My partner and I lived in a flat for 12 months where the bedroom and hallway were carpetted. We moved out 12 days ago. On the day of leaving, a man from Entwistle Green came to inspect the flat and said it was in "very good" condition - and it was! Now ,12 days later, we have recieved a call advising that there are carpet beetles and the new tenant who moved in on Saturday has reported this. We are now being told our bond of £500 will be needed to cover the cost of this. Surely this can't be allowed? We moved out on the 26th of October - it's the 7th of November! And from what I've read, carpet beetles can fly through windows, be taken in on shoes, a number of things. What can I do?

Hi, Until recently, I had worked for a company (in Scotland) where my role was setting up appointments for myself and going out to businesses and selling my company's services. Most of this was done from home as the office was 70 miles away. I only started with them in April and on the 19th July, I sent an email to one of the directors to give them my 1 week notice. As I hadn't signed a contract I naturally assumed that this would suffice. I then contacted the wages person to ask what my wages would be at the end of the month and she told me that I had to contact the director. He sent me an email saying that they are only paying me up to the last time i was in the office. As far as I am concerned, they are just making things up as they go along. What should be my next course of action? Thanks in advance...

Hello, I was terminated on the 3rd of july. My last paycheck should have been on the 31th of July. I received yesterday a letter stating that I had destroyed crucial documents. I did not destroyed anything before or after my dismissal. Before, I couldn't considering that those documents were capital in my daily work and after my access to the company system was blocked immediately. Moreover, they notified me of this "destruction", 23 days AFTER my termination, anyone with access could have done it since. In spite of those facts, my company is withholding my last payment. What should I do?

I was wondering if anyone could help with a problem I am having with my ex landlord. I am a student and last year i rented a house with 3 others, we all paid a deposit and as far as any of us can remember we had no written contract (so we don't know for what reasons the landlord can legally deduct from the deposit), no inventory and no notification of the deposits ever being paid into an authorised deposit scheme. we left the house in June 2011 and have not received any our deposits back. the landlord is claiming that there were unpaid bills (some of which is admitted, but some of this amount is currently in dispute), damage and cleaning for the property (we admit the house was not spotless but it was almost as unclean when we moved in really and we accept there is some minor, accidental damage) - but he has produced no evidence for how much has been spent rectifying these problems and we really do not think it would come to the amount he is withholding from us. basically i was wondering a) can he withhold the deposit at all if we never had a written contract or inventory? b) can he withhold it even though he did not pay it into an authorised deposit scheme (or at least did not tell us if he did) c) in the letter to him i really want to make sure i'm clear on the law and what is being threatened - are we threatening to take him to small claims court to get back the entirety of the deposit for these breaches or would we be claiming to just get back some of it (if the court determine how much should reasonably be withheld by the landlord) can anyone help? thanks

I recently started a new 6 month contract where I am employed by an agency who then send my pay to the umbrella company I use as a contractor. I've been there for a month now and initially I realised they had set me up as paying me monthly rather than weekly - which I am used to - so I requested it be weekly which they duly changed. So I have been waiting to get my pay through and last week I was still waiting - checking my umbrella company's pay tracker online to see when I was going to be paid. I contacted the umbrella company to ask what was going on - they said they hadn't been paid by the agency. So I contacted the agency who told me my pay from the first two weeks of my contract had been paid to the umbrella company on the Monday - and should have cleared on the Wednesday (which was the day before I had contacted them.) So I contacted the umbrella company again with the payment date info - one customer services person even forwarded me my own email asking me whether I could tell them where the money was! Eventually I made a complaint and they called me - stating that they had received the money but that the agency sends the pay for all their contractors as a lump sum with a remittance note to state who should be paid and how much etc. However they had also had a huge deduction in the same payment which wiped out their account - leaving only around £1000 - not enough to pay anyone. I contacted the agency again and they said that while the deduction was being looked into, that as far as they were concerned they had paid me (and everyone else on the remittance) and that it was up to the umbrella company to sort things out. I am hopeful that they will sort this out between them - but in the meantime where do I stand with regards to obtaining the money which I am legally entitled to having worked for it? They even said they couldn't notify all the people concerned as there were too many to contact - meaning anyone else wondering where their money was would have to get in touch with them - to then probably be given inaccurate information like I was to begin with, before they find out what is really going on. Surely the umbrella company has a responsibility to notify their clients of any problem with making their payments? Any advice is welcome. Many thanks