Hello,

I’ve had a business idea and am seeking advice regarding the legalities around its model and the protocols I’d have to take. Here is how it would work. A seller could sell something online and as payment receive cash in post from a customer without the customer knowing the sellers address as it would be shipped to a middleman. The envelope with cash would be shipped by the buyer to the middleman’s address who verifies the amount and takes a service percentage. The middleman (me) would then request a final address to ship the cash to so it gets to the seller but to enforce the anonymity of cash the address would be removed from the middleman’s (mine) database after the cash is shipped. How does this sound. Thanks

Consider the following: one has recieved a notice to submit a plea of guilty or not guilty in regards to speeding. The letter includes statements from two officers and claims that there is body cam footage of a calibrated speedometer. Is this sufficient evidence for a guilty conviction or is it possible to fight the charge? The letter states a plea must be submitted within 3 weeks. Is this enough time/ is it possible to review the footage before hand?

On one hand, It must be quite tricky for a body cam to accurately show a speeding vehicle on the motor way aswell as the speedometer. On the other hand, the corroboration by a second officer and the bodycam may hold weight. Legal advice from a professional will be sought but wondering what reddit thinks. The driver in question has only held their license for 1.5 years. What kind of sentence can they expect? 110 in a 70 motor way for 0.25 miles is the claim.

Any and all comments are welcome.

Hi there! I’m in a difficult situation: we’re moving with my partner and we had a lot of trouble finding a pet friendly flat, since we have a rabbit. We finally got one and were about to move, and the agency finally told us that the property manager didn’t allow pets, and forbade the landlord to give a written permission. Hence no rabbits. The landlord and the agency had orally given us consent. I’m confused, since I thought that one bunny living in a well maintained hutch on a huge terrasse would not cause any nuisance. She still said no. We don’t want to lose our rabbit, but we already signed the contract. It feels very sad and frustrating, especially because the law explicitly allows us to keep a rabbit (allotment acts of 1950).

What can we do?

Please bare with me. My mum has had students move in next door. After 2 weeks of daily music I went over and tried making friends with them and asked them to be more mindful of the noise because my mum is disabled and is struggling to cope with the noise.

Once I left you can guess what they did. And to take things further they started slamming doors into the frame repeatedly. I got this audio recorded on video, 5 times in 14 seconds and sent it to the university police liaison officer and the council, long after each of them had visited to ask them to stop, because each time they see her coming in with her carer they target her and do it on purpose and I believe it amounts to harassment

They’ve been visited by the university police liaison officer, the council, the landlord and the letting agent. This just seemed to piss them off even more. My mum is crying daily and having panic attacks

The university and the council have done nothing. They were issued a Community Protection Warning Notice but of course they rose to the challenge. It seems the worst that can happen to them with this is a £35 fine but considering the BMW 1 series M sport performance parked on the drive way this isn’t much motivation for them

I can’t have them harassing my mum anymore and I don’t know what else to do. I want to stick a hose pipe in through the top window and completely flood the house so they are forced to move out

What sort of trouble would I get myself into?

As the title says. I have chased our original solicitor on this a couple of times, who says they have chased the Land Registry but still nothing has updated to record that I am now on the Freehold and Leasehold (shared freehold flat). Should I be very worried, and what can I do to resolve this?

Hi all, I’ll keep this as short as I can. My partner and I live in a block of flats, we have two mini cockapoo’s (I get this is not ideal). Day to day the dogs are chilling and sleeping and we have a healthy walking routine for them. But we have had noise complaints from the council over the last few months about the dogs barking. I’ll be honest, they do bark sometimes, they are dogs at the end of the day, and we are allowed to have them. But not continuously or all day and all night, as it has been made out.

Council have apparently been sent Audio recordings of them barking “all day and all night” and one for 9 hours straight, by our neighbours which is a total lie. We know it’s a lie as my partner is chronically ill and home all the time with them, and the date and time they said they were barking for hours, they were at the groomers. We are not allowed to hear these recordings either to verify if it is our dogs, which it can’t be as it’s built on a lie. We have also noticed lately at 2-4am a dog whistle being blown from downstairs to purposely antagonise them and cause them to bark. As well as the motion sensor hallway light being on outside our door. Not only is this fucking creepy but also creating the problem that wasn’t there in the first place.

We had a visit from environmental health today, who were sat outside in their car for an hour and a half, dogs did not bark once. They were also not concerned that the dogs were mistreated in any way either. They were more reasonable and friendly. However, the council lady who we have been dealing with was vile. She was rude, sat with her back to us, she refused a cup of tea as it’s “not a social call” and refused to take her shoes off. She kicked our youngest in the face when she shooed him away with her leg. And had no interest in hearing our side of the situation or any counter evidence we provided. We caught her lying and exaggerating about the dogs multiple times, even the environment people corrected her!! We can’t help but feel as though the council have already made up their mind on this situation, and we are being bullied by our pathetic neighbours who complain about absolutely anything, and by the council because we are a young couple and they don’t want to hear the dogs full stop (despite the fact we live in front of a dog walking path and there are dogs all along the street). We keep ourselves to ourselves and don’t cause anyone any trouble. We put up with the smell of weed and opera singing from downstairs but don’t say anything.

Does anyone have any advice on how we can fight this or prove they don’t bark continuously without having hours and hours of dog camera footage saved? We have been issued an abatement notice to fix the problem but how can we fix a problem that doesn’t exist, nor make the dogs stop barking completely? Feel like it’s a lose lose situation here.

Hello, looking for some advice to make sure I don't end up doing myself a mischief. Edit - based in England.

We contracted a local sole trader for some outdoor renovations via one of those tradespeople websites under company name A earlier this year.

We were quoted for the work initially under company name A, however a few weeks later the scope of the work changed slightly, just after the work started. The guy suggested a workaround for a problem encountered, and we agreed to be requoted for the job while works were ongoing.

The updated quote came, and we agreed to this, but what we didn't notice was that it was under company name B (we noticed after works were complete).

When the works were finished, we paid company name B as per the quote. However after just a few days we encountered significant problems with the works. Large parts of the job had to be redone, however when redone it was in an even worse state than it was before. We tried to get them to sort it but ended up having to pay another company to come and rectify the issues.

I left a review with lots of pictures on the website we found them through, which was under company A. I also left a review on their only Facebook page, under company B. Not long after this they deleted their profiles on both places.

Recently I've noticed that they've now set up under another new company name, company C. This has a Facebook, and a Google page. The only way I found this was actually because the owner looks to have set up a new personal page and somehow ended up in my "people you may know" on Facebook (odd in itself since there literally no friends in common or that kind of thing).

Which leads to my main question - Would I be committing any kind of defamation if I left an honest review of the work carried out, but on company C's pages? My only reason for asking is that of course the work was carried out by company B technically, although really it's the same person seemingly creating new profiles when the poor work catches up with them. 3 company names in less than a year...but with no way for unsuspecting consumers to link them. If it makes any difference, they've actually included a couple of pictures on their new website of our job (but not the finished job, just part way through).

Main concern is not wanting others to end up in the same position we did, so thought leaving a review with the main details may help. I'll be reporting the new company to trading standards and anything else I find to report them to.

Sorry for the long post, thought it worth giving a little background.

In Sheffield, worked here for 3 months

He's worked there for a couple months now, and hasn't been provided one payslip, he says everyone else in the building doesn't get any payslips and when the owner is asked he simply replies that he doesn't have any payslips to give anyone and they're not stored anywhere.

He's required to input people's work hours and such for wages/people getting paid, is there anything wrong with any of this and should he be worried?

My dad owns his own house and bought a second house, which he paid capital gains/higher rate SDLT on. My name was also put on this property. We do not live in this property. It is a second property. No mortgage.

I am looking to buy myself a main residence. I understand I will have to pay SDLT but will have to pay higher rate SDLT?

If so, why would this be the case if capital gains/higher rate SDLT has already been paid on one of properties.

Hi all. The other night, the handle on my bathroom door suddenly stopped working (twisting the handle or inner bar doesn't move the 'tongue'.

This meant, despite my best DIY efforts I was completely unable to open the bathroom door as unfortunately it was closed when this happened. Only one bathroom in my flat, so bit of a pickle!

In the morning, I contacted my landlord who grudgingly agreed to send a man out via task rabbit and that this would happen the next evening. Having already spent one night without access to a bathroom, this was tricky for us. Therefore, we felt like our only option would be to book a hotel for that night (assuming the door would be fixed the next evening).

I reached out to my landlord to ask for either a) help with hotel costs, which were reasonable b) an alternative solution. He stated that he wouldn't help with either option , and that it was beyond the responsibility of him as a landlord - adding that the door breaking didnt fall under "wear and tear".

Therefore, I'm looking for advice on this situation as general reaction from myself and friends is that he should have to help with this situation? Thank you!

I'm in England.

While away on a family holiday in Madeira, 5 hours before our return flight home I received an email saying my easyJet flight was cancelled. We obviously didn't get in the taxi to the airport and instead called easyJet immediately.

After 1 hour on the phone they could only offer us a next available flight in 10 (yes, ten) days! They also couldn't offer accommodation. I said I have a young family, school and work and a 10 day delay is very reasonably not viable. Instead, they advised me to seek an alternative economy flight home, accomodation (max 3*) and reasonable meals and refreshments - keeping all receipts. They even advised me of the compensation limits for each type of expense. I did this exactly.

Unbelievably, the next available, economy flight home was still 6 days later (with BA) and luckily our hotel let us stay one more night for free before we moved to the next, unplanned one.

I called easyJet to notify them that I had done what they suggested so it was in the notes clearly.

Upon return, my claim has been rejected multiple times because it was due to adverse weather (too windy) and so not covered. However, they did randomly cover 8% of the costs which looks like the first night and meals. The rest were rejected as 'post flight arrangements' so not covered.

Their reason for the cancellation was because their ground crew operations were suspended at Funchal due to adverse weather.

Around 85% of all other flights around the same afternoon landed fine (I checked via historical tracker data). I challenged and they wont budge.

Additionally, the preceding flight (so our plane) didn't actually take off from Gatwick so it wasn't that it couldn't land at all. This seems loose.

Conveniently there was major industrial action the day before at Portuguese airports so my guess is that this is a planning issue and they used the weather as an excuse to cancel (unprovable).

I am bashing my head against a brick wall with easyJet now.

Lastly, and absurdly, my travel insurance company has invalidated my claim because, get this, I didn't physically check in...to my cancelled flight. So the policy wording excludes this claim. WTF. I bet if I got to the airport they wouldn't let me check in for that cancelled flight. Impossible scenario.

So, £4.6k cost, £400 back from easyJet, £4.2k in the hole.

Any advice!!?

OK. This is an odd one. We're Americans, and we're paying our niece's legal fees in England in an attempt to make her ex pay child support for their two children. She's had legal representation for over 10 months, and so far--no joy, though his address and workplace were known. This has cost us a lot of money thus far.

At this point, her solicitors finally got him to offer up materials regarding financial disclosure. However, he's claiming he's too poor to afford a solicitor and he's sent the document to her legal representative, asking that they file them with the court. Our niece actually had to take him to court to force this out of him, and he waited until one day before the legal deadline to send the materials to her solicitors.

Is it normal to ask the opponent's solicitors to file your legal paperwork with the court? Couldn't her ex simply have mailed these materials to the court rather than asking my niece's legal team to do the work?

Sorry, but the English legal system is very confusing to Americans, and I've spent 20,000 pounds trying to get someone to support their own kids and seen nothing in return!

If someone were hired for a temporary/seasonal contract and were told they were going to be on standby aka only called in if needed. To be told about 4 hours before they would need to be at the place of work. Is this okay to do with no kind of compensation for being on standby everyday?

Thank you!

[England]

Hi all, My tenancy ended on 11th of September. On 30th of September I asked for my full deposit back. At first, the landlord insisted (through our letting agent) on £200 deduction, but after I asked him for evidence — he backpedaled and agreed to release the whole sum. I had sent my bank details to the letting agent as requested, yet they asked to wait 10 days to get in contact with their accounting. I decided to wait because I didn’t want to raise a dispute. Once again, I initiate a follow-up email but the letting agent again says they need to chase the issue. Today I got a super non-informative reply of “it bouncing back twice”. I asked them to specify but they haven’t replied yet.

I’m extremely frustrated. Should I raise a dispute over the deposit not being returned for such a long period of time?

Many thanks.

Edit: the deposit is protected by TDS.

I was walking down Charing Cross with a mate, threw my cig butt on the floor, I know I’m a piece of shit. guy started writing me a ticket but I gave him a fake name and address simply because the guy was a huge dick about it, can they trace it back to me?

Hi everyone,

I’d really appreciate some advice on my separation from my long-term partner and understanding my rights to be with my kids. We live in Scotland.

After 13 years together, my partner and I recently separated. We weren’t married, but we lived together and raised our two young kids—one is five and a half, the other is nineteen months. I’ve moved to a flat just down the road to stay close to them, but things have become tense between my ex and me.

We’ve been working with informal arrangements so far, like me having the kids every Monday night and on some weekends. But these arrangements are starting to shift more often, usually at her request, and I’m finding it hard to keep up. Recently, when I mentioned coming by to collect some of my belongings, she asked for the keys to her house (which was ours for six years; she held the mortgage, but I contributed regularly to it, and paid for upgrades like new doors, windows, and furniture).

My biggest concern is her making a decision to move the kids farther away, which would make it harder for me to stay involved. Without a formal custody arrangement in place, I’m worried about my rights to keep seeing them consistently and to have a say in big decisions, especially if we run into disagreements later on.

We both have shared parental responsibilities, and I want to make sure I stay a stable presence in their lives, especially regarding decisions about where they live, their schooling, and their healthcare. I’d like to know what formal steps I can take to make sure my rights are clear and respected, particularly given the recent changes.

Any advice on my legal standing or resources that could help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for any insights!

I own a first-floor flat in England which is part of a small building of ground- and first-floor flats. I have recently had a roof repair which I paid for as I organised it and the roof was above my flat.

My leasehold agreement only states as part of my covenants "To pay one fifty of the cost of repairing or renewing Common Installations" which seems rather vague. There do not seem to be any other references to shared structures or repairs.

I have not yet approached the other residents as I don't really know them and don't wish to upset them if I am outside of my rights.

Any advice is appreciated before I ask a solicitor. Thanks!

I unfortunately was a victim of a scam I’ve got documented evidence of this and went through the appropriate processes through onlyfans & they are still refusing a refund, I’ve heard if I do a chargeback with my debit card my onlyfans account will be closed down, but would there be any legal consequences potentially ?

Hi,

Pic here for ref (arrow points to council owned part)

(England)

Wondering if anyone can advise, I've just bought a new property, it has a strange outer patch of grass that leads up to the driveway, I believe it's council owned, although there is some minor conflict in the drawing on the land registry docs I have as to what is mine and what is council owned, however, a neighbour has said they've seen the council come and occasionally cut the grass.

I'm wanting to ideally pave over it along with my side of the grass, so I can increase my car parking space, would I need to buy this back from them or is it possible I could come to an agreement with them whereby I agree to take over maintaining it for them? I'm not really sure how it can be of any use to them, given it's just a bad patch of grass leading to my drive, but I'm not clued up on these things.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

I noticed my money had gone down when I'd hardly used it then saw a list of 5 transfer he'd done to jis account when I'd left my phone in room with him. In total it's alot . I rang barckays straight away and spoke to fraud they were on phone 40mins asking alot of questions . Said his account will be frozen and asked if I'd allow police to be contacted. Said yes ofcourse but not sure exactly what is being done. Feel anxious and sick to the stomach. The last time he saw me I was at his. He'd took 300 and acted all normal. It's so sick

Location: England

Call me stupid, call me naive but kindly help me. I'm new to the UK, arriving from Ukraine just a few months ago. Lost everything there and came for a fresh start and this is the first thing I face. I am pretty devastated as this was supposed to be car that provides life-line to our family and support us here in the UK and all my savings as. I never signed up for any gov. assistance or payment as I deem myself capable of working and I do think there are others who should benefit for those so given the fact that we pay our own rent, this purchase put us very close to the bottom of the savings bucket... So kindly read and see if you can help me get my money back for the faulty car I was sold.

Story is that I found a car on Autotrader and it looked pretty clean and nice. Purchased a Vcheck and it had absolutely 0 issues. Contacted the seller on Whatsapp and he provided me with the warranty book with full service history and all official service centers stamps. It all looked ideal!

Went there and took it for a test drive, I was surprised that he met me beside a cafe, given the fact that their account on auto trader was saying ''*****autolimited'' (concealing the name as I feel like I am about to start legal proceedings and unsure how things work here yet).

He said they do not have offices but they are a business, I asked for proof and he pulled up auto trader account with email address and bunch of cars, then he pulled up Gov.uk where their registered business came up.

So I started to trust him. The test drive fine as I drove the car for 30 minutes ish (to me as a not very knowledgeable person in cars). Looked around the car and under and all looked just ok. No body damage no nothing visual at least and with the car being a 2015 Nissan Qashqai with 80k miles I thought it would be a safe bet. On the advertisement it said 3 months warranty, and I agreed with him in Whatsapp that if a major issue is found I would bring the car back for a return, he agreed.

The car purchase was made this Tuesday on the 29th, today (the 31st) the inspection at the official Nissan service centre was concluded. Lo and behold, they found 10 major issues (big stuff being gearbox, cambelt and suspensions) and 6 minor issues, total required for repair £9600. I purchased the car for £6900, the irony that the numbers changed place to come and haunt me in my nightmares.

To problems that I am facing now. I can't find them anywhere now, they are ghosting me. All I had from them was a whatsapp communication and now I am not being responded. I have no email, they had no office and I have no where to go.

Whoever I ask they keep telling me you have Consumer Act 2015 that you can invoke but you need to notify the dealer that you're rejecting the car. How can I reject the car in this case if I can't get hold of no one and request a refund?
The payment was made via bank transfer as I refused to pay in cash, it was a business account and I have all its details on my bank app now. I take it that this is the best lead I have for the time being.

I am a total noob, so I have absolutely 0 idea of the rules and laws here. I just got the car 2 days ago and I want to return it as fast as possible not to miss 14 days cool-off period agreed on whatsapp. What are the steps I need to take? Can someone please point me to a direction?

Appreciate you all in advance.

I bought a flat last year, in a period conversion (England).

There are 3 flats in total and were all owned by the same person. He sold all three flats separately at the same time and created new leases - (share of freehold is now split between the three flats).

Now all of us have been in for almost a year but the freehold is yet to be transferred. According to my solicitor, it’s taking ages - we’re waiting on the sellers solicitor.

We’ve noticed our buildings insurance has just run out and have been advised that we aren’t allowed to renew it ourselves because technically the freehold still belongs to the previous owner.

All of our solicitors have been pestering the previous owner to renew it on our behalf but he hasn’t done it. His solicitor seems to have gone silent too.

So now we have zero insurance on the building, and to make matters worse, we have a huge damp problem that needs fixing in the communal areas.

Is there anything we can do here legally or are we just stuck waiting?

Hello, Firstly thank you to all contributors i appreicate seeing such helpful feedback and was wondering if anyone could help me with calming some concerns I have .

Short story . I reported a family member who was the appointed Guardian for my grandfather Dec 23. In August 24 I recieved a call from an agent of the OPG to say they have opened a deeper investigation saying they found something. Obviously they couldnt and wouldnt tell me. So as of today in Oct 24 im still non the wiser and was wondering if my case has been closed etc.

Added context. My concern was the guardian had approved the sale of my grandads house to her own daughter without any other family aware , while he was moved into a single bed flat to pay rent. As I live the other side country and visit irregular, when I did visit I had concerns. At this point my concern was he was a solid case of dementia and shouldnt be alone, also incontinent and very weak on his feet. I wanted him with either fulltime care or in a specialist home. He fortunately is in a great home now and is diagnosed with Dementia/Alzheimer's. But as mentioned my concern about a potential financial abuse remains.

Question

Does anybody have an first hand experience in knowing how long these things can take before an outcome is decided. I would hate to think hes had his lifes earnings taken away from him and he cant afford the care hes recieving in the future.(im assuming its how long is a piece of string...)

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help with some advice or shared experience incase i dont get round to it.

Edit this is based in Englad

I signed this contract on the 2 october to a new rental estate agent swindon.

Today 30th october i gave 20 days notice to my new agent that i was leaving the agency and doing it with the tenant direct, the tenant was NOT introduced by the agency, it was already there.

They are telling me they will be taking me to court if i dont get the tenants to pay the rent into their account for breach of contract.

The estate agent is threatening me to sue me for the commision of the whole tenancy for as long as the tenants stay there, which could be many years.

This is from the agent
"1 months notice if we are marketing it. Not if it’s tenanted, our contract is for the duration of the tenancy . We have your bank details and have 2 weeks until they pay their rent. "

attached is the contract i signed on 2 october

"As joint/sole owner of the above, I/we wish to let the above property. I/we instruct Get Sold UK as the agent for the let of the property upon the terms of this agreement. Get Sold UK – Fully Managed, 1.5 weeks finder’s fee (deducted from first month’s rent) and 7.5% + VAT pcm Payable up front up front unless otherwise agreed. Get Sold UK will be sole agents marketing the property for a minimum of 8 weeks after which written notice of one calendar month must be given to terminate this contract or to advise you wish to instruct another agent on multi agency terms at the end of the term including the one month’s notice period. It is the intention of While a tenant placed by Get Sold UK is living in the property no other agent can be instructed for either sales or lettings.

Our appointment as managing agents is for the duration of the tenancy, and any renewal or extension thereof the same tenant. Signed:

Jose Garcia

In the contract it says "Our appointment as managing agents is for the duration of the tenancy, and any renewal or extension of the same tenant".

Is this even legal that i cant give notice unless the tenant leaves even if it is 10+ years??????

I’ve been collecting old (numismatic) coins for over 20 years, which makes my album be worth quite a substancial amount of £££. Do I have to declare it to customs upon arriving in the UK and pay taxes on it (again)?

Hello, I’m a postgraduate student at uni. I’ve recently moved into a private student accommodation (not affiliated with the uni). I viewed a studio in-person in Jan 2024*; it was exactly as the photos on the website. The unit I’m given is in a different building* which I was not made aware of when they showed me around. The first time I viewed my (current) unit was when I moved in.

There is a ‘disclaimer’ on the accommodation’s website [paraphrased]: “Images/ show units are indicative of what the accommodation looks like and room sizes, layouts, fixtures and furniture may vary.” 

I acknowledge the disclaimer but I am unsure if this lets them get away with a huge discrepancy between what is advertised and the actual ‘product’ (unit). I’ve tried my best to summarise my situation below. But, mainly, what I seek from this post is advice on:

1. Whether I have grounds to challenge the accommodation provider
2. Is it reasonable to request for partial monetary compensation (that reflects the discrepancies between what was advertised and what was provided)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Major issues

1. Size – the unit I received was significantly smaller than that advertised and the one I viewed in person. The main ‘living’ area (bed, study area, small kitchenette) is taken up by the bathroom which has a lot of unused space in the centre. Oddly, according to the floorplan which I requested from them, my unit is one of the two units out of ~150 units in the building to have a bathtub and a bathroom this size. Other units all have shower cubicles and smaller bathrooms, thus more space for the 'living area'. I was not informed of this variation beforehand.
2. Missing furniture – all the photos on the website for the studios and the studio I viewed have a breakfast bar + stool, armchair and extra storage space that I do not have in my current unit.

What I’ve done so far

• I’ve contacted the local Citizens Advice
• Sought help from my uni but they directed me to the above
• Lodged an internal complaint with the accommodation provider. As per their policy, there is a 3-stage complaint procedure. My complaint is at Stage 2, after receiving a response from the Senior Manager. If I would like to escalate it to Stage 3, I am required to justify why I am dissatisfied with their response at stage 2.

Issues I’ve raised in my complaint

Misleading advertisement: based on The National Code of Standards for Larger Developments, I quoted this in my complaint “3.1 Members will describe all property details accurately; without misrepresentation to prospective occupants”

Response to my complaint

• The manager reiterated multiple times that they do not feel they have misled me in any way. 
• They acknowledged the ambiguity of their advertisements and mentioned that they would rectify this in the future. 
• They denied my request for partial monetary compensation

Citizens Advice suggested that I could request to move into the unit I viewed since monetary compensation is denied. But all units are fully booked and my contract ends early Jan 2025 so it seems like a bigger hassle to move in this short period. They also mentioned seeking a solicitor specialising in property law but of course, I can't afford that.

The above is a very brief account of all the emails back-and-forth between multiple parties. My current unit is not 'unlivable' or anything but for the high price I paid, it feels like a total rip-off :( I know this is a long shot but I’m desperate for advice so any help is appreciated.

*My contract is from early Sept 2024 - early Jan 2025

*After moving in, I found out that the building they showed me was mainly for undergrads whereas most of the postgrads are allocated to the building I am in.

Hey everyone,

Firstly, I appreciate any advice I can get and I’m in England btw. I've never had to deal with this sort of thing and it might be a complicated case, so I am a bit in the weeds at the moment.

My girlfriend and I recently ended our tenancy in a London flat that we shared with one other guy, let's call him John. It's a two bedroom, my girlfriend and I shared one room and John had the other. John had lived in the flat since 2021 and had had 2 previous roommates who had since moved out. Here's where things get interesting, the letting agency / landlord is trying to deduct significant amounts from our deposit for damages that seem to have been there since 2021, when the previous tenants checked in. When we moved in, the place was pretty dirty (obviously since two guys had been living there for years and, truth be told, John didn't clean much - luckily I am a bit of neat freak so I went about cleaning everything) and a bit banged up but nothing major (a few scratches on the floors or scuff marks here or there). I should have taken photos of everything but it was hectic time and I foolishly didn't consider it.

Before moving out, the LL insisted we hire professional cleaners and return the flat to the condition it was originally in during the check in... which was in 2021, two years before we moved in. The landlord / agency didn't do a check in for our tenancy but is using the 2021 check-in report as the baseline for the state of the flat. I didn't complain and we paid for the professional cleaners. Now the place is in WAY better shape than when my girlfriend and I initially moved in but not the standard it was when it was brand new in 2021.

The landlord is trying to deduct like 800 pounds from our deposit for damages and cleaning fees. Things like mattress stains from John's mattress, scratches on a door, scratches on a floor, tons of shit like that. I told the leasing agency like 5 times months before our move out that it was unfair for them to use the 2021 check in report as a baseline for my girlfriend and I's tenancy but they either ignored my message completely or said that "John is the lead tenant so you have to discuss with him". I looked it up and lead tenant means nothing legally speaking and, moreover, the lease doesn't even state he is lead tenant.

To make matters worse, our back entrance has these heavy doors. To unlock the door you need to push down on the handle itself. It was always a little bit stiff but nothing that I really ever thought was too unusual. I just thought it was an overly stiff or quirky door handle. In the last week of our tenancy, John presses down on the door handle and it breaks - it's not his fault it always required a little more pressure than your average door. I reported it right away. They are claiming we broke the door handle from misuse and are charging an extra 150 pounds for it. I tried talking to them about the pre-existing condition of the door but they said if the door was stiff, any reasonable person would have reported it as a maintenance issue!

Obviously, I am going to dispute as much as I can, but my question is... how to craft my dispute? I feel the landlord/agency commited a huge oversight and neglected their responsibility to perform a check in when my girlfriend and I moved in and are using the 2021 report as an unfairly. Also, I don't think the door handle is our fault either... Any advice or... even commentary would make me happy. Thanks!

I'm in England.

I started a new bar job (2nd job for extra cash). It was advertised as 15 hours a week on the job site. Owner insisted (in messages I still have) in paying me cash. I asked for a contract and he said I'd get that in the second week. No "trial shift" was ever mentioned. Afrer the second shift of 5 hours or so he didn't contact me despite saying he'd detail the next week's shifts in a few days. When I asked why, he simply said he couldn't offer me any more shifts. It was a high-end bar, but very quiet the two shifts I was there and there were two other barmen and very little to do. Could have been due to no need for staff, could be he didn't like me as an employee. I don't think it's relevant to a potential ET.

Two questions:

1. Can I pursue I pursue him for no notice period? The statutory minimum is a week and I never received anything more than the cash for the two shifts. Given the job advert said 15 hours I should have got a further 15 hours pay. Am I right to think the cash payment is his problem from an ET perspective, as I never asked for it and I have messages showing he insisted on it. All this is petty, I know, but he's wasted my time and this could further problems as **I'm currently pursuing my former bar job in an ET for unfair dismissal and the level of compensation depends on me showing i've attempted to mitigate my losses and find a replacement (second) job. This leads to...
2. What effect will this have on my 1st ET (detailed in previous posts). I will potentially be compensated for several months of lost work (from the evening bar work I did) after I was unfairly dismissed. If i secure another job but then, for no given reason, it stops, does my 'loss' in terms of lost earnings stop when I started the new job, even if it only lasted two shifts, or does it continue as I'm still unable to replace the first job I was dismissed from? Also, does the illegality of the cash payments have any impact?

Thanks to anyone that can clarify.

Hello there, please can anyone help?

Apologies for formatting, on mobile.

Lived in Housing association property since 2007. Around 2016, we began experiencing damp/black mould. We have emails to the landlord about the mould which date back to 2016.

Circa March/April 2024, we engaged a lawyer to try and expedite matters.

The landlord finally agreed to do required disrepair works circa August 2024.

Work finally began on our flat in Sept 2024, due to end 31.10.24. Is now extended until at least 20.11.24.

The useless solicitors have offered our landlord a settlement offer of £5,000.

This does not include replacement items for beds etc ruined by mould and mould spores, that we have receipts for (which total over £6,000), it also does not include a rent rebate of any kind, or any acknowledgement of the lack of peaceful enjoyment if out home while it was full of black mould and damp.

We want to rescind the offer notionally made on our behalf by our solicitor (which has NOT been accepted by landlord /other side yet), and I want to know what my rights are here?

The solicitor is "no win, no fee", but also we have literally ZERO assets, so what are possible outcomes of we dismissed them?

We spoke with the barrister on a conference call and verbally agreed that he could offer £5,000 as a final settlement, but that is all, nothing had been signed or formally agreed re the settlement offer, and the other side/landlord has not yet acknowledged the offer.

Can we cancel that settlement offer?

Thank you very much to anyone who can offer advice or help.

Edit - sorry for editing this so much, I am trying to make it as concise as possible

So, my brother got a new job and read his notice period wrong. The wording was a bit confusing. So it implied it was 4 weeks but it's really 8 weeks.

When he sent his notice off to management stating I'm working 4 weeks notices they replied with we are sorry and take this as receipt.

Everything was fine but now the managing director 3 weeks later brought up with him that his notice is 8 weeks and not 4. He can't work that but they are not budging.

There is a system at work too that pulls up details about employees and it says his notice period is 1 week.

He needs to be out.

Can anything be done legally if he just exits after the 4 weeks as he stated in his notice email that he sent off.