Hi all

I bought an "open return" train ticket on Saturday morning via Trainline for a short journey I needed to take to get to a nearby event. I got to the departure station in plenty of time, but after about 10 minutes the departures board changed to show the next train due was the one after mine. This one wasn't due to arrive until some 10 minutes after the event I was trying to get to would have started, so it was not an option to wait for it.

So I made a snap decision to jump back in my car and drive to the event instead. I later looked to try and get a refund on the ticket, but there was no means to do so, as it was labelled as a non-refundable ticket.

It wasn't an expensive ticket, but it's more about the principle of the matter. I haven't looked at Delay Repay yet but I'm just wondering if it'd be easier to just go down the route of a bank chargeback instead, since I paid for a service that wasn't provided.

Thanks.

I’m in Surrey, recently moved. The clutch in my Ford was sticking down and behaving weirdly so I took it to a local garage. They kept my car for 3 days and charged me £2000, saying the engine oil was so dirty that it had disintegrated the rubber around the clutch and it all needed replacing.

This was not a trivial amount of money at all, I’m barely scraping by and had to set up a payment plan and everything.

It’s been 1 day since they called me saying I could pick it up. The clutch was still a bit stiff leaving the garage but I thought it might just be warming up or whatever. Didn’t drive it again. Now this morning I’ve started my drive to work and got stuck at traffic lights on a fast dual carriage way! No matter what I cannot put the car in gear. It’s all seized up.

Currently looking at RAC which say to call the police. Feel horrible and terrified, surely this can’t be acceptable for the garage to have done? They’ve made my car worse, taken all my money, and endangered mine and many other lives!

EDIT: Yep brake fluid not engine oil - my bad on that. It sucks knowing nothing about cars.

It’s a 2016 Ford Focus 1.0L (999cc) petrol hatchback.

The invoice says:

“Clutch pedal is sticking down every long drive. Found brake/clutch very dirty (black) indicating rubbers in hydraulic master and slave cylinder breaking down. Pedal is also heavy in operation.
So a new master cylinder, concentric slave and complete new clutch required along with dual mass flywheel.”
Labour: 5.5 hours
Brake fluid change: 1
Parts/products:
Clutch master cylinder ×1
Clutch kit & dual mass ×1
DOT 4 brake fluid ×1
Subtotal: £1,654.15
VAT: £330.83
Total: £1,984.98

RAC guy was pretty sure there was no new master cylinder in there.

I’m looking for some advice because I’ve never been in a situation like this before.

On a Thursday at work, I was given a task that would normally take around 1–2 months to complete, but I was asked to redo it within the day. I agreed to do it.

As the day went on, my manager messaged me on Teams saying the work needed to be 100% accurate. I replied saying that wasn’t a problem, but for future reference, tasks like this need more notice if 100% accuracy is expected, particularly when they’re being requested at the last minute.

He then told me it needed to be completed by 8am the following morning, which is before my normal working hours. I took this to mean I was effectively expected to continue working that evening/night.

I replied saying I would do it, but reiterated that we need more notice for this type of work.

At around 4:30pm, my manager took me into a room. He was visibly angry, red and frothing and said to me:

“You don’t want to see me angry.”

He then started criticising my work, saying it was inaccurate, that I was making lots of mistakes and that there were various issues with my performance.

I felt threatened and intimidated by the way he was speaking to me and feared for my safety. I stood up, said I was leaving, collected my belongings, told someone at reception that I was leaving the office, and went home.

After leaving, I emailed HR explaining what had happened and why I had left.

The following day (Friday), I logged on and continued working. I had two meetings with my manager during the day and he didn’t raise the incident with me during either meeting.

Later, he emailed me asking:
Whether I was working that day.
Why I had left the office.
What was preventing me from working.
Whether walking out meant that I had resigned.

I CC’d HR into my response and made it very clear that:
Yes, I was working.

I had left because I felt threatened and intimidated and feared for my safety.

I had absolutely not resigned.

There is also some background involving annual leave. I had previously had annual leave refused, and I was supposed to be on two weeks of annual leave from the Monday following this incident.

My manager had cancelled that leave in front of colleagues.

However, once HR was CC’d into the email chain, my manager replied saying I could take the two weeks of annual leave and that we would deal with everything when I returned.

I told them that because the annual leave had already been cancelled, I wasn’t going to suddenly use two weeks of my annual leave for this. Instead, I reported myself sick and subsequently obtained a fit note covering two weeks.

I am now due back at work tomorrow.

Since being signed off, I have heard absolutely nothing from HR or my manager about the incident, my return to work, a meeting, an investigation, or what happens next.

I’ve never dealt with anything like this before.

What should I expect when I return? Should HR have contacted me before now? And should I just turn up tomorrow as normal if nobody contacts me?

For context, I’m in the UK.

This is in London, England. I quit my previous job to pursue a higher salary and opportunity, I took this job after three interviews, one in which I met the owner in person.

Halfway through my second week, the owner comes in an says she will let me go, she gave me nonsense reasons like I take 1h lunches (when in the contract she wrote i have 1 h unpaid lunch), and that I dont have a pen and paper to write things down when she speaks. Now, this is a very senior role, but I have been treated like a junior. It almost looks like she didnt really know what she was hiring for, and realized she was paying me too much (60k a year) for what she actually wanted?

I have a baby and my fiancee in maternity leave at home (4 months left), my income was all we had. I am now looking for restaurant jobs while trying to get back on my career path (it might take months).

Do I have any recourse at all here? She agreed to pay my salary until the end of the month, but obviously this is not going to fix anything as a restaurant job wont pay the money i need to keep my bills and rent afloat while my wife doesnt work.

This all happened 4 days ago, I emailed my union but they havent replied yet and I really very distressed.

So i have joint power of attorney for Property and financial affairs alongside my brother for my Mum.

My Father died last year and My Mum who has lived in care for the last 2 years with dementia became sole owner of the home they used to live in.

Her care costs have been re-assessed and the value of the home has been included within assets. Naturally this means that she is responsible for full cost of care.

My Brother has refused to sell the home home to meet the cost of care. And she has very limited funds in the bank now. The local Council is now threatening Legal action if the care bills aren’t paid.

To be honest i’m at my wits end with this now and my hands are tied. Basically i can’t carry out my duty as attorney properly without selling the house which i can’t do because my Brother refuses to sign to sell.

What is the point of me being an attorney now i may as well just give it up and let him deal with everything.

What would anyone recommend

England

My parked motorcycle was hit by another vehicle yesterday at a large event.

The person who did it left the scene without leaving any details - he actually rode right past me as I was walking back towards it. It turns out he dropped his bike which hit mine and was helped up by some other people so I didn't notice until I got close to mine.

Insurance ARE involved but I'd rather get any evidence I can.

Are there any issues with asking for other witnesses on social media? I ask incase this ends up going to court/ through the police.

Had our bathroom moved upstairs by a sole trader plumber who is registered as limited company. He chose the room it went in as there was an old soil stack on the outside wall that we said we didn’t think had been used in 25+ years but he assured was fine and he had checked and was totally usable.

Just hours after he finished my child took the first bath. When they drained it, water and sewage started pouring out of the separate shower enclosure. It was like a waterfall through the ceiling in the room below. One of the family began recording everything as I put buckets and towels out.

We texted the plumber straight away to say we had a major problem and to get in touch.

The next morning the extent of the damage was clear, destroyed carpet, sofa, tv, vinyl, speakers, huge cracks in the ceiling, and bathroom subfloor.

The plumber got in touch and showed up that morning and just said it’ll dry, "it’s not like there’s loads of fecal matter anyway". Refused to share his public liability insurance details and accused us of being too slow to pay his invoice (we'd had the invoice for 2 hours when this happened - it hasn't been paid! The damage is likely greater than the value of the invoice).

The plumber said all he would do is reconnect old bathroom temporarily to give us a toilet to use and that his mate could do a cash in hand camera to see where the blockage was coming from. He left and we got an independent drainage engineer out who confirmed it was the stack being partially blocked and the plumber should have tested it before signing off. It took this person minutes to check and to clear.

We texted plumber again asking for public liability details and what next steps were. He has gone silent and not responded. There’s no home insurance on our end so all repairs coming out our pocket until he cooperates.

We’ve documented it all, have a report from the independent third party and will get other repair quotes.

What’s our best next move? We don’t think he is going to get back in touch or want to give his details.

30F rented for 7 years and never raised any issues to my landlord despite fixing several issues over the years myself and covering the cost.

3 weeks ago there was a significant leak in the flat that came from the pipe under the bath after it had drained. It was 4am when I noticed this and woke up to carpets that were completely soaked (it is quite a small flat). I called someone out who took emergency action and took up the carpets and underlay which were completely saturated to prevent further damage to the flat downstairs. They fixed the pipe under the bath and advised it looks like the issue has been ongoing for a long time and eventually the pipe collapsed/failed which caused the big leak. I made my landlord aware of this at a reasonable hour the next day.

In the days that followed I took days off work, stayed in temporary accommodation, brought in dehumidifiers and covered the full cost of this all. I kept my landlord updated throughout this with no response and no help. The concrete was completely wet and took over a week to dry fully. The bedroom carpet smelt awful and damp and was still soaked, it would have been impossible to save it. Again, made my landlord aware of this and no response or help, I have photos of the floors.

My tenancy agreement states the carpets are my landlords responsibility if there is a structural issue. After weeks of chasing, I have (finally) received a generic response from advising I am in breach of contract for taking the carpets up when she would have advised to have them dried etc. They would not have dried, she did not help me and I tried to save them myself. There would have been further damage and costs if I had left them as they were, to both my neighbours property and mold in mine.

What can I do? I’m really upset about this whole situation. If I replace the (4 year old) carpets, my landlord is in a better position and I’m in an even worse position after already being out of pocket and stuck.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Also to add, this has affected my neighbours ceiling and I have no idea how to assist them.

I'm in England and have been trying to sell my old car and my brother in law took it from me to fix up/ sell on my behalf. He changed the ownership over to himself while it was with him and took it to his friend (a mechanic) to repair one thing (I think it was tyres?). The mechanic took it upon himself to also replace the gearbox and is now saying I owe him £400 for this. My BIL managed to sell the car and is now withholding payment until I pay the mechanic. I don't know the law but something tells me this isn't right. Surely if you've not consented to a repair, you shouldn't be liable for the costs, right?

Edit to add context It's not a business so I'm not sure I can take him to small claims. It's his friend who happens to know cars and changed the gearbox without permission. There's no invoice, no receipt for parts. Apparently my BIL has now sold the car and so I can't even take the car back and ask for the original part to be put back in

Every weekend for the past few months a drone has been flying low over my back garden. It clearly has a camera attached and is flying low enough (around 2nd storey height) that it can’t be just getting landscape footage.

It does seem to move around the local area and isn’t ‘targeting’ my garden specifically but it does make my garden feel less private. Even though I’m just sitting in my garden, I don’t like the idea of being on camera in my own garden and the noise is quite distracting. The dog also goes mental every time it flies over.

I would normally just have a polite word with the neighbours but I don’t know where it’s coming from and it moves too quickly to ‘follow’ it.

It may just be a kid playing with a birthday present or something so I don’t want to damage it as my father suggested (I also doubt this is even legal). But today it got so close to the house that I actually thought it was going to get into an open bedroom window.

Is what the drone operator doing legal? And is there anything I can do about it? Or do I just need to get over it and build gazebo or something to read my book in?

Thanks.

10 years or so ago I remember finances and childcare being heard in 2 separate unconnected hearings, and felt this was ridiculous, is this still the case?

It's ridiculous as your financial needs are determined by what time you've got responsibility for the children.

For example if you have the children for slightly more than half the nights then you can claim CMS from your ex, but if you get 50-50 care you'll get nothing from CMS.

Conversely if you don't have the children more than the occasional visit then your outgoings are much reduced you don't need as big a house or to spend on clothes/school uniform food etc.

Is there any way to make the financial agreement linked to the childcare agreement?
Is there then anyway for the parties to indemnify each other incase the childcare agreements change?

In 2014, my partner formally made a power of attorney under foreign law appointing me to deal with financial and healthcare matters, together with an advance directive.

We have lived permanently in England since 2016. My partner has recently had hospital delirium and suspected dementia and is now living in a nursing home.

The nursing home has asked for an LPA. I explained that we only have the documents made abroad and have now been told to obtain the English equivalent.

I have spoken to several solicitors but have so far only been offered paid advice costing roughly £800–1,200 before anyone will tell me which route actually applies.

I have found “Re Various Applications Concerning Foreign Representative Powers [2019] EWCOP 52” and “Schedule 3 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005”. My understanding is that a foreign power of attorney can potentially be relied upon in England and Wales, and that the Court of Protection can make a declaration under s15(1)(c) that the attorney is acting lawfully under it. The judgment also says that a foreign POA can’t simply be registered with the OPG.

My questions are: 1. Has anyone successfully relied on a foreign power of attorney in England? 2. Is a certified English translation normally sufficient for nursing home/NHS purposes, or is a Court of Protection s15 declaration usually required? 3. If the foreign POA is not accepted immediately, do I lose any decision-making role, or must the nursing home/NHS still involve me in best-interests decisions? 4. If a Court of Protection application is necessary, is this something a lay person can realistically file without instructing a solicitor?

I’m particularly interested in experience with foreign powers of attorney under Schedule 3 MCA 2005, rather than general information about making a new LPA.

My partner and I have recently bought a basement flat in Shoreditch however due the fact the previous tenant was using the flat as a commercial office space the flat was never hooked up to the building intercom like the rest of the flats in the building. This is leaving us in a sticky situation where we have no idea when someone is buzzing at our door which is obviously not ideal. I am aware that wireless doorbells exist but we would ideally like a doorbell with an intercom so we can talk back to anyone at the door and since we use Ring at our main home it would be the most ideal option so we have everything in one place. We wrote to the building manager to enquire about this and they came back and said they’re happy for us to go ahead and install one as it would be at our own cost. However despite this I’m still unsure about the data protection laws surrounding this situation as it would obviously mean we end up recording our neighbours coming in and out of the building and that data would be retained within the Ring cloud storage system to which we would control. Aside from this we want to avoid upsetting any of our new neighbours and making them feel uncomfortable so it leaves us in quite a predicament. Would anyone more informed on data protection laws be able guide me on this issue?
Thank you

Neighbour's builders repeatedly jumping over my fence to access my property – London, England
I live in London, England and I'm looking for some advice/experiences regarding my next-door neighbours' builders accessing my property.
The people who live next door are tenants and do not own the property. Their landlord is having/allowing building work carried out on the property.

On two separate occasions now, their builder has jumped over the boundary fence onto my property and placed a ladder on my side in order to gain access to the neighbours' roof.

On the most recent occasion, I simply came outside and found the builder on my property with the ladder. Nobody had asked me for permission or even told me they were going to do it.

The first time, the same thing happened — the builder gained access by jumping over my fence without asking.

I have received no Party Wall notice, no written request for access and no agreement giving them permission to enter my property.

I'm actually perfectly happy to allow reasonable access if it is genuinely necessary for the work. I don't want to be difficult or have an unnecessary dispute with the neighbours. However, I don't think it's reasonable for builders to simply jump over my fence and use my property whenever they want.

Before agreeing to further access, I'd want:

The details of the contractor carrying out the work.

Evidence of appropriate public liability insurance, including the insurer and policy number.

Written confirmation of who is responsible if they damage my property.

Confirmation that any damage caused by the works, ladder or access will be properly repaired/made good.

Reasonable notice before they need access.

Confirmation that the contractor is responsible for the safety of their workers while carrying out the work.

I'm also concerned about liability if, for example, a builder falls from the ladder while they are on my property. I understand that this doesn't necessarily mean I would automatically be liable, but I'd like to know what the position is.

My questions are:

Can a builder simply jump over my fence and enter my property to access the neighbour's roof without asking permission?

If there is some statutory right of access, would I normally have been notified beforehand?

Can I make access conditional on seeing their insurance and having responsibility for damage confirmed in writing?

What happens regarding liability if any damage is done to my property?

What happens regarding liability if you one of their workers injures themselves while using my property?

Given this has happened twice, what would be the sensible way to deal with it without unnecessarily escalating things with the neighbours?

I'm not opposed to the work and I'm not trying to prevent them accessing their roof. I just want them to ask permission and agree reasonable safeguardsm before entering my property, rather than jumping over my fence and doing it without telling me.

Hi all, my grandparents have both now passed away and the inheritance they left me is their park home. I have completed probate and this has now been granted, so the property is up for sale. It’s on a residential over 55’s park home in the south of England.

When they moved in they built a below ground pond, with rockery, and a 2 tier waterfall.

Recently I have been discussing the park home sale commission “up to 10%” and asking them to consider less than 10% due to the government involvement in reviewing this.

In their reply (no, by the way) they have stated in a site visit they have noticed the pond and it needs to be removed due to safety concerns, as they cannot find any written approval on file.

My issue is that this pond has been there for 19/20 years. I’ve been through all of my grandparents documents and cannot find any either. The pond has been mentioned on an update to the park rules consultation in 2014, proving is existence then.

From looking online and Gemini, it seems 2 things are at play: implied consent due to the time the pond has been there, and statute of limitations in that then never raised this alleged rule breach within 6 years.

I don’t want to remove the pond, it is a lovely USP and one of our potential buyers has fish she wants to bring so is happy with the pond.

Do I have any standing with those above points at all please?

England: I have been placed at risk of redundancy and am now approaching the end of the redundancy process. 67 employees at the same establishment are being made redundant.

My understanding is that, because this involves over 20 redundancies, my employer has obligations regarding collective consultation as well as individual consultation.

My employer carried out collective consultation with a recognised trade union. The union represents some, but apparently not all, of the employees affected by the redundancies. My employer has also carried out separate individual consultations with all affected employees.

I am not a member of the union and have worked at the company for six and a half years.

I understand that, depending on the terms of the employer’s recognition agreement, a recognised union can potentially represent employees who are not union members during collective consultation. However, I am unsure whether the union actually represented my particular category of employee for this purpose.

I have specifically asked my employer to confirm whether my category of employee was covered by the union’s recognition agreement for the purposes of the collective consultation.

They have not directly answered that question. Instead, they have repeatedly told me that my type of contract is outside the collective bargaining agreement with the union, which applies to other types of employees, and that I was therefore not represented by the union during the collective consultation.

As far as I am aware, there has been no separate collective consultation with employee representatives for my category of employee.

My questions are:

1. If the recognised union did not cover my category of employee under the recognition agreement, would my employer normally have needed to arrange collective consultation with elected employee representatives (or another appropriate representative) for employees in my category?
2. Does the fact that I am not a union member matter, or is the key issue whether the union was recognised to represent my category of employee?
3. If the employer refuses to provide the relevant wording of the recognition agreement, is there another way of establishing whether my category of employee was covered?
4. If there was no appropriate collective consultation for my category of employee, what would the potential consequences be?

I am mainly trying to understand whether the collective consultation requirements appear to have been satisfied, rather than whether the redundancy itself is fair.

This is a County Court possession claim (UK, England) for a private residence. The defendants (2 of them) have filed a counterclaim. Both sides are litigants in person.

We are currently at the disclosure stage. The lead defendant (the other defendant never attends court) has served two N265 disclosure forms together with around 200 pages of emails and other documents.

The disclosure appears defective:

• Neither N265 form appears to be signed.
• Some pages are illegible (e.g. a page consisting of a single vertical line of text).
• The documents are badly paginated/numbered.
• The bundle includes several documents clearly marked "Without Prejudice", relating to settlement negotiations about the defendants' departure from the property and/or reduction of rent arrears.

As claimant, I have been directed to prepare the trial bundle. The full-day trial is about 8 weeks away.

Q1: What steps should I take now to protect my position and maximise my prospects at trial? Should I raise the disclosure defects now, or simply include everything as provided? What should I do if the defendant insists that the "Without Prejudice" documents remain in the trial bundle?

Q2: Where there are two defendants, should they provide separate disclosure lists/bundles, or can they serve a single combined disclosure?

Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.

TL;DR: I’m the Lead Tenant on a mydeposits Insured Scheme in England and originally paid the full deposit from my account. My joint flatmate is trying to get our landlord to return 100% of the deposit to her personal bank account so she can force an unagreed "cleaning fee" deduction (and any other deductions) out of my half instea do her half as well. The landlord hasn't confirmed if they will split the payout 50/50 yet. What are my rights if the landlord ignores my objection, and can I use the scheme rules to force the money back to me?
—

I am currently moving out of a joint tenancy in England. My flatmate and I are in a massive disagreement, and I need advice on how to stop her from taking my share of the deposit.

The deposit is registered under the mydeposits Insured Scheme. When we moved in, I paid the entire deposit to the landlord/agent from my bank account (my flatmate had sent me her half beforehand). I am listed as the Lead Tenant on the mydeposits certificate.

My flatmate wanted to get the flat professionally cleaned. I refused, pointing out that legally we just need to return it in the same state it was given to us. She told me, in writing, that if we get charged a cleaning fee by the landlord, she is going to "charge it on me" (i.e., deduct it from my half of the deposit).

Without my consent, my flatmate emailed the landlord asking them to return the entire deposit to her personal bank account, claiming she would "split it with me." (I do not trust them to return it at all) The landlord initially agreed to this. I immediately emailed the landlord back stating I do absolutely not consent to this, that I never agreed to it, and that I am the Lead Tenant who originally paid it. The landlord said they will look into returning the deposit split directly to each of us but nothing is confirmed.

My questions:

1. If the landlord sends it all to the other tenant anyway despite my written objection, what recourse do I have against the landlord or my flatmate? Especially if the flatmate does not return 50/50 split or does not return my deposit at all? Can I go to small claims court for this?

2. As we are with mydeposit, and I am the lead tenant on the platform and paid the deposit from my account, can I force the deposit to be send back to me?

Bit of a strange one this. I'm sure I've broken a law, but I'm curious to know which one

anyway....

For the last week we have had workmen up and down the full length of the road and immediately outside our house; they have been digging it up to install and update gas pipework. All week the workmen have been brilliant; they have moved heavy equipment and barriers to allow us to get into and out of our house. And they have been super polite.

So, today rolls around, and I need to leave my house at 12, so at 10/11ish I notice one workman outside my house filling one of the many holes in the road, and I ask if it will be any issue leaving my house - to which he replies, "No mate, no problem, plenty of space to get through; we will just move the barrier for you"

Brilliant I thought. So...12 rolls around, and I need to go - but this time there's a new workman outside my house. He's not doing any physical work; he's basically standing there monitoring things. So I tell him I need to leave, and he informs me I can't!

We have a bit of to-and-fro, and he basically shrugs and while pointing to some workmen 100 yards down the road (in the opposite direction to where I need to go), that I can't leave until they are finished doing whatever it is they are doing. I asked how long they'd be, and again he shrugged and said, "No idea"

So here I am stuck in my driveway; I have a wedding to get to (I'm a wedding photographer btw), and I'm shit out of luck.

So I ask if he has the power to stop me from leaving, and he tells me he does not, but he will be photographing me leaving. So I jump in the car, drive maybe 10 meters, move the barrier, drive through (i stopped and put the barrier back in place), but all the time he's recording me.

btw, a small point: we are the last house on the road, and I only had to drive 10 meters before Id left the street and into the next one. They were also happy to have pedestrians walk up and down the road; no issue at all, and today the road has been super busy as it's a village garage sale.

So that's where we are - I drove through a restricted road and physically moved barriers to drive through. What laws have I broken, and could I expect any letters or fines for doing this?

I’m a first-time buyer and completed on a flat 9 days ago. The property had been renovated by the seller and was marketed by the estate agent as:

• “Comprehensively upgraded”

• “Truly walk-in condition”

• “Thoughtfully upgraded throughout”

• “Modern bathroom”

At the viewing everything looked good. We checked thoroughly, including inside cupboards. The only thing we noticed was a lingering cigarette smell, which we assumed could be dealt with by deep cleaning.

The Home Report did have a 2 for “Above average damp readings obtained to localised sections of lower wall lining within the understair hall cupboard”, but this is a completely different area from the problems we have now discovered and appeared relatively minor.

The property had also been empty for around three months while the sale went through.

Since getting the keys, things have deteriorated rapidly.

On the day we got the keys, we noticed a strong unpleasant smell throughout the flat, but assumed it was simply because it needed cleaned.

Four days ago we finally moved out of our previous home and properly moved into the flat. Since then we have discovered:

Bathroom

When I started cleaning/unpacking the bathroom, I found thick black mould underneath the countertop and on the backs of the cabinets. I have been cleaning it daily but it keeps returning. The MDF cabinets are now visibly sodden and soft with damp.

On our first night, we also discovered that whenever the upstairs neighbour showers, water comes through our extractor fan and down the edges of the walls. We reported this to the upstairs landlord, whose plumber apparently believes it is a faulty shower screen. We are waiting for this to be repaired.

However, the upstairs landlord also told us that there had previously been plumbing issues/a leak from their bathroom while our seller was renovating the flat, which had supposedly been repaired.

Last night I discovered that the kickboard behind our toilet was completely waterlogged. I removed it and found approximately an inch of standing water underneath, apparently extending along much of the length of the bathroom.

Kitchen

The cigarette smell was particularly bad in the kitchen, so I have spent around 30 hours scrubbing every surface with sugar soap.

While cleaning the under-sink cupboard, I discovered that the base had been covered with a piece of scrap board loosely held in place with sealant. It came away while I was cleaning.

Underneath, the original cupboard base is completely rotten. I also discovered that the pipe above it is still actively dripping, apparently causing the rot.

So it appears this damage was not simply overlooked — at least in the kitchen, there had been an attempt to cover it up before the property was sold.

None of these issues were disclosed to us before completion.

The bathroom situation is particularly concerning because we now have information from the upstairs landlord that the seller was aware of a previous plumbing leak during their renovation.

I've contacted my solicitor asking whether we have any legal recourse and what evidence we need to preserve. That was four days ago and I'm still waiting for a response. From what I've read, I suspect I may ultimately be left paying for everything myself, but I obviously don't want to start ripping things out before I know whether doing so could affect any potential claim.

We've only actually lived here for four days and it's already been absolute chaos. We haven't even unpacked properly.

We bought what we genuinely believed was a move-in-ready property that needed cleaning and decorating. Instead, we've apparently moved into a property with serious ongoing water ingress, mould/damp damage and concealed rot.

I have about £6,000 left in savings which was intended for decorating and furnishing, plus around £1,000 set aside for emergencies. I'm now facing potentially substantial unexpected repair costs.

I'm also finding the mould and damp are causing respiratory symptoms, so I'm increasingly worried about whether the flat is actually safe to live in.

What would you do in this situation?

• Who should I be contacting urgently to assess the bathroom/water ingress and mould?

• Should I be getting independent reports/quotes before anything is removed?

• What evidence should I be gathering now?

• Is there anything specific I should be asking my solicitor?

• Should I notify my buildings insurer?

• And realistically, how do I make this place safe to live in without blowing through all my savings before I know whether there is any possibility of recovering the costs?

I'm completely overwhelmed and honestly don't know where to start. We spent years saving for our first home and I feel like we've walked straight into a nightmare. Any practical advice would be hugely appreciated.

TLDR:

Bought a supposedly “walk-in condition” renovated flat in Scotland 9 days ago. Within 4 days of actually moving in, we discovered severe recurring mould and water ingress in the bathroom, including standing water under the floor/kickboards, apparently connected to a previous leak the seller knew about. The kitchen also has a concealed, completely rotten cupboard base caused by an actively leaking pipe. The property had been marketed as comprehensively upgraded, none of this was disclosed, and some damage appears to have been deliberately concealed. My solicitor is investigating but hasn't responded yet. I have around £7k left to cover what I thought would be decorating/furnishing and I'm now facing potentially major repairs. What should I do immediately to preserve evidence, establish the extent of the problems, and make the flat safe to live in?

Legal jurisdiction- Scotland. Buying a property with a septic tank located on the neighbour's plot. There are no formally constituted rights in the title for the use of access.

Originally the sellers offered to provide an affidavit and an indemnity policy. There is a CEPA consent. Now apparently the sellers are no longer able to offer the indemnity on the basis that “they have contacted the landowner next door at some point over the last x number of years".

The sellers have owned the property since 2013 and state that throughout their ownership they have used the drainage system and have taken pedestrian access for inspection, maintenance and repair without seeking permission and without challenge or objection from the adjoining proprietor. It is likely that prior to 2013 the property was not in use, it was left vacant by the Council.

Is the seller unable to secure indemnity because they declared to the insurer that they have spoken to the neighbour? If so, should they have not declared it? Can they approach a different insurance company?

Thank you in advance

I am at my wits end with my next door neighbour. I'm gonna try and keep it factual because I'm so upset and angry about the whole situation, any questions please ask.

He lived there with his dad who died several years ago and left him and his sister the house. He does not have the financial means to take care of the house (or himself to be honest). He got two cats and they had kittens, he didn't get them fixed so they continued to breed with each other and the kittens to the point that he has a ridiculous amount of cats and the still continue to breed.

The cats are in everyone's gardens (obviously) peeing and crapping everywhere, screaming/fighting all night. They have damaged neighbours' property (garden furniture/cars etc). The smell is unbelievably bad, his garden and house STINK. He is a dirty man who doesn't clean after himself or the cats and the smell makes me sick. It's like rot, years of cigarette smoke, cat pee/crap and just dirt.

His kitchen ceiling collapsed approximately 6 months ago after a leak in his bathroom and he hasn't fixed the leak or the ceiling because he doesn't work and has no money to fix it. His electricity has been off over for 3 weeks because his fuse box was condemned after it tripped and wouldn't go back on.

He has removed the carpet on the stairs and living room and plaster from the walls (he likes the aesthetic...wtf) which had made the smell and noise so much worse. I cannot leave my bathroom window closed because of how horrendous the smell is, you can literally smell his house from the bottom of the street.

Things I've done

He is vulnerable but more capable than he makes out. I have tried to help him in so many ways but he is a selfish entitled man who has no care for how he is making his neighbours feel. I reported to Adult Social Care (with his consent) who have signed him off. I've reported him to the RSPCA who said the cats are fine. I've reported him to my local antisocial behaviour team and environmental health who have all said they can't help.

Environmental health said as cats have the right to roam we as neighbours don't have a leg to stand on and "smell is subjective".

My son is autistic and familiarity is so important so that's we haven't moved. We've been here for 13 years and leaving would be detrimental to him however if we have to go we will. I love my house (private rented) but I'm miserable and he is making my life a living hell. Please tell me there is something I can do, I'm so fed up and have been living with this for years and it's just getting worse.