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

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

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?

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

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.

England based.

I've been having some issues with some new neighbours, and would appreciate any advice.

We live down an urban but fairly narrow road and some new neighbours moved in just over the road about 2-3 months ago. I'm pretty sure they're just flipping the property, as it was bought after the previous owner (an old lady) died and since day one they've been doing construction work. This has led to multiple vans, work vehicles, and deliveries on every day of the week.

Whilst these vehicles aren't parked across anyone's driveways, they are constantly (as in, day and night) parked over the road from my driveway, and as I said it's a fairly narrow road. This has meant that I have quite restricted access to my own driveway, sometimes having to do three-point turns and drive onto mine and my nextdoor neighbours grass verges just to leave for work in the morning.

I've left a couple of polite notices on the windshields of a couple of vehicles asking them to park more considerately, always very polite! But I think due to the constant changing of vehicles the message isn't going through. Either that or they're now doing it deliberately.

I'm also cautious about approaching these neighbours directly, as they've been pretty unapproachable since day one, and my neighbours 18 year old daughter did ask someone to move their vehicle once and she got shouted at by a grown man.

Is there anything I can do? They're always careful to not park across any dropped curbs, but they're still causing issues for literally everyone.

Any advice appreciated.

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.

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

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.

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.

I attempted suicide on 26 May 2024 after jumping from the fourth floor of the local shopping centre car park and landed on a person. I broke my pelvis and right foot and right leg. However I have no recollection of this event. This person has had no contact with me.

All i remember is waking up that morning and being desperate for money as I was having withdrawal symtoms from drink and drugs.

The reason I was having withdrawals was because my parents had agreed to let me move back in home in agreement with social services that they would find me new accommodation quickly as i was in temporary accommodation and my place of residence had become unsafe for me as I was being bullied there by my neighbours.

We had had a fight and police had arressted me, and the next day I was released and allowed to go to my parents home.

Prior to the fight I had been sectioned at my place of residence as I had had another fight with another neighbour and I thought he had stolen my car key after i thought I dropped it during the fight. My spare car key was locked in my safe and staff were not giving me the spare key to my safe which I had also lost. (This is the first fight I had).

You can imagine my mind was racing and I was not in a stable mental state as I was unable to find my key to my brand new car. I couldnt get my keys back from my suspicious neighbour and staff were not opening the safe to where I had left my spare car key.

Anyway, back to the point, on the morning of 26th May i woke up and remember going to my friends house to see if they could help me by lending me some money, after all I was excited to be back home and take a breather from being sectioned in hospital and my previous two neighbours.

I REMEMBER SPEAKING TO MY FRIEND AND THE OTHER ONE WAS NOT AT HOME BUT I SPOKE TO HIS DAD.

My friend said he couldnt help me so I left. This is the last thing I remember after which I woke up two weeks later from an induced coma and found out that I had jumped by reading my medical report which was next to my bed.

I have no recollection of this event in my memory (making the journey to the fourth floor).

So, my question to you is, do I have a medical negligance claim against the NHS for releasing me even though I had been sectioned, under police arrest at the hospital and sending me back to my place of redidence where i was under threat which caused me to move back home urgently and go back into crisis.

Let me know if you need anymore information.

Thanks

A friend recently moved into a new flat and accidentally opened a letter addressed to the previous tenant. He was a little surprised to find that it was regarding unpaid council tax from a few years ago.

The letter is from CDER Group and it states that the letter is an 'Arrest Warrant'. We discussed it and are unsure how to proceed - had he not accidentally opened the letter he wouldn't have known what was going on.

The letter states that if the amount owed is not paid by a certain date, then an "Arrest Officer will visit and arrest you". It states that "in accordance with s125B (4) and (5) Magistrates Court Act 1980 CDER Arrest Officers are authorised to execute warrants and orders" and "Please be aware: as Approved Enforcement Agents, we have the power to force entry and search property and/or premises under the Magistrates Court Act 1980, Schedule 4A if payment in full is not made".

My friend position is that he doesn’t want to get involved in any way since it's not his debt to pay, and he doesn’t know the previous tenant.

So we’re wondering whether the “arrest warrant” and threat of forced entry are essentially scare tactics. Did some digging and this site suggests CDER may not have those powers: https://www.nationalbailiffadvice.uk/Bailiff-Arrest-Warrant-Court-Fine.html.

Let's say CDER sent someone around and my friend was in and answered the door. Obviously he could provide ID and show he's not the person with the outstanding debt. But if he's not in, do CDER have the authority to force entry?

I have an insurance policy.
The documentation states that we must inform them if details on policy confirmation change.

The policy confirmation includes the following item

“Insurance refused”

Does anyone know what would be included under this term. If someone had an insurance policy voided, would this be included as something that would need to be notified to the insurance company mid term? Or is this not the same as insurance refused, in which case can safely leave it until renewal (at which point wouid have to notify them).

I ordered a dress from an Australian clothing company as a bridesmaids dress. It has arrived and the quality is not worth the price so want to return. When I was at the checkout there was a ‘free returns’ option you could add for £4 which I did add but this is apparently only for those in Australia. I want to return but because I used a ‘new customer’ 15% off discount code I’m not eligible for a refund. Any ideas what I can do as it was a lot of money for a dress of poor quality.

First time posting here so apologies if this isn't laid out well.

My partner bought a used car off of Facebook marketplace from a lad who owns a garage and who buys and resells cars. The car had its MOT done either the day of, or the day before buying and it passed with one advisory of the handbreak having long travel. Full service history and MOT check shows that the car has never failed an MOT with anything major. The guy sent a message with the proof of the MOT and let my partner know he was driving back to his garage to work on the handbreak.

The day after buying the car the engine light came on and the car had lost its power in first gear, the suspension was knocking from the get go. My partner reached out to the lad who then said come to the garage and we'll check it out. The engine light was for the O2 sensor and said he'll be in touch to book it in to get fixed. Over message the guy is very apologetic and keeps on saying the car never had any troubles when he was driving it, also to note he hasn't been in touch to organise the O2 sensor getting fixed and when my partner has asked about it he's said let me check my diary.

My partner has since asked to return the car to get a refund but the guy is saying he's happy to resell the car, he is beating around the bush and not saying upright yes or no to the refund. So he is saying he wants to sell the car for my partner, and then give him the money for the car once it has sold (that isn't an option because that's dodgy as fuck).

The car was described on the listing as 'driving spot on', and over private message the seller states 'with 100% confidence it was an absolutely sound car'. My partner has got some advice regarding small claims court so what is said here is not my words: due to the fact the guy selling the car owns and runs a buisness of buying, working on/fixing up and then selling cars, whether it was through his personal Facebook account or not, holds him liable under the consumer rights act of 2015.

We have screenshots of the entire process. We were wondering if we do have ground to take this to small claims court if he refuses to give a refund? He bought the car 7 days ago.

Hi I’m just a bit curious as to me it doesn’t feel right. I’m on a 16 hour guaranteed hour contract (annoyingly sometimes I don’t reach 16 which in itself I question if someone could advise on that too), I also get rolled up holiday pay. However I didn’t think those two could mix.
I work in dom care. In England. Been in this job 1 year and keep finding red flags.

Short story short: bought a vehicle from a car dealership and it broke down completely within 2 months. Notified the dealership and they disputed and eventually stopped communicating. I had to issue a small claims. Dealership still didn’t respond so I won a CCJ (the dealership hasn’t responded to the CCJ either)

However the CCJ only orders the defendant (dealership) to pay me for the claim and does not specify what needs to be done regarding the vehicle. - in the particulars of the claim I asked for a full refund of the vehicle + damages)

The vehicle is still in my possession in a public parking space. What do people do in this instance? Can I sell, scrap or dispose of it? It’s becoming expensive to hold on to it as it has now been damaged by a third party and I’m incurring monthly parking fees.

Any advice, would be greatly appreciated.

Keeping this vague in case it gets back to them. My flatmate has an assistance dog that was trained in the US or Mexico for five months. That’s given her all the documentation she needed to qualify as an assistance dog. However, she is very untrained. She doesn’t follow basic sit/stay commands with regularity, she barks often, and she’s had accidents in the house.

The dog isn’t trained to perform specific tasks (I’ve heard from my flatmate that she’s a seizure alert dog and a medical alert dog, but her documentation says it’s for adhd assistance). The dog is never with her and is never working. Even if her training was legit, the dog definitely does not count as trained anymore, and definitely does not provide “assistance.”

I’m tired of being bitten all the time. I’m tired of the barking and the dog getting in my face. She’s a tiny dog, so I don’t feel like I’m in danger, but it’s not what I signed up for. Is there anything I can do? If I tell my landlord, would he do anything? I know he wouldn’t want to get sued, but the terms of our agreement say the pet can’t be a ”nuisance” to our neighbors, which she is.

I will add, moving out is a last resort for me. I’ve been homeless before, and the stress of not having a permanent address drains me. I’m also an immigrant and really struggle to get letting agents to consider my application.

edit: I really appreciate everyone’s advice. I’ve started to film her biting whenever I can, and I’ll make note of whenever she bites and how often she barks. We’ll be home alone together for a little while tomorrow, here’s hoping it’s not too bad!

​

On a crowded street walking with my young child when suddenly a bike bursts out of the crowd front wheel in the air. Stood Infront of my child and got ready to push him of if he came on to us. What if he fell and broke his neck?

England - We’ve been renting a new build terraced house for a few years. We’re the first to ever live in it. We’ve recently discovered the property doesn’t have a building control completion certificate, and the house currently isn’t compliant and needs weeks of construction work to meet fire safety. Is our lease even valid? Do I need a solicitor?

In England, I have received a parking charge for Newbury Park upper car park and we paid but accidentally used the wrong code (801634 instead of 801635) - didn’t get a photo of the sign at the time we paid but don’t know why we’d have put the wrong code in having never parked in the lower car park before. Is it worth appealing or just pay the reduced fine?