UK aid to protect 7,000 Commonwealth veterans of the British Armed Forces from extreme poverty READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-aid-to-protect-7000-commonwealth-veterans-of-the-british-armed-forces-from-extreme-poverty

Paramedics to be given body cameras to protect them from abuse READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/paramedics-to-be-given-body-cameras-to-protect-them-from-abuse

New law introduced to protect vulnerable people in care READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-law-introduced-to-protect-vulnerable-people-in-care

New law introduced to protect vulnerable people in care READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-law-introduced-to-protect-vulnerable-people-in-care

New law introduced to protect vulnerable people in care READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-law-introduced-to-protect-vulnerable-people-in-care

New measures to protect 10 million extra holidays a year READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-measures-to-protect-10-million-extra-holidays-a-year

Government publishes key licensing changes to further protect tenants READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-publishes-key-licensing-changes-to-further-protect-tenants

New laws to better protect millions of Brits who book holidays online READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-laws-to-better-protect-millions-of-brits-who-book-holidays-online

New independent appeals process to protect passengers issued with penalty fares READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-independent-appeals-process-to-protect-passengers-issued-with-penalty-fares

New rules will protect fans from ticket touting READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-rules-will-protect-fans-from-ticket-touting

New crackdown on rogue agents to protect renters and leasehold homeowners READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-crackdown-on-rogue-agents-to-protect-renters-and-leasehold-homeowners

New tougher electrical safety standards to protect private tenants READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-tougher-electrical-safety-standards-to-protect-private-tenants

Hi, Got a bit of a fiddly situation here so I will try my best to summarise clearly for everyone. I moved into a flat (from Spareroom) on the 1st June 2016 (tenancy expired on 30th November 2016), I found it a month or so before and they wanted a £300 (cash) holding deposit as they don't take card. I was moving out of London a few days after and was in the middle of exams and I knew I needed a place so (stupidly) I paid it in cash and went for it. Thankfully it all seemed legit, got the keys on the first and again had to pay my first months rent and the deposit via bank transfer in their office (Rent £940 + Deposit £940 + Admin £149 - Holding Fee £300 = £1729). I paid it got my keys and moved in. I asked about the deposit scheme etc over the next days where I was told "don't worry it's protected". This is where I started finding it all to get weird. Speaking to the existing flatmates, none of them received any TDS numbers or anything. I kept asking just to get the same response. So 3 months go by, after hearing nothing I knew I wanted to claim. However a friend had a room their flat which was over the road and was perfect for me so I started enquiring about leaving the tenancy early etc, and I got 3 options. Find my replacement and I pay half a month of rent, they find a replacement and I pay a full month or rent, or I just pay the remaining rent and leave. I tried for a month to find my replacement which brought me to September to no avail. I then emailed saying "Is there a possibility I could leave and you could keep my deposit?" which got a reply of "I will keep trying to rent your room, keep paying as normal" so no confirmation that they would take my suggestion of keeping my deposit. Knowing that they haven't protected my deposit I asked them again "I can't find anything about my deposit in the TDS" in which they replied with "The money you paid for the deposit will be used to pay for the final month of the tenancy". Is this even allowed? My contract says: "Security - £940 to be paid on the signing hereof to the agent for the landlord to be dealt Within accordance. This security deposit will be used to pay your last month rent, then 30 days notice is served" (that's the exact wording, notice the bad spelling/grammar). I then followed up with them with the standard "Within accordance of the law, it is your duty to protect my deposit in a TDS" in which they said the manager will call me. I spoke to the manager (who is also the Landlord, I think this is pretty important) on the phone and they pretty much said "Don't worry you can leave the contract and i'll adjust the deposit". I thought screw it, I'll take that and then approach the deposit after I have confirmation I can leave so I asked for the email confirmation and they sent over the following: "As advised please do not pay your rent on 1st October 2016. Please then returning the keys this Saturdays drop me a text, then keys are left at the concierge. You are released from 6 months contract as per conversation with [Landlord Name], no further payments are required." I took this as pretty concrete evidence that I can leave, so I did. Moved into my new place and I'm happy here. Now I want to claim back my 'protected' deposit. I emailed the manager saying what's happening to the deposit and that I'm happy to not pursue this in court if it is returned back in full and I gave them a time frame to do so. He replied with "you broke your tenancy etc and that they will chase up the remaining payments". Unless I accepted a £500 return of deposit. When I spoke to him on the phone before he offered £500 deposit back which I said no to and that I'll be chasing up the full deposit. He has also reassured me that "Danny from accounts has said your deposit is protected" which is incorrect given what his colleague told me before. Basically I just want my deposit back, multiple people have mentioned that I can claim between 1-3x the deposit, I do not mind what I claim as long as I get my initial deposit back. Almost a year after moving in I still haven't seen a sign of it, and I don't think the other tenants have either. Do you think that leaving the tenancy early may hinder my chances as claiming this deposit back? I believe they are separate matters, I believe that he had ill intentions with the deposit by choosing to manage it himself and no protect it, which seems like it has broken all of his responsibilities. But also a separate matter of leaving the tenancy early where I suggested that they could possibly keep the deposit, which not reciprocated, but then got an email after the phone call which clearly stated when I could leave and who gave permission and also that no further payments are required. Sorry for the wall of text, it has been a complicated and stressful process and any help/advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much, Buneet

I would welcome some suggestions from Forum Members please as to what I should with regards to a landlord who is taking her time in restoring central heating in the house which I am renting. I have been without heating now for a week. Prior to this, the boiler had broken down a number of times and the landlord was told by two of the engineers that the boiler was obsolete and needed replacing. I have been in touch with the LL and made the point that the situation is becoming untenable, but all I got back was that she is dealing with the matter. I would be grateful for some suggestions about what options are available to me so that I can use some leverage to get the LL to act and act urgently? I hope members can help. Many thanks in advance. Mack

Hi I'm new on the forum. I'm looking for some advice. Last month I vacated a property that I had been letting through a letting agent / estate agent for over three years. An outgoing inspection was done and the report stated that the property was in overall good condition. I had maintained it and had paid for it to be re plastered and redecorate with the landlords permission. However, several days after the report I received a telephone call from the letting agent. They told me that the landlord had decided to keep all of the deposit. They didn't give a reason, just said he wasn't happy with the property. I wasn't given any further advice from the agent. My sister did some research on the internet and found that I should have been given some paperwork about a tenancy deposit scheme when the tenancy began. I didn't receive this and neither did my mother who paid the deposit. I contacted the letting agents and was told they would look into it. Several hours later I received call to say the landlord had changed his mind and would now refund my full deposit, that the property was in good condition and there were no issues. I was shocked. I gave them my mothers bank details. My sister urged me to contact them again in regard to the tenancy scheme because she thought they had broken the law and could be fined. When I did so the agents suggested that I didn't need the details because I was getting refunded. My sister urged me to contact them again and demand the details, which I did. They told me they would deliver them in a few days. They didn't do so. When I contacted them again they admitted that due to an administrative error they had not protected the deposit. Sorry. Was there anything else? I asked for the landlords details because I wanted to make sure that he had originally told them to keep my deposit. However, they haven't provided the details despite me continually asking. And furthermore they still haven't returned my mothers deposit. I have started a complaints process with them to get the deposit back but they are really dragging their heels. Sorry, to get to the point, do I need to go through this complaints process with them before I can go to court to try and get the deposit returned? And if they won't release the landlord's details can I put the agents name on the court form? Thanks for any advice

READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dwp-announces-extra-support-for-armed-forces-spouses-and-civil-partners-to-help-protect-their-state-pension

Today the Judiciary released their long awaited Consultation on McKenzie Friends. Most importantly, the consultation proposes a ban on fee-charging McKenzie friends in order to protect ‘vulnerable litigants’ from unregulated, uninsured and unqualified individuals. The article from the Law Gazette website outlines the Consultation in detail (and the online comments make interesting reading !!!). http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/practice/judiciary-proposes-ban-on-fee-charging-mckenzie-friends/5053851.article

Hi Guys, I accidentally dropped my iPhone 6 down the toilet about 2 months ago. The damn thing was in my top pocket and slipped out when i bent down to pick something up. Nightmare, as the toilet had bleach in it. I fished the phone out, gave it a very quick rinse, because of the bleach and towel dried it, then stuck it in some rice, as I've heard of people doing this. I called Protect your bubble to start the claim. I left it in there for a day then tried the phone. it was all over the place to start but then began to work properly and continued to do so for the next couple of days, so i cancelled the claim. last week, the phone died after i installed ios9. i took it to the apple store, who opened it up and said that the water damage had finished it off. I explained what happened and they said that they would never replace this phone because of the water damage and more importantly the bleach. I reopened the claim with PYB and sent the phone off to A Novo, who is their repair company. After a few days I called PYB to get an update. they said that the phone is still being repaired. I questioned this because of what Apple said. PYB said that their contract with A Novo was to repair the phone rather than replace and that the phone would be fine. that got me thinking, so I cold called A Novo to get their opinion. They said that they would never repair a water damaged phone, let alone one that had bleach in it. I mentioned PYB and they said that their contract with PYB is to repair 1st and only replace if the phone doesn't pass the 40 point check. They also said that their work is guaranteed for 180 days. Im still waiting for the phone back, which should be Tuesday, so my question is Where do I stand with the repair? My concern is that it may work now but as time goes on , the metallic parts will corrode and the phone may fail outside of the 180 days warranty many thanks EOS-5D

I am looking at a flat tomorrow and have a few queries: 1.what basic steps can i take to insure that the person showing me the flat and parting with the deposit and one month rent is genuinely the owner? (the flat is empty and i have heard so many horror stories of tenants subletting or taking loads of deposits of tenants and you all turn up to move in and the property is locked up and the "landlord" is untraceable and your money has gone, [problem] basically!).can land registry help? 2. how will i know if the landlord has consent to let via the mortgage company? 3.the property is empty and newly refurbished, what is deemed as "wear and tear" on the inventory when i move out? can this be disputed via the tenancy protection scheme? 4. will i get notice from the company that my deposit has been protected? what if the landlord fails to do this what shall i do? and how long have they got to protect the money after i move in?

Hi all , just a quick message to all about this company called PC Protect... They telephoned my elderly mum at 8 am one morning recently and led her to believe they were talk talk. The worst bit is that they told her they were going to drop her broadband bill by a few quid, (broadband is free from talktalk). Long story short they had her bank details and set up a direct debit for 30 quid a month for PC Protect, they have a website, they even have a company number which is registered as :08958993, their office phone number is 03335771999 don't bother trying to ring it they it goes dead on the line after two rings/........... My research I have done shows them as a relatively new company, 5 months old and its run by Daniel and Sam Young, sales director Gareth Knapp. This would seem a sales tactic they use and please please anyone whom has elderly relatives or vulnerable whom use talk talk then warn them of it. Talktalk have assured me on the phone they DO NOT call about payments or money matters over phone at all and only in writing...... Wouldn't like to say on here what I would like to do with them , direct debit had been cancelled now and waiting for them to phone again which apparently they do demanding money owed ....... Also they are based in UK it would seem........Unit d4, Terrace road, Bournmouth, Dorset. EH2 5NP..... Beware they are acting in a manner that is misleading and im pretty sure against quite a few regulations and rules of certain acts ect..... Anyone else have any issues with them let us all know please......

Hi there, I was wondering if someone could give some advice on whether it would be worth pursuing my ex-landlord with court action. Basically I signed a new tenancy agreement 18 months ago with my previous landlord and all seemed good. He told me that the £400 deposit I paid had to be paid into a seperate bank account due to new legislations (I didn't realise at the time that this wasn't the case.) After living there for 18 months my LL decided the rent was going to increase (he gave me just over 5 week's notice before the end of the term of my AST.) So after asking him how much notice he would need should I decide I didn't want to continue living there, he told me to let him know as soon as I could, should I wish to leave the premises. A little under 2 weeks later, I had managed to find a new flat and got accepted through their "checks" so informed my LL that I would be moving out on the last day of my term so as to not have to pay up until the end of my term. When his brother came round to collect the keys, (LL is away in Europe travelling for 3-4 months) he noted that there was a little damp showing through in the front bedroom but said there wasn't any damage so I should be fine for the full deposit back. After a couple of days, I hadn't heard anything from my LL about when I should expect the deposit etc so decided to get in touch to find out. He stated that he was waiting until his new tenants had paid their deposit till he could pay my deposit back and also that he was witholding £140 for "cleaning and painting" that the property required to bring it back up to a rentable state. I obviously disputed this and told him he had plenty of chance to inform us of any repairs/cleaning that needed doing prior to us vacating the premises. He at no point made a check-in nor a check-out of the property, nor took any pictures of any damage. I then asked him for a receipt of work that had been carried out without my knowledge and also for the details of which deposit protection scheme the deposit was being held with so I could raise the dispute with them. No answer. After speaking with Shelter for legal advice regarding the issue, I applied a little pressure to my LL stating that because he had repeated failed to provide me with details of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme which was holding my deposit, I was well within my rights to pursue the return of the deposit in full along with compensation no more than 3 times the deposit amount, per calendar month that I had been resident in the property. His answer - "Dont worry, I will pay you the deposit back tomorrow in full into your Paypal account." Great, success finally! In the meantime though, his brother is still hounding me as there is apparently "debt on the pre-payment meters" which were installed in the property prior to us moving in and also he is wanting me to contact the new tenant to let them have my details as apparently need to give the energy company my details so they can put the bills in their name (something which we didn't have to do when we moved in.) I wasn't going to pursue for the compensation for not protecting my account but after my previous LL has now tried screwing me over on 2-3 occasions (luckily I am the kind of person who doesn't just agree to something but research the subject first) I am now wanting to pursue for the compensation as well for failing to provide me with the details for the tenancy protection scheme and, as far as I can see, failing to protect my deposit full stop. Am I still within my rights to issue my LL with a court summons for failing to protect/failing to provide details of the tenancy deposit protection scheme or is my LL paying me the deposit back in full nulled this right? It may sound like I am being spiteful and I may be however my LL has chosen the complete wrong time to try screw me over having just lost a very close family member and suffering from Anxiety and panic attacks has only made the situation worse. Any help advice would be greatly appreciated - apologies for the lengthy thread!

I have a Sparks Business Card issued from Capital One that had been inactive for 3+ years. In 2012 I hired an office manager that I didn't know was dishonest. Basically she activated the card, requested a PIN and went right to 2 ATMs. This employee used the card for 18 months, paying it off each month with the company checking account. The moment fraud was discovered, I contacted Capital One and they have been nothing but DIFFICULT to work with. Although the card was stolen - she was never issued a card or even handed a Capital One card to use - the card was stolen. They told me that this employee was like "my daughter" and they weren't going to offer any kind of restitution. We feel that capital one has been negligent and hasn't protected me for the following reasons: 1. As a SPARKS card holder I am guaranteed FRAUD ALERTS. I never use PIN numbers and ATMs. This card had been inactive for 3+ years, was stolen and a PIN requested. Their disclosure says that they will contact me for “unusual activity.” This was unusual activity and is negligence on the part of Capital One. 2. There were several times over the last 18-months when the payments on this card were late, funds were not available and credit card limits exceeded. By law, Capital One is required to only discuss collection efforts with the primary card holder only. I was never contacted? This could’ve saved months of fraud. 3. Capital One, VISA and their merchants have accepted this card time and time again without verifying the identity of the card holder, matching of signatures or whether this user was even authorized to use this card. I was not protected by their merchants. Many of these charges are for large amounts and no ID was requested. This too could’ve saved months of fraud. 4. As I have assisted the Salt Lake Detectives in gathering as much information on this case as possible, Capital One is deceiving its merchants. Their merchants have told me that by contacting Capital One, the charges will be reversed and I will not be responsible for these fraudulent charges. This is simply not true. Capital One is not honest with their merchants. 5. Capital One disclosures say that I have $0 LIABILITY if my card is stolen. This card was stolen and Capital One has not reimbursed any charges. 6. This card remained inactive for 3+ years. At this point, Capital One should’ve closed the card. Regardless, this never happened. This card was inactive for 3+ years with a PIN never being requested until it was stolen, and again, no one at Capital One felt that a first transaction in 3+ years being a cash advance was unusual enough to alert me. This seems to be negligence on their part, and yet it is falling on me to resolve. 7. Phone calls to Capital One to find out information on when new cards were sent out, expiration periods on this card and various other questions has been very difficult. Promises to call back by Capital One representatives within 48 hours were not kept. Capital One representatives contradicting each other on different items, promising to be able to assist only to say they can’t after getting into very specific details and being transferred over and over to different people. They have repeatedly quoted that their actions are due to ‘internal policy’ and yet their public terms and conditions on their website contradict everything they are telling me. 8. Capital One closed my fraud account and said that because the woman who was an employee, stole the card - they couldn’t help me. When I asked for documentation on their policy, I was told, “that’s a great question, but it’s just an in house policy.” Once again Capital One is being negligent. It seems to me that fraud is fraud, regardless of who perpetrates it. I have filed charges with the police against this woman, I have worked countless hours to track and document the trail she left, and because she happens to have worked at my business I am being told there is no help coming from Capital One. I wonder if Capital One would feel the same about one of their employees defrauding them? I'm wondering if anybody else in this forum has had a similar situation and how it was resolved? Thanks for your help!

Hi Guys, I hope someone can help i will try to keep it short and to the point, My LL did not put my deposit into a scheme which i only discovered when i tried to get my deposit back and he ignored i asked him if he had protected it and he then gave me £500 of it back keeping over £300 with no explanation. so I filed a claim against him through money claims on line, He has now issued a counter claim against me saying i left the house in a mess holes in the wall bins full etc etc a complete case of tit for tat but he has photos of damage behind front door (he is saying that i did it)which was there when i moved in which he knew about as he promised to get it fixed and he didnt but all my evidence id conversations we had rather than anything else there is no truth to anything he is saying at all, my concern is i am in court early June and i have to have my evidence and my witness statement i am not sure how to complete a witness statement and my evidence is limited he did not put my money in a scheme i have no letter from any of the deposit schemes to show he did and he has no defence to this but im feeling a little intimidated now. The counterclaim seems to be the main thing there is no mention of the original claim of the fact he did not enter my deposit in a scheme he has even entered the remaining money in a scheme 1 month after i moved out ?? IM just really worried now that he is there with photos and i only have word of mouth whats my chances of winning this ? if someone can advise what i will need to complete my witness statement many thanks in advance x

My house insurance was due and I searched the net and decided to go with Home Protect this time instead of Barclays who were my previous insurer. I took out buildings and home emergency cover with Home Protect insurance...................I paid £230 which included £55 for the home emergency cover which included the costs of fixing the boiler/central heating...................etc and a further £35 for legal cover. A few weeks into the insurance my boiler broke down, so I range home protect emergency cover, they told me they would have to charge me to fix my boiler, as it was stated in the terms and condition that my boiler had to have been serviced and the engineer would want to see this. I told home protect I had never received the terms and conditions in the post and was not aware of this so called "condition" they had told me and the onus was on them to make me aware of this. They refused to come and fix the boiler, so I cancelled my insurance with them, I was refunded just £99 (after having paid £230 for buildings, home emergency and legal cover) I asked why was I being refunded only £99 2 weeks after having taken out the cover, I was told home emergency and legal are non refundable and its stated in the terms and conditions when I took the policy out with them. I feel I was misold the home insurance and home emergency I was not made aware that the boiler had to be serviced beforehand and never received the terms and conditions in the post. very very unhappy, with the service and losing over£130 which they wont refund me, i paid one lump sum so they only gave me back £99 can I take legal action against them? I would advise others to stay away from Home Protect

Hi all OK, in Feb this year my son bought for me a Nexus 7 tablet as a random present and in May I decided to insure it with Protect Your Bubble for pennies a week, £3.49 a month which I thought was great value. I drop it I can claim, lose it I can claim, sit on it and I can claim. I hadn't used it for a while so went to it and discovered the screen was smashed like something had been dropped on it So I rang them and thought everything was reasonably straight forward, they wanted the serial number, date of purchase, how much it cost and all the usual grab. Now as it was an on line purchase Google sent an Email receipt showing all the relevant details - Name, address, order number, transaction number and so on so I thought all was good. I was asked to forward this to PYB at their claims email address which I did and heard nothing. So I called them back to be told "Sorry, we can't accept a forwarded email. Print it out and send it to this address" which I did. Next call was "Sorry, but that's a text file and we can only accept digital PDF files as proof of purchase" So I printed out the Email again, scanned it, saved it as a PDF and sent it to them. This still wasn't good enough, they then changed the goal posts to they wanted a PDF file from Google showing the receipt and wouldn't accept anything else. Now I'm not having a go at Google here as they were brilliant, but they can't do this as it's not their policy. As far as they're concerned if the unit develops a fault within the warranty they'd access that and action a repair/replacement based on the manufacturers warranty. Having explained this to PYB, I was told by an arrogant manager that Google are WRONG and they can do this no problems at all despite my being told directly by them, (Google), that they would not. I argued this and asked how they could be so sure that any receipt, even as a PDF wasn't a forgery as I could reset all the Metadata myself and edit the document to show whatever I wanted. I was then told that if I bought it from a shop then I'd have to scan the till receipt along with the card receipt, save it as a PDF and then they'd accept this. I challenged them on what the difference is given all the transaction codes can be traced anyway on the information they have but they still weren't accepting it. In short, I found this company does all it can to avoid claims by making up stupid rules that make absolutely no sense what so ever, (sorry but they can easily check with Google is the transaction codes are authentic without breaching data protection), so I made a few choice comments and hung up. As I paid the premiums by direct debit I got in touch with my bank and in accordance with the direct debit guarantee they are reversing all the debits to PYB over the last few months and putting the money back into my account so I've lost nothing. So folks, there's more than one way to skin a cat! If you have paid by Direct Debit and are running into a refusal to deal with a claim then contact your bank and have the funds removed from their account by electronic force. If you have paid in one go by debit card, your banks fraud department will look at the case and because you have paid for a service you haven't received then they can and will reverse the transactions. If you have paid by credit card, you can ask your card company to invoke Section 75 and have the transaction reversed. In short, if you don't get what you've paid for then you can get your money back through your bank or credit card. Yes it's costly as you have to replace/repair your item yourself but it's far better than having to pay for "insurance" which isn't worth the electronic paper it's written on and having to replace/repair the item yourself. This company needs to be hit hard where it hurts and putting out of business because of its unreasonable and atrocious practices. It's nothing short of con artist stagnant pond life with the way it behaves and the unbelievable excuses it comes up with for not dealing with claims are not acceptable on any level. I really hope this helps a few people out there who have been ripped off by these [problem]mers.