As a Spanish citizen, he can live and work in the UK (or anywhere else in the EU) without any restriction so he doesn't really need a British passport except out of pure choice. He will have difficulty if there is any conviction or caution on his police record, but an informal chat with the police will not have been recorded.

No problem, that's what we're here for. At worst, you'll probably have to convey twice, first to you and your brother jointly, then to your brother as a second and separate transaction. I hope it works out for you both.

Thanks for getting back with the additional points. It seems very odd for the lender to expect the property to be in his name *before* the 'sale' takes place, and that's effectively what it is. I hope you are able to find some more understanding lenders, although remember that multiple credit applications over a short period won't look good on a credit file, whoever it may be, so it might be advisable to check whether they are carrying out a search on 'enquiry'. Perhaps you should enquire of a solicitor as to whether the trust option is possible. They usually offer the first hour for free and then at least you'll know whwre you stand.

If I understand you correctly, you and your brother currently have an equal share in the house, as a result of your mother's will. With probate, you as executor have legal control over the land registration but you would normally be required to convey the property to you and your brother's jointly. This step can be skipped because probate allows you as executor to transfer the property, and beneficiaries are allowed to make private agreements about distribution. He wants to buy your half but is having difficulty obtaining a mortgage to do so. The lender asking for the land registration to be in your name has misunderstood the fact that their lending will be secured against something of which your brother already owns 50%. Do not use that lender because in that situation, you will be holding the property in trust but with no control over it. If he is buying your 50% to obtain sole ownership then it would in fact be odd for the registration to be in anything other than his own name. The third lender in your list is therefore correct to demand this, and it is necessary administration. As far as protection is concerned, there will be a completion date for the transfer, when the mortage lender will transfer the cash to you for 50% of the property's value. Your brother will then own 100% and is responsible for repaying the loan secured against his ownership. You will no longer have any interest or control in the property and you won't need it either.

It might seem unfair but if your daughter has permanent accommodation somewhere else then your spare room is deemed unnecessary and you will be asked to pay for it. On a practical level, the only way around this would be to demonstrate a need for the room, for example if your daughter's accommodation required her to move out during holidays (as was presumably the case until recently), or if she returned home to work during them because no work is available in her current location. Perhaps you could try taking in a short-term lodger to cover the shortfall, with a condition that they vacate the spare room at the end of the university year. That could be better than having eventually to move into a smaller place, and your daughter could stay during the summer holiday.

These debt purchase companies, one of which claims to have been assigned the debt which is the subject of the Charging Order, can be a bit slow on the uptake. However, their failure to update the Land Registry has no legal effect on the Order itself, even though it would be normal to request the Court to vary the judgement in favour of the new assignee, and then update the LR. If the previous assignee was paid accidentally then they would be obliged to pass the money to the new assignee. It isn't quite correct to say that a CO cannot be made on jointly-owned property. It can, but it's unusual to request one because obtaining a Sale Order would be virtually impossible (the other joint owner has a right not to be disturbed). If you jointly sell the property in the future then the CO will have to be satisfied from the OP's share of equity in the house, with the joint owner remaining unaffected. However, if the OP's equity is insufficient then the beneficiary of the CO could theoretically block the sale, so their permission should be sought beforehand. If the debt is repaid before any sale then the CO should be removed and the LR record updated to its previous, unrestricted state.

How long does your contract have left to run? If it's near or beyond the minimum term then you can use that as leverage for a goodwill gesture. Even if not, it's worth pleading ignorance by asking for a one-off refund of say 50% of the landline calls, on the basis that you thought they were unlimited. Make sure to ask them for a printed reminder of the terms of your contract.

The lease is apparently not being renewed so the only thing relevant here is the sale price which, as you correctly state, is below the SDLT threshold. There might of course be some additional fees (not SDLT) for transferring the lease, but that's a separate matter.

Corporate cards are usually billed directly to the company, so there should be no reason to credit-check the individual, unless the issuer wanted to check your file as part of an identity check (like some banks do for the opening of a savings account - in this case bad credit should not affect the decision). If the card is only for office admin then it would almost certainly be a corporate card. Some companies run affiliate programmes to issue individual cards to employees who travel regularly and run up expenses, but it doesn't sound like you're in that category. In any case, unless you work in financial services or certain related professions (e.g. accountancy), your credit history is really none of your employer's business.

Perhaps it would be reasonable to ask your landlord to have his electrician explain how he made the installation safe. For example, if the socket was fed by a spur, he could have isolated the supply at its branching point from the ring main and the blank faceplate is just cosmetic, with no live supply remaining behind. If it's part of a ring main, he could have joined the cables safely and used appropriate insulation for damp conditions. A damp, live electrical installation is certainly a hazard, but if this has been addressed by a certified electrician, then it should now be safe. If your distribution board is modern (i.e. Miniature Circuit Breakers rather than cartridge fuses or even worse, fuse wire) then the risk of a fire would be very low both before and after the landlord's intervention. However, if you start having trouble with circuits tripping, that could suggest there is more to the problem.

I'm not sure there's very much he can do about it then. I'm afraid contractual cancellation and admin fees are normal in insurance these days, and with such a low premium, they might argue that admin fees are justified by the extra work incurred. Insurance fees unfortunately haven't yet come under the kind of scrutiny that bank charges did, and I'm not aware of any legal grounds for arguing that the fee is unreasonable. In any case, they'd probably argue that classic car insurance is a specialist product anyway, by way of justification.

Couldn't he just let the policy time out, thereby avoiding the cancellation fee? £68 for a year's insurance is very cheap anyway.

It's very important with EBay that you start your complaint as soon as possible, which you have done. Just be patient and see the process through. When you write to EBay, try to break your text into paragraphs, because that makes it much easier to read, and therefore more inclined to listen to you. Unfortunately, the only way to be sure when buying items like this is to go to a real shop, where you get personal service and a proper guarantee in case of any faults!

This is one of the things that unions are supposed to be good at, not least because they should be familiar with the process and the territory. Are you a member?

As you probably know, if you go abroad then you're supposed to tell them about any income you receive so that they can assess your repayment level (which could be zero of course). If you don't do that then they'll assess a 'standard' repayment, as well as add penalty fees, and if you don't pay that then they might eventually try to take legal action. If you're hiding out in China (excluding Hong Kong) then they're unlikely to get very far! However, but if/when you return, and start working in the UK, they'll find you via your NI number and have your employer deduct at the usual rate, which would also then trace you so they could recover amounts previously due. Since your earnings in countries like Thailand could be quite low by UK standards, it is probably best to keep in touch with SLC and avoid racking up penalty fees and other unwelcome surprises. Your loan would accrue interest but is eventually cancelled (at age 50, I think). Have a look at the information on their website about overseas repayment - there are different repayment thresholds for each country.