email about 2 weeks prior to the incident saying that the tap needs to be replaced and that they would send someone the "following week", but this did not happen before the incident. Now for my questions: * does anyone know, or can take a best guess, what the situation is in terms of liability? The various facts that the tap was dripping, that the cloth bypassed the outlet, and that the tap has not been repaired, confuse me. * does anyone know the "normal" procedure which applies to resolve the situation? Who will contact whom from the parties involved? (tenants, LLs, insurances, ...) * we hardly receive any information on what is happening right know - all I know is that the porter, who helped opening our flat in our absence, was asked by some party to comment on what he saw, and that someone will enter the flat to "evaluate the damage" (although I don't know if this is just for the downstairs flat, or ours, or both) Apologies for the slightly lengthy post, any comments on this would be appreciated. Thanks

We had a pipe leak insurance company contacted their loss adjustors who contacted a restoration comany. Restoration company installed drying out equipment. The lead and RCD the restoration company provided caught fire and set fire to the room the equipment was in. Managed to get a picture bit blurred but proves the point. Fire brigade also said it was the cause. Who is liable our electrics check out okay? Many thanks in advance.

I was wondering if anybody could help me regarding council tax debt that has been handed over to Rossendales . The original debt is for £216, which i despute as I moved out of the property a month early but cant prove where i moved to as I ended up staying in squatted property. I realise this is kind of my fault and Im going to have to pay. I have not been able to pay due to having difficulty finding employment. I reached an agreement for the council to take money out of my benefit - but they failed to tell me that it would take them some months to process and by the time they had sorted out taking money from my benefit I had gone back into full time education in the hope of increasing my chances of getting a job. The first thing I knew about the failed payments was when I got a letter from Rossendales demanding money from me. I have contacted the council I owe money to but they are unwilling to help what so ever, even though I have no savings, no income apart from my student loan and I don't even have a fixed address! Rossendales have visited my fathers house once in person that I know about, and dropped off a liability letter asking me to pay in full in 24 hours, but they failed to write down how much I owe them. I phoned their head office and the bailiff in charge of my account and have written to the head office asking for a breakdown of all charges I have incurred through them, which they refuse to give me until I pay the account! All they will tell me is that I owe over £450! Debtline has assured me that they can only charge me just over £44 for two visits so if thats true Rossendales are over charging me by around £190?? Can anybody tell me exactly how much they can legally charge me? I have written a complaint to the council, Rossendales and the enforcement services association due to the fact that they refuse to give me a breakdown of my account. Would the best option be just to pay the council direct? If i did this would I still be liable to these ridiculous charges from Rossendales? They havnt been into my fathers house and never will get in, I own nothing of value apart from a laptop and speakers which are vital to my university course and I have never made a refusal to pay my debt, in fact I have been actively trying to pay the debt off. I can afford to pay the council the £216 next month (which will leave me short of money to live on but I just want this over with now) Can anybody offer me some advice on what to do. Thank you very much

Hi all, Can I just run the following past the experts here regarding whether or not it is possible to claim on my neighbour insurance... Two days ago, a tree on the local farmers land fell across a stream and road before falling onto my wife's car. Damage is relatively minor but the front windscreen is smashed and the bonnet will need replacing. My understanding is that this is normal covered under an "act of god" such that it will be necessary to claim from my wife's car insurance. However, there is additional facts which may enable us to claim of his insurance. First, the tree was obviously dead and in poor condition. Secondly, this isn't the first tree to fall - it is the third tree in six months to fall down. Thirdly, a few years ago I had a verbal conversation with him stating that I thought that the trees were unsafe and something needed to be done about them - unfortunately I don't remember the exact details of what was said. Finally, my neighbour (who received the unwanted attentions of the first two trees) also verbally stated that additional trees were in a poor condition and something needed to be done about them. Would these additional facts give us a good case to claim off the farmers insurance? If so, how difficult is it to do and is it worth it? The downside of going down this route is that we have good relations with the farmer in question at the moment and don't want to lose this if possible for a relatively small loss. It would have been nice for him to knock on the door or leave a note though - we have had nothing. Thanks for any comments.

Hello all, I was hit by another driver a few months ago. At first he admitted liability (both to me in person and to my boyfriend over the phone) and offered to pay for the repairs (new plastic bumper). When we discovered that the front wing was bent and the cost jumped from £50ish to £400+ he changed his tune so I had to put a claim in to my insurance company. They put me in touch with their preferred garage who wanted me to sort the details out with the insurance company before carrying out the work (the damage doesnt affect driving, just cosmetic). I have submitted drawings, photos, a map of the incident and contact details for a witness who agrees that the other driver was 100% at fault. The other driver has said he thinks its not his fault but he will not provide any drawings, evidence or even an explaination, now he is refusing to answer calls from the insurance company full stop. My insurance company (Swiftcover) have been rubbish at answering my questions throughout the process. When pressed about the status of the claim they say there is nothing they can do as I have not suffered any financial loss (by paying for the repairs myself) so they will not take any further action to settle the claim, they wont even tell me how often they have tried to contact him. In short I'm stuck - the garage would rather I get the liability sorted so the insurance company pay them direct but Swiftcover wont resolve the liability issue unless I stump up the money. That means the other driver has been allowed to get away with causing £400 worth of damage to my car by not answering any calls from his insurance company! It would be a real struggle for me to pay the whole lot up front, especially with no guarantee for when I could get it back. This is the first time I have ever had to claim on my insurance so I dont really know what I should be doing. Sorry to ramble, what I want to know is - are Swiftcover correct in saying they dont have to do anything unless I pay for the repair or is there further action I should be pushing them to take to get the claim resolved? Thanks all