Bit of advice if possible? We have rented our house since June 2005 from a private landlord. The property was initially let by a local agent and we signed a tenancy agreement with them but they didn't 'manage' the property for the landlord. After two years, the landlord decided he no longer wanted to use the letting agent and said to us that the tenancy would just be a rolling agreement based on the terms & conditions of the original contract. We've had very few issues over the years - we are very good tenants as my husband can basically fix anything and if anything has gone wrong, we've done the work ourselves and paid for it also. The landlord over the past couple of years has turned up a few times saying that he is being advised by his accountant that the property we rent is undervalued. We counter-argued that we have a boiler that is over 20 years old and no double glazing. He said that if he did those things for us then he would be charging us a significantly higher rent and so we kind of came to a stalemate where it was agreed that we would increase the rent by £50 per month/£600 per year - each year and he wouldn't do any work on the house. He arrived again at the weekend and said that he had been told by the letting agents that, due to new regulations coming into force this year, we now have to have a tenancy agreement and he was arranging this through them for a contract to be signed. The letting agent rang to ask us for photographic proof of id and to come in to sign the contract. We asked what these regulations were and they didn't know and said that it was the landlord that had asked for the tenancy agreement, nothing to do with them. We're now worried why he is doing this as from what I've read, if he wanted us to move out, he doesn't have to have a tenancy agreement in place to serve a section 21 notice. Sleepless nights... begin P.S. Just wanted to add, we've never missed a rental payment in all these years.

Thanks for your reply. What do you mean that IM are shrugging responsibility? Not sure why they should be sued. Could you explain a bit more please?

Hello My friend made a personal injury claim after a car accident at the beginning of last year. The 3rd party & insurance company accepted 100% liability. She made a claim for personal injury due to neck pain/whiplash through Irwin Mitchell. In July 2018, an approximate settlement was made to the value of £3000 odd. My friend received £2700 and the rest was taken in fees by IM. On Saturday she received a letter from IM with a copy of court documents headed 'EUI Ltd v ********' - the papers state that they are not disputing liability but they are disputing the amount paid to her for 'special claims' and want to recover that money plus costs - amounting to around £3400. She spoke to IM who said that it 'probably' won't go to court. Not very reassuring, to say the least. She is really scared that they will take it to court and make her pay that money back (which she doesn't have as it has been spent!). I thought that once the case was settled and a settlement paid out, that was it? I think I might not be as educated as I think I am! Any thoughts? Incidences of this happening before? Outcomes? All help greatly appreciated. Thanks

Thanks for your advice - the ship has sailed, at the present time, for any kind of gentle talk. We haven't seen each other since June with no hope of repair of the relationship until she realises how much we do love her - which will take a big helping of me admitting that I've over-protected her, mollycoddled her and generally made my own bed! Unfortunately, when you consistently try to over compensate for your own childhood, you run the risk of ruining the next generation too. £200 is a mere drop in the ocean compared to the thousands that she has categorically stated that she is not paying back - I thought I'd ask for people's advice as this last £200 is the straw that, nearly, broke the camel's back! I'm going to go back to sucking it up and carry on paying the debts that this daughter has left me in along with the other few thousand that my other daughter and ex-boyfriend have also recently left me in (no kidding, this crap is real!). Oh well, life's short - money is fluid and we can't take it with us. Thank you again for your help x

Hi all - hoping someone can give me some guidance. Back in June, I withdrew £200 in cash from my Credit Card as my daughter was going away and urgently needed funds. She agreed to pay me back when the statement came in the following month. So, she paid the £200 back in July directly to my credit card and we have since fallen out - basically over her lifestyle and dishonesty pertaining to it. Anyway, the upshot is, Vanquis have reversed the payment this month and debited the account as she has disputed the transaction saying that she doesn't recognise the payment. I'm not sure I can do anything about this at all but thought I'd check with you knowledgeable lot for any ideas! I would mention that my credit card and her bank card both have the same surname and at the time, I think, the same address. Looking forward to people's thoughts - thank you

She has been interviewed under caution - bailed - went back to police station and they have charged her. They searched her property and my house and no phone was found. Due to the fact that she didn't take it! She had a solicitor at the police station whilst being interviewed but we're not sure how she would proceed - does she use this solicitor? Or does she have to find another solicitor? Not sure how to contact the solicitor that was present as she didn't give her a card. This doesn't relate to the phone that I was talking about in the other thread - he still has that phone - the police said they would ask him for that back, but we haven't heard anything back regarding this. This is about a phone that he had and is saying that she stole from him during the fight.

Hi - I hope someone can give me a bit of advice. My daughter, who recently split with her ex, got into a fracas with him and he is accusing her of robbery i.e. taking his mobile phone. Laughable, considering he stole her phone, run up £100 debt on it and also left her thousands of pound in credit card debt (in another thread). Police don't want to know about that part. Anyway, because of the tussle, they have decided to charge her with robbery contrary to section 8(1) of the Theft Act 1968 and she is due to go to court in November 2016. She suffers from depression and anxiety, both of which are currently being treated, no previous offences and definitely not known to police in any regard. She is also unemployed and has no income presently whilst Universal Credit is being sorted out (first payment date will be around November 18th). My questions are: 1. Will she be able to get any legal representation? 2. Can she gain access to any witness statements prior to court date - this is the most relevant question because she is thinking of just pleading guilty so the judge is more lenient. The anxiety this is causing her could literally be the straw that breaks the camel's back, so the thought of it going to trial is killing her. I'm loathe for her to plead guilty due to the impact on future jobs/credit etc. We think the witness is contrived and therefore my daughter feels there's no point in standing in court saying she's not guilty when the odds are stacked against her. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a witness of her own. I would be really grateful for anyone's thoughts on this and hopefully point us in the right direction for further help. Thank you

Ok - thanks for your help. I agree very unfair but don't want her in an even worse position than she is now!

Hi - just wondering if I could get some advice. My daughter's boyfriend upped and walked out one day leaving the tenancy (in both their names) and a pile of debts. All credit cards were taken out in her name (about £15k), money borrowed from us (her parents) which amounts to £3000 and utility bill debts, some of which are in both their names. The last thing he took with him was a phone that she had recently taken a contract out with (because he was denied credit) and has consequently run up a bill amounting to £100. She mistakenly thought that he would be reasonable and they would come to some agreement regarding the debts - he has since said that he didn't sign anything (regarding the credit cards and the money owed to us) and would not be discussing this further. She has now blocked the SIM card but hasn't blocked the phone as he has stated to police he has the phone and will give it back with witnesses. This was over a week ago and he has made no attempt to give the phone back. The police have said they will not act in retrieving the phone either. I've said to my daughter that the best course would be to add the phone to the long list of money that she won't get back and get the phone blocked as well. Does anyone have any other suggestions? I'm perplexed how some people just have no morals whatsoever!

Some really helpful answers - thank you so much. My friend has an appointment with a solicitor on Monday morning - the company has already been in contact with her today asking her for the name of the solicitor she's contacted. There is obviously some sort of time limit. She said that in the letter there is mention of £800+ severance pay but no other compensation. I would presume this amount would just cover lost wages for a couple of weeks? Once again, thank you.

Hello - I'm hoping you will be able to shed some light on a colleague's awful predicament. Today, our Head of Ops came over and asked my colleague to have a word in a meeting room. She was ushered into the room to be met by some head guy and a HR representative. Whilst she was in there, the Head of Ops and second in command took my colleague's Manager into another room to tell him what was going on. Basically, my colleague was told that she was being dismissed due to her performance. The last time performance was mentioned was in January this year when she was told she wouldn't be receiving the annual bonus because she had only achieved a 4 (it should've been a 3). Since January she has not had any performance plans, no warnings (verbal or written) and was totally unaware of any sub-performance on her part. Clearly her manager was in the same position as he didn't know either. For just over two weeks now, she has also been training a new member of the team - not sure why this would be if she was so bad at her job? She has been employed by our company since May 2013 and I am worried that she may not have a leg to stand on due to being employed less than two years? Incidentally, whilst sacking her the HR person told her that she needed to consult a solicitor and the company would provide up to £500 to pay for this. What's that about? She definitely has been sacked as she has her letter of termination. I would be so grateful if any of you could advise her further. She's a lovely lady who doesn't deserve this.

Exactly

The drama person is moving to a different department - I'm very happy about that. And I think I can manage not to say anything more on FB - apparently the settings can change every so often, so I wouldn't take the risk. I'm not the type of person to usually put anything on there anyway, it's more for finding people's dogs and desktop games! Thanks for your advice, it is appreciated

All's well - apparently HR have said that it's not a matter for them as I didn't mention the company name or the surname of the person involved. They stated it wasn't an ideal status but there wasn't any disciplinary action they could take. Worth knowing, I work for a multi-national company so obviously their HR is not some tinpot setup. What is now ideal though, is that FB is now completely private and only has my personal friends on there

Hi I've had a few problems with a group of girls at work recently - one in particular who likes to cause trouble. Anyway, after a horrible day on Friday - I came home and put a status on my wall - this is exactly what I wrote but fill in the blanks. "Thank f**k for the people that make working bearable - because f**k me do I work with some a**eholes". The majority of comments were asking if I was ok but one of the above group of girls started an argument and goaded me into stating one of the girl's names. I stated her name and basically that she knows that she causes drama for every person she comes across. No reference to the company I work for, no surnames - just first name. I got called in by my Manager (who incidentally is pally with this girl) and informed that he had passed my 'disgusting' status to our Head of Department who has passed it on to HR. I'm obviously thinking that they're trying to sack me for gross misconduct. Any thoughts? I'm a hard worker - regularly given incentives for extra work that I do etc and I'm finding this whole thing really stressful. Please help