Hi there, I recently finished a 2 year tenancy in a student house with 5 others. I'll answer the questions named in the sticky thread then I'll get into the issues: • Whether the tenancy was granted verbally or in writing. writing • If it was granted in writing, state the date on which the tenancy began, and the length of the initial term if any. 1st August 2010, 12 months - Then extended another 12 months to end 1st august 2012 • State the amount of the original rent and how often the rent is payable (e.g. per week, per calendar month, per quarter, etc). 6 people £75pppw Or £325pp every 4 weeks. Paid seperately by each tenant every 4 weeks. • If the tenancy has ended, state how it was ended (e.g. notice by the landlord, notice by the tenant, agreement of both parties, etc), and state the date on which the tenant moved out. Ended 1st August 2012 (agreed end date). Tenants moved out around June, but were back for graduation etc, and I wanted to enter the house near the end of july. as an inventory taken, and signed by the tenant? I rmemeber an inventory being taken in the first year, another inventory was not taken after the first 12 month tenancy had run out. - How much deposit was taken, and do you have details of the tenancy deposit scheme(if any) it is held in? £325 per person so £1950. Do not have any details of depopsit scheme, we dont seem to have been given any information regarding this. - In the tenancy agreement, how is the deposit held if held by agent - stakeholder or landlords agent? Don't know, landlord presumably as we have not used a letting agent. Firstly, the landlord has not mentioned giving the deposit back at all as of yet. The house could have done with a bit of a spring clean but we did make an attempt to tidy and clean the house. The landlord spoke to one of the other tenants on the phone a few weeks ago and said he was "shocked" by the state the property had been left in. He also mentioned damages but did not go into where these damages were or what they were. He has not given us any information stating that the deposit is in any scheme, and as we did not use a letting agent and went directly through him I have a feeling he may not have registered it. What is the procedure with this? As Ive seen if it is registered that is how you can query deductions to the deposit. Unfortunately we do not have any photos of the property after we moved out (everyone moved different days, people were going up and down for graduations etc and it was forgotten). Secondly I left our Television locked in my bedroom, and the landlord was told of this. I also left the television remotes and another tenants ipod (i found it while cleaning and knew he would be returning before the end of the tenancy). I wished to go up on sunday July 22nd (house was empty at this point), but was informed by another of the tenants who had been on the phone to him that the landlord was on holiday, and he had already changed the locks. Do we have a right to claim rent back as I had no access to a house I was still officially a tenant of? Finally, the landlord got back from holiday and I went to move the television into the new house (I'm doing a course which lasts longer than 3 years unlike the other 5 tenants). This was on Saturday August 4th, I ran the landlord beforehand and due to him being at the olympics he stated someone doing work on the house would let me in. The man painting the house (Do we have to pay for repainting? over 2 years I'd presume that a mark or two on the walls would be counted as reasonable wear and tear) stated that he and the cleaners had been in 'most of the week' and when i went into the living room it was an absolute state, so the cleaners definately had at least another day of cleaning due to the mess theyd made in there. Anyway, I went up to my bedroom, which had been unlocked. If the room had been cleaned it had only been hoovered again. The TV was still there (42", so pretty hard to get rid of with noone seeing), but the ipod and the tv remotes were not. I rang the landlord and he said thered been so many people in and out of the house over the past week that he wasnt confident it would be found, I stated in no uncertain terms it was left in my locked room (in a locked house) for safety and that is the reason it was in there. In fact it was so secure when the owner of the ipod went up for graduation he couldn't get it because I couldn't get my keys to him in time. The landlord mumbled something about ringing the cleaners up, and then asked if we had contents insurance on the house. The only reason i didn't get the items from my room during the tenancy was because the landlord changed the locks and I was away/working most days so only had a set few dates I could do. Is there any chance the landlord could be seen as being liable for the missing items? (Obviously the ipod is the most vbaluable, but the tv remotes were with it). And thats everything I can think of at the moment, we have not had any contact to or from the landlord since then. I read deposits are usually paid back within 10 days of the end of the tenancy so thought I would leave it until then to see if anything was mentioned. Sorry the rambling style of this thread, I just tried to get everything down I could think of. In summary; landlord changed the locks 2 weeks before the tenancy ended, unable to access the property so can we claim rent back? Landlord unlocked and left a locked door open, meaning an ipod has gone 'missing' is he liable? We do not have any information on the deposit scheme used and the landlord has not mentioned returning any of the deposit to any of the tenants. While accept some spring cleaning will have had to be done, all the halls and rooms were hoovered, bedrooms, kitchen and bathrooms surfaces were clean. I do not understand how the landlord could even try to justify spending almost £2000 to repair a property which was well looked after, fairly clean and had never even had a house party! Thanks For your help, John

*SOLVED* Hi please could you offer any advice or direction. yesterday i received a letter (click for large) asking for outstanding arrears on my student loan. This has never happened before since i've always been able to defer and this time i had it deferred a number of years..i have a Debt Relief Order in place since last year and am on Long term Incapacity benefit..needless to say this is something i don't need.. Although its been passed to a DCA,is it worth contacting the student loans company and clarifying my position? thanks for any help you can offer.

hi! When I started my degree I was single mum with one child. I received full financial help. After time I started live together with my partner and I become pregnant with my second baby. As full time student I cannot get any housing benefit- they said it is because I am not single anymore, even I have one 5y old baby and second on the way. Also I cannot claim Income support- because this type of benefit is only for single parents. I cannot get Job seekers allowance because I am student. I cannot get ESA, they said if I can study that mean I can also work. MY Child tax credit is in process for last 3 month. My husband is working- so he is paying £500 rent+ £140 council tax, + rest bills, car insurance and everything else and we cannot survive. We are in so bad situation, that WE Cannot afford to be together, bec when I was single at least I got some help... After baby I think I will go back to work, but anyway we need help at least for next 3 month... SO what you could advise? Thank you Bolton council said that It was MY DECISION TO MAKE RELATIONSHIPS ;(

Hey guys, I'm in a bit of a predicament, around 2 years ago to this date I was a student at a certain university, now at this university I didn't pay off my final accommodation fee off around £580 this was because I was entitled to a £1000 bursary from the University they I never received and was therefore unable to pay it off. Fast forward a couple of months and they are sending me letters saying pay up but honestly I had no money and of course I'm a dumb kid so I ignored it. Eventually around 2 years later (today) I receive a letter from county court saying that I now owe £757 because of court fees and interest, what happens if I ignore this? I'm not even living at the address where the letter was sent I just got a phone call by the occupants who then forwarded it to me. What are my options guys?

Hello, I believe that you deal with such cases on this message board quite frequently, but I have some questions and I would welcome the opinions of local experienced folk. I am registered as a full-time university student (sorry for my English in advance, I am foreign) just finishing my masters programme, I did undertake a full-time undergraduate degree here in the UK in the past as well. I was in a full-time employment during these periods, I used to work on nights and I was studying on days. I got charged by Lloyds TSB plenty of times, as I was paying my university fees out of my own pocket, except one year and I am still every month in deep overdraft (2000GBP) on my Platinum Account (I have it just to have this overdraft option with lower interest), plus both my credit cards are permanently empty. I am pretty sure that once I am done with paying my university fees (which happened quite recently), I can get out of the debt very quickly. Today, I was charged once again this time it was 70 pounds for unplanned overdraft and another 40 or so for the returned DDs. Now this happened in the past as well, even during my 9-month long unemployment period LLoyds kept charging me all the crazy fees and as far as I am counting, I payed probably 1500 on unplanned overdraft fees and returned DDs fees. This often happened just because the bank charged me its own fees and because of them I got into unplanned OD, one month later I was eventually charged for this one as well. As I am a self-employed person right now, but still in a full-time education (I should graduate in December), are there any chances I could be successful in claiming back my money? I do have an income, which is much higher than the minimum wage, but I am still in continuous debt, as I had to pay my university charges and accommodation fees regularly. The last question is rather hypothetical - I am planning to remain in a self-employment status and maybe in the future I may try to ask either for a mortgage or high-amount loan, will that influence my relationship with the bank and will the other banks know if I will try to claim back the charges back? Is there no "blacklist" of customer who did that and they will have it difficult to ask for a loan of a mortgage? I will welcome any kind of advice. Thanks.

I was a full time student 2002-7 with no part time job. During this time I had store cards with Topshop, River Island, Debenhams (GE Capital) and USC (Both Duet and Creation Financial Services are on the statements) and paid account cover on them all. All of the accounts are now closed, most from 2007. On review of one of my USC statements, there was a small note on one of the statements that the 'Creation Premium' was going to increase from 99p to £1.50 per £100 of the outstanding balance. I was always under the impression that the account cover was compulsory, and as I thought, even more so because I was a student not working so maybe a bit more likely to face difficulty with payments. I can't really remember the exact wording or sales pitch that was used but I have my impression of what I thought that it was for. The recent hype about PPI made me relook at it. On reading the Account Cover Leaflets, it says that to be eligible for the cover, I must not have been aware of any impending unemployment. I was not employed at the time and was not expecting to be employed until after finishing my degree. I am thinking about claiming for mis-sold PPI. I have a few questions: 1) I'd read somewhere about GE Money being bought over. Is this true? And if so, where should I direct my claim? 2) I have all of the statements and Account Cover leaflets but cannot find the initial agreement that I would have signed in the shop. Do I need this to make a claim? 3) Do I need to send copies of all the statements when making a claim? 4) Do I need to add up the amount of PPI that was charged on each account? 5) Is the increase in the Premium during the time of implementation of the cover need to be addressed/mentioned in the claim? Is it an issue? 6) Are there any buzz words / phrases that I need to use? Your help is greatly appreciated, thanks

Hi All, loads of good information on this site but i couldn't find anything quite like my situation and i would like some advise please. I started Uni in Sept. 94 and was due to complete in 98 a 4 year sandwich degree (i actually completed the sandwich year and returned to Uni for the start of the last year but i don't think i had a loan for that year), i had a change of circumstances at the start of 98 and left the country (suddenly) without completing the course or even notifying anybody of the fact that i had left with no intentions of returning. I had taken out loans for those years that i attended, grants as they were back then, i don't actually remember anything about them, amounts or any detail, i was married with two young babies at the time and needed the money just to keep going, anyway, i ended up leaving the country and have never returned back to the UK since. Anyway to cut a long story short, i don't know if i even got any qualification out of it nor was i knowledgeable about repaying my debts, i always thought i would have the time to do this later but never did. I am still living out of the country and never returned but i always had this nagging guilt about repaying this and wondering if i actually did get any qualification out of it, so i would like to find out about that and to repay my debts. I worry about calling the University and giving any information that could allow them to track me down to start any legal proceedings but i still want to repay but under my own terms, any advise here for me?

around 2-3 years ago I had a Barclays student account with the usual £1000 overdraft limit etc. One day I withdrew some money I had been saving in paypal into my account and decided to go to the bank to withdraw some to pay some bills (it was £2000 that went in). I'd lost my pin a while ago, so I took along my passport and card, told the lady at the counter that I did not have my pin, and they said ID would be fine so i showed my passport, and she had the cheek to say it wasn't me in the picture (it was a few years old but still valid!). And then she said the DOB didnt match and neither did my mothers maiden name or address (and she checked the account number and sort code 3 times, it was my card with my name on it)! I was fuming and you can imagine when you have £2000 that you saved and then a bank that says the account doesnt belong to you. I actually started shouting at the lady and then the manager came, he said the same thing and that I had to leave or they would call the police, I said call the police, I am exactly who I say I am, please call them. Eventually I just walked out very annoyed, I went home and went through all my room to find my pin they had sent me, and luckily I found it, I withdrew every penny from the account and never bothered with it. 8 Months later I get a call from barclays saying my account has been closed because I have not used it, I explained what had happened but the person on the phone did not care, and this time mysteriously they had my correct DOB and address! they said I had to pay the overdraft back immediately or I would get a default, I was not working at the time so I told them I could not afford to pay, they said I would get a default and I had to pay a minimum of £150 a month! i managed to pay 2 months worth and after that I was broke, I got a default put on my credit file! Is there any way I could have this removed? I was almost clear from all defaults until this happened (I had ones from when I was 18, around 5-6 years ago which should be going soon). Anybody had any experience trying to get these sort of default's overturned? Any help would be greatly appreciated

The situation started in February, I was re-sitting university and I signed a contract for a 4 bedroom house with three of my at the time housemates. They sent us guarantor forms to send to our parents and return to the office, I did this but they did not receive them and did not bother telling me this until I rang them this month. I feel that at the time signing the contract was forced, and that if i hadn't signed for the house and I had passed the year, I would have been without a house and pretty much homeless. I found out I failed this year and can not proceed onto next year so I am having to move back home. Due to the fact I can no longer claim student finance I can not afford to pay for the house in no way shape or form and as I have no guarantor they have threatened me with CCJ's. The letting agency has also said that because it is a joint tenancy the rent that I cannot pay will have to be made up by the other three tenants before anyone can move in (move in date 1st July) which understandable places immense pressure on myself. I have worked tirelessly for the past three days (since i found out i had failed) to find a replacement tenant, but there is only so much i can do. Because of my situation nobody is willing to be my guarantor, so even if i could afford to pay the rent (which i 1000% cant) I wouldn't even be able to move in because of the absent guarantor! I am really struggling here, I cannot pay for the rent, there is no guarantor to cover my liability, the letting agent isn't budging on this and have threatened me with CCJ's and I've hit a massive low. The term trying to get blood out of a stone plays it's part here, not only am i having to deal with the life changing results from university, i have to deal with this. I just want to cut all ties with this place and move back home, I'm only 19! My questions are, Is there any way out of this? What is the worst that can happen to me as i'm unable to pay? Why is nothing bloody simple? Thanks I appreciate any help

Hi I hope someone can help, Im being hounded by LF on the telephone (havnt answered any calls yet) I took out a student loan in 1997 and for each year after that until 2000. Im pretty sure the laon is SB but my worry is this: When I first took the loan in 1997 it was for a 2 year HND course which gainned me entry onto the 2nd year of a degree course at a different uni. Im worried that only the first 2 years of my student loan is SB and not the final 2 years?. I still received a grant until 2000 which makes me think the 4 years of loans were all concurrent and old style? Sorry if I havnt explained things very well, Im 12 weeks pregnant and have serious baby brain.

I saw this and wondered if it was worth posting...? http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/7085423/Expats-cough-up-student-loan-repayments

Hello, I am new to this forum and this is my first post. So Hello Everyone! I am a student and I have been living in a 1 bedroom flat for a year and a half. I am now moving out but my landlord wants proofs that I paid all the required bills before releasing my deposit. I have the electricity,gas,internet and water bill receipts. Since I am a full time university student, I have not been paying the council tax and did not inform the council I was living there. I never received a letter from the council requesting tax payments during this period. Is it too late to inform the council that I have been living there? Will I be penalised for not informing them although I am exempt from paying the council tax? Thank you Vinni

I'm currently in my second year of study at the university of winchester and unfortunately due to failing a double module. I am having to resit my double module on a part time basis. I have recently (well in the past month of two) found out that students who repeat a module and who plan to return to full time study are exempt from council tax. now when I went to the council tax office regarding the issue they state that a part time student is someone who does under 12 hours of study and that's there legistation on the matter. So I have also gone to my finance department at the university of winchester and it looks like there saying the same thing on the matter. Even though I have shown the both this letter and no one seems prepared to do anything about it which is really unfair when I have proof that I shouldn't be getting charged. Any help would be greatfully recieved. Many Thanks Steve Dear Steve Earl I refer to your email and the student certificate provided. In light of the information provided you do qualify to be disregarded as a full time student for council tax purposes. I have awarded a student exemption and a revised bill for zero will follow shortly. I am sorry for the inconvenience you have been caused, If you have nay further queries then please contact me. Yours sincerely Mrs Lesley Thompson Taxation Officer Winchester City Council Colebrook Street Winchester SO23 9LJ T 01962 848 288 F 01962 841 365 From: counciltax Sent: 19 December 2011 12:30 To: David McConville Subject: FW: Council Tax From: Steven Earl [mailto:revomutharock@gmail.com] Sent: 16 December 2011 18:50 To: counciltax Subject: Council Tax Dear Winchester City Council I'm writing to you regarding the issue of council tax that has affected me. I am a full time student registered on a full time course and I have failed one of my modules. It is because of this that I am being classed as a part time student which doesn't seem to be correct. Firstly repeating modules shouldn't class me as a part time student because I am still enrolled on a full time course. Secondly I bring your attention to this document that I have found online which continues to back up the fact that I am indeed a full time student. A student undertaking a period of part-time repeat study within a full-time course should be regarded as a student for council tax purposes by virtue of the definition of “student” as provided by article 4, paragraph 3 and 4 of Schedule 1 to the Council Tax (Discount Disregards) Order 1992, as amended by the Council Tax (Discount Disregards) Order 1996. Article 4 provides that “student” means a person who is to be regarded as (among other things) a person undertaking a full-time course of education, as according to paragraph 3 and 4 of Schedule 1 to the Order. Paragraph 4 of Schedule 1 to the Council Tax (Discount Disregards) Order 1992 defines full-time study thus: A full time course of education is… one (a) which subsists of at least one academic year of the educational establishments concerned or, in the case of an educational establishment which does not have academic years, for at least one calendar year, (b) which persons undertaking it are normally required by the educational establishment concerned to attend (whether at premises of the establishment or otherwise) for periods of at least 24 weeks in each academic year or calendar year… during which it subsists, and © the nature of which is such that a person undertaking it would normally require to undertake periods of study, tuition or work experience which together amount in each such academic year to an average of 21 hours a week during the periods of attendance mentioned in… (b)… in the year. The argument that the period and length of attendance required (24 weeks and 21 hours) mean that part-time repeaters do not fall into the definition of student is a simplistic reading of the above: the key word in paragraph 4 is ‘normally’. Paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to the above Order (as amended by the subsequent Order of 1996) states that a person is to be regarded as undertaking a full-time course of education on a particular day if: (a) on that day he is enrolled for the purpose of attending such a course with [a university] and (b) the day falls within the period beginning with the day on which he begins the course and ending with the day on which he ceases to undertake it, and a person is to be regarded as ceasing to undertake a course of education for the purpose of this paragraph if he has completed it, abandoned it or is no longer permitted by the educational establishment to attend it. As a part-time repeater you have not completed your course, and nor have you abandoned it or in any way been prevented by the uni from attending, it follows that you are still undertaking a full time course of education. Indeed, the explanatory note to paragraph 3(b) of Schedule 1 (as given in the amended form above) states that “the amendment… enables students to qualify even during a period where they are not attending the course”. Finally, in 1996 the Department of the Environment stated in a Council Tax information letter than in their view, “a period of intercalation will remain within the period of a course... and therefore, provided that the person remains enrolled at the educational establishment, they will continue to fall within the definition of a full-time student." Not only this but it doesn't seem right that Council Tax Benefit sees me as a full time student which doesn't make a lot of sense to me why council tax doesn't see me as a full time student. Being charged council tax and not being able to get any benefit to help pay it hardly seems fair. As well as this I have also been regarded as a full time student by student finance, the job centre which again makes me wonder why the council sees me as a part time student because I'm repeating modules where as these other organisations see me as a full-time student. (P.S I have today handed in a form indicating my full time status and am hoping this resolves the issue) Many Thanks Steve Click here to report this email as spam. This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the addressed individual. The information in this email may be confidential; if you have received it in error, please accept our apologies and notify the sender as soon as possible, and delete it from your system without distributing or copying any information contained within it. Under UK Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation, the contents of this email might have to be disclosed in response to a request. We check emails and attachments for viruses before they are sent, but you are advised to carry out your own virus checks. Winchester City Council cannot accept any responsibility for loss or damage caused by viruses. 15:39 (7 hours ago) to 'revomutharock Dear Steve Earl Re: Full Time Student Status I refer to my email below and apologise for the information previously supplied. My decision has been overturned by my manager for the following reasons: The paragraphs of the legislation referred to are two part - one that they have to be enrolled on a full time course of education and there is no dispute with that and the other is the interpretation of the word “normally”. It is considered that the part time hours you are doing would not full into this category and this is borne out by a VT decision on 13.10.11, which needed to consider hours of study, and says “in relation to undertaking periods of study averaging 21 hours per week, the Panel finds the appellant does not fulfil the statutory requirement and therefore does not fall to be disregarded as a student for the purposes of the discount. The Panel notes that before and after the regulations were amended it remains the case that a person is “normally required” to undertake periods of study etc, that amount to an average of 21 hours per week. In the Panel’s mind, this conveys some sort of mandatory requirement usually applied by the educational establishment in respect of study time.” There is also a High Court case, which dealt with an appeal about the attendance aspect of a course, but in the final summing up says “It is not surprising that Parliament wished to provide that people attending a course should be required to carry out a minimum of weekly study or work. Otherwise, it might be possible for a person to attend a course for many years and thus claim exemption from council tax, while exhibiting very little commitment to the course.” As you are only retaking one module you do not meet the required hours of study. You have the right to appeal this decision and this should be by writing or emailing to the Local Taxes Section,counciltax@winchester.gov.uk, giving your reasons for appeal in the light of this response. Please ensure you clearly head your letter or email to indicate that it is an appeal. If you appeal the Council has 2 months to respond. To anyone interested in my case I received a reply from Winchester City Council in which I cited a valuation tribunal case similar to that of my own. Please quote reference number 56286290/56357216 when contacting this Department. 5 April 2011 Dear Mr Earl Appeal Against Refusal of Council Tax Student Exemption I refer to your letters regarding the above. This matter has been given extensive consideration by the Council Tax Team, including senior managers and consultation has taken place with other authorities. You are applying for this exemption based on the legislation stating that you must be enrolled on a full time course of education and the course normally consists of attendance/study/tuition of a minimum 21 hours per week, 24 weeks of an academic or calendar year. The Council does not dispute that you are enrolled on a full time course. However, from your correspondence you would appear to interpret the other criteria as providing the course normally consists of these hours/weeks, it doesn’t matter how few you actually do. The Council does not take this view, it believes you should have to do this minimum number of hours and weeks to qualify as full time. You have also referred to yourself as an intercalating student, but this is not the case as you do attend university, intercalating students do not. There are, as you have become aware, various Valuation Tribunal decisions in different locations and one Tribunal’s decision is not binding on another. Only a High Court case would fix the decision for all Local Authorities and I am afraid there has never been a relevant case taken to the High Court. The Council therefore abides by it’s original decision that it does not consider you to be a full time student this academic year. Now that your account at May Tree Close has been closed your liability to the Council is as follows: Account 5628629 22 Sparkford Close £657.82 Account 56357216 7 May Tree Close £36.90 I am aware that the anomaly in legislation between Benefits and Council Tax puts you in a difficult position and it may be you have decided to return home because of this. I am happy to hold recovery action on your debts to the Council to give you extended time to pay, as I do not wish to burden you with additional costs, but I do want to put in place a payment plan so that you are making regular payments. You may, however, decide to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal and if the Valuation Tribunal upholds your appeal the Council will, of course, cancel the charges. Your appeal must be in writing and made within 2 months of this letter. I know you have been given this information before, but I am giving the Tribunal details below for your use: Valuation Tribunal 2nd Floor, Black Lion House, 45 Whitechapel Road LONDON E1 1DU Telephone: 0207247 3898 Email: Once you have considered your options please let me know what you intend to do so that I can deal with your account accordingly. Yours sincerely Mrs J Gosling Taxation Team Leader

Hi everyone, Hope you can help, the Co-op are causing me no end of stress and I'm starting to wish I never took my loan out. Today I recieved a default notice which was quite a shock. The thing is, I hadn't recieved any previous requests for payment, but I'm now allegedly two months in arrears? I spoke to them today and after much to-ing and fro-ing, the guy on the other end finally admitted they hadn't sent me any letters. He said it had to go through several managers but he would 'unoffically' start my payment from this month. It was like this was such a big favour to me! Plus I have to call them bach tomorrow to check it's OK. I've just started a very low-paid internship and I don't think I can afford to pay £116 at the end of this month (which is only three days later than was demanded in the default notice). I'm really annoyed with their customer service, and I have a feeling I've gotten a raw deal. I would love some advice, PLEASE!!!!

Last year I and 7 friends rented a house together. We were all students during the term of the tenancy. We had no problems at all until about a week ago, when the landlord got back in touch regarding our deposits. He proposed some very large (frankly ridiculous) deductions. So I began to investigate our rights. (I can go into more detail about these charges if need be, but I thought I should ask about Tenant Deposit Protection Schemes first). I replied to this, asking him which TDP scheme he had used. The landlord informed me he had not used a TDP and was not legally required to do so, as the tenancy value was above £25,000. However, on the directgov website it says, "If your tenants are students, you must protect their deposits using a TDP scheme if: they have an assured shorthold tenancy you received their full deposits on or after April 6 2007" I had a copy of the contract sent to me, and it says our contract is an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST). It also says, "You have to pay a deposit . . . and the deposit will be protected in a Governement Deposit Protection Scheme." Does this mean that the landlord was legally obliged to use a TDS because we were all students, even though the tenancy value was above £25,000? If not, he is still clearly in breach of the contract, but I don't know what the implications of this are. Could we take him to court over this to try and get our deposits back? Any help with this would be HUGELY appreciated. Thanks.

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

Good morning all Am sure the questions I am going to ask have already been answered in a thread somewhere but I got lost trying to find the answers so I do apologise. Ok here goes... My ESA has been stopped after I had an 'interview' to see if I was actually in need of esa.. I recieved ZERO points... which I am bemused with. I recieve the higher rate of DLA for mobility due to not being able to walk far, because since a car accident, not my fault, I have suffered with chronic lower back pain and sciatica and am on a cocktail of medications to ease the pain including, MST, Tramadol, Gabapentin, Naproxen and Oramorph. I am also on other meds due to an operation on my gall bladder that they fkd up... Now I used to have a carer paid for by the council to aid me in and out of the bath/shower, to take me shopping and to help with my housework (I cannot push a vacuum cleaner).. However, this stopped after my local council fitted a walk in shower/wet room for me due to the council not paying for what they call 'stand alone services'... but no matter how often I ask my shower it refuses to do my housework or shopping... Ok the next part muddies the waters slightly too... Until November 30th last year I was on Income Support but this was stopped because my son was then over 11.. (the rules are now youngest over 7 I think), and was forced off of IS and onto ESA. Now I have three children still at home (have six all told but eldest three no longer live at home).. who are 16,14 and 12 and all still in full time education. Ah... and I am also a student.. full time University student and will be for the next three years. So... I cannot claim JSA as I am not available for work.. Cannot claim IS as my youngest is over 7 and now they have stopped my ESA because some person sitting in an office spoke to me for ten - fifteen minutes and decided that my GP is wrong and that there is nothing wrong with me!! So... there you go.. am a single mum, full time uni student and disabled.. and being told that they will not help me at all. without ESA I will no longer be able to continue at University because I commute daily (which the student LOAN almost but not quite covers) and remember this is a loan... Oh yes I am in reciept (at present) of Child Tax Credits, Child benefit and DLA higher rate mobility no personal care. So...what do I do? I have an appeal form but my local CAB cannot see me for two weeks.. and I have not been paid ESA for two weeks already... Can you help?? If you have managed to read all of that... well done!!! and thank you for staying with it.. Kathy

Hi everyone, I have just spent a good few hours reading all the threads but find nothing that suits my situation. So I have loans from 98,99,00 and 01. I live abroad, Europe but non-EU. I have been deferring all my loans since they were taken out. Then it all went wrong, I informed the guys of my change of address and they never noted it. After it all went crazy and to cut a long story short i have ended up paying the arrears on a loan in small installments. They have also slapped a load of charges on for good measure. So, I guess that asking for the original loan agreement will only work for one loan and not the others, so maybe i will try. But now for my real question, I notice that many people take SLC to the small claims court in the UK. Can i do this from outside of the UK? Can they do a CCJ on me if i am outside of the UK? Its all a bit complicated now and the pressure that they put on me is getting me down whenever i have to communicate with them. I will never live in the UK again, my family are here and elsewhere, i have not even visited in the past 2 years. I am almost tempted to ignore them. Any helpful advice would be appreciated. Pete

Hi All, I have 3 Statute Barred (1992 - 1996) accounts with SLC. I have been paying 1 of them off - [before I found CAG alas] - through a direct debit with Wescot Credit. I have now recieved CCA's for all 3 accounts, but I am concerned that Wecsot or SLC have extended my repayment period without my knowledge, to start repaying one or both of the other accounts, that I have not acknowledged. If this has happened, is it allowed? SAR request sent to SLC - awaiting reply. Any help or advice would be gratefully received cyclist

My son has recently completed his HND studies and has gone on to study at Sussex Uni as part of a continious process. My local council (Crawley) has so far refused to allow the Students discount for the period between June - Sept (The summer recess) as they say he changed courses and was not therefore in continous full time education. Looking at the "The Council Tax (Discount Disregards) Order 1992 3. A person is to be regarded as undertaking a full time course of education on a particular day if— (a)on the day he is enrolled for the purpose of attending such a course with a prescribed educational establishment within Part I of Schedule 2 to this Order, and (b)the day falls within the relevant period for that course." It therefore appears that under the terms of the law Student discount is only available at a daily rate when attending the couse. This can not possibly be correct, can any one give me direction as to why Students are not liable to council tax during the holiday periods and is it correct that my local council levy Tax as a result of the course title changing during a period of continious education. Any advise much appreicated Neil

Hi all, I'm facing a quandary. I'm currently registered as a postgraduate student, but I was recently bereaved and have decided to suspend my studies for a year. I'm self-funding so I would like to just give up my student status and claim jobseeker's allowance, and look for a job for this year to tide me over. However, if I do that I'm worried that as the only non-student in a house with three students, I would become liable (and not exempt) for the council tax bill for the whole property (this is certainly what would happen if I were employed and living with students). I'd like to assume that I would be exempt because I would be unemployed, but I have nightmare visions of my quarter of the council tax being exempt, but being liable for the remaining three quarters. (To give an idea about the property, each of the four of us pay £350 rent per month). I imagine that this amount of council tax would exceed my jobseeker's allowance and so I'd end up worse off than now if I started claiming. Can anyone help me on this? Many thanks

The Local Authority (LA) has written to inform me that they have cancelled my Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Benefit (CTB) claim because: “You were claiming as a disabled student, but failed to inform us that your Incapacity Benefit ended in February 2010 and you no longer qualify for benefit from that date.” As I now have no other income (except the existing HB payments) I decided to apply for Job Seekers Allowance, which was I eventually awarded last month. “if you are no longer a student (which I'm not) you may still qualify for benefit, please call us if this is the case to complete an application” the last letter tells me - this is what I'm in the process of doing now so I don't fall behind with my rent now I am not getting HB. I have been claiming IB for about 18 months before claiming Housing Benefit which was awarded from October 2009. Between September 2009 and April 2010 I was also in receipt of a Student Finance Loan. I had been advised this was permitted, and the LA calculated my HB entitlement taking all these facts in to account. In March 2010 I noticed my IB had stopped being paid in to my bank account, but I wasn't told why. There had been no change in my circumstances. I genuinely was not aware this meant I was being overpaid HB since I had not been informed by JCP of any decision stating I no longer had an entitlement to benefit. I spoke to JCP hoping for an answer, I was advised my IB might have been suspended because I failed to attend a work capability assessment, I was told they would write to me if this was the case. About a fortnight later I received a notification from JCP which I informed me of a change in my Incapacity Benefit. The letter stated my benefits were due to be adjusted and will shortly increase “due to the annual rise in benefits”. I also received a new HB/CTC “Benefit Decision Notice” from the LA. I assumed this was in relation to the changes in my IB which I had just been informed about, and the reason for the recalculation on this LA letter was stated “Annual Updating”. To this date, I have still not received any written explanation why my IB payments had suddenly ceased, even though I was told I otherwise. This error was made even more confusing and distressing, especially after receiving correspondence to the contrary fact, actually confirming the amount I was expecting to be paid. I have been sent an invoice for overpayment of £1,890 (which I cannot afford up front). If this is entirely my fault then as unfair as it may be, I am willing to pay it all back in reasonable installments. This will take a significant time to pay back, and I would question if it is even recoverable considering I had no additional income and all the HB received was required and used in good faith for the intended purposes (towards rent!) and think I may have even be underpaid. Any advice/experiences/suggestions etc very welcome. I'm very distressed and embarrassed I have not been able to sort this out, and just want to get it resolves ASAP so I don't face eviction.

Hi Everyone, You may have seen the post in the announcement sections higher up. here are some further details about the initiave: The Consumer Financial Education Body (CFEB) is conducting research into young people's attitudes to finance through an Online Innovation Community. They are looking for people between the ages of 16 and 24 to apply to take part in the Community and help transform the financial information available to young people. Participants will earn cash rewards in return for completing various tasks based around financial matters. To apply to take part in the Community, users must take CFEB's Money Species quiz on Facebook, and then submit their email when prompted at the end. All users who submit their email will also be automatically entered into a draw to win an iPad. Click the links in the announcement section to take the quiz on Facebook or find out more! You've got nothing to lose guys...and don't forget to submit your email to get your entry in. You have until about two weeks from today (Thursday September 30th) so get going, it doesn't take a second. Good luck everyone!