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JohnSwansea

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  1. I moved house last year. One of the neighbours, who I don't know and have never spoken to, has planted bamboo right up against our fence. The title docs confirm they are responsible for the maintenance of the fence. The bamboo grows vertically and rapidly. It towers over a 6ft fence, up to 12-15 ft in places. It's height of itself is not really a problem as it does not shade us at all. When there is no wind it encroaches over the fence a bit but not much as it mostly grows upward not outward. However when the wind blows it encroaches quite a bit and you can hear the fence creak with the force it exerts. I understand that I am entitled to cut down overhanging plants. Does that include parts which overhang only when the wind blows? The bamboo self seeds and some shoots are growing under the fence. Are those shoots treated as a separate plant , and therefore mine as they are growing in my garden?
  2. Hello I am helping a friend who would like to go to university next year. She moved with her parents from Romania to England in Feb 2013 and is currently at school doing second year at sixth form and will take A levels next summer. Is she eligible for a student loan and maintenance grant if she starts at university in England in 2015, or does she have to have lived in England for 3 years? If there is a 3 year requirement then presumably she just needs to wait a year and go in 2016? Anyone know if Romania offers any financial support for its citizens going to University outside Romania? I imagine they dont. Thanks
  3. My cleaners are a Romanian couple. They asked me to help re late filing penalties they have been charged for their business tax return for the year ended April 13. They use a tax advisor who seems to talk a good game - he is also Romanian and goes on about how he wants to help downtrodden Romanians. But I sense he is not that reliable, as it seems my cleaners have been fobbed off by him when they have queried why they are getting chased for not filing their returns when they paid him to make the filings. When I bugged this advisor about this he did send me a summary sheet showing that the cleaners' personal tax returns for year ended April 13 were filed on time. They pay no tax as the return shows a net income of £5,000 each. But what HMRC are chasing about is the tax return for the Romanian couple's business partnership - this is clear from the letters which have the trading partnership name on them. It seems clear that the partnership tax return was not filed. Not sure how it was missed - clearly the trading results of the partnership were compiled, how else could the personal tax returns have been completed. Anyone any suggestions as to best course of action? What are HMRC likely to do about two £1,200 late fees due by two Romanian cleaners with very low incomes and no assets? Will the write them off, or will they chase them via debt collectors / legal action / bankruptcy proceedings? Can HMRC add these to future tax bills (although in practice I expect this couple and thier partnership will never have any income taxes as they earn so little)? Or can they deduct them from housing benefit or tax credits of the two partners? Will HMRC accept a lower amount in settlement of these fees, eg if they were offered £1,000 total rather than £2,400 do you think they would accept? And if we give HMRC a sob story about how this couple were let down by their tax advisor, that they thought all was fine as they filed their personal tax returns on time, that they dont understand English, that they have no money etc (all of which is true), might HMRC drop the late filing charges entirely? What is the best way to engage with HMRC on this - on the phone? or by letter? or should they find a new tax advisor who can approach HMRC on their behalf to try to sort this out? Any thoughts generally welcome
  4. Agree with the comments above. When issuing penalty fares they take your address so they can chase you for payment (and possibly prosecute you) if you dont pay. If all that has happened so far is that you have been given a penalty fare, pay the £40 asap and that is very likely to be the last you will hear about it.
  5. Thanks again (and thanks to Tim Berners-Lee for inventing the internet so we can communicate like this!) The restrictive covenant is for 1 year, not sure whether that would be considered excessive? On the evidence of solicitation seems the Cleaning Co have followed H&W around and got photos of their car parked outside former clients properties, so I think they have got the evidence. In a case like this, is there any disclosure type requirement where you have to advise the other side ahead of time of the arguments you are going to run, or can you just appear in court and present your case to the judge?
  6. You may be right about there being more to the story, I am just picking up the tail end of what has clearly become a disfunctional relationship. I sense that what this is really about is the Cleaning Co sending a message to their other franchisees that disloyalty will be dealt with harshly. That this has ended up in High Court proceedings seems bizarre - in the town they are seeking to enforce the covenant it seems H&W have "stolen" only 3 clients with weekly cleaning bill of only £70 or something! The High Court fee is over £1000 and solicitors and counsel fees on top of that, all of which Cleaning Co must know they may well not recover. I need to check the papers but you are probably right that this is more of a non-solicitation claim, although Cleaning Co is seeking to prevent H&W doing cleaning in a specified town for 12 months generally not just for their old clients. Good point on the termination fee. It is only in the hundreds of pounds so it is not blatently a penalty but clearly worth arguing that it is, although per below, on checking I see the pending litigation is not about money for now. Any idea why this has ended up in High Court - is it because Cleaning Co is seeking an injunction? Is there a way of asking that the case is heard in a district or small claims court instead? If it is not possible to settle and the High Court proceedings go ahead, can H&W expect much leeway from the judge as regards presenting their case? They will be unrepresented, and while I can give them some pointers ahead of time, given their English is middling only it is hard to see how they will be able to articulate legal arguments. On checking the papers it seems the current proceedings seek only an injunction to prevent H&W (1) engaging in a domestic cleaning business in the relevant town and (2) from soliciting former clients. The draft order then goes on to require that they provide a sworn statement re contact they have had with Cleaning Cos clients and any cleaning they have done for them since termination of franchise. Presumably that info will then form the basis of a damages claim later?
  7. Hi Steampowered - many thanks for your response, very helpful. I will respond in detail on the points you make as soon as I can later today
  8. Hi my cleaners, a husband and wife team from Romania, have asked me for some help with a legal situation they are in, and following on from that a likely debt problem. H&W moved to England permanently in 2012 with their children. When they came they signed up to a 'franchise agreement' with a cleaning company. They later tried to terminate that franchise agreement, and the cleaning company is now suing them for a termination fee and also to enforce a restrictive covenant as well as legal costs. H&W have various complaints about how they were misled about terms of the franchise agreement, how they had no choice but to sign, how the terms are unfair etc etc. Those complaints may or may not be valid, but I expect they would lose in court as it seems from looking at the court papers that the cleaning company knows exactly what it is doing and they have presented their case well. And the reality is that H&W dont have the where-with-all to respond properly as their English is not great and they cannot afford lawyers. Naively H&W ignored the cleaning cos threats when they started, and the cleaning co has now started High Court proceedings. So cleaning co has clearly incurred costs in the thousands (solicitor, barrister, court fee etc). My advice will be to try to settle the case before the court date so as to reduce the costs further. However, and this is where my questions come in, I suspect cleaning co will at a minimum, as well as undertakings re no competition (which H&W can live with), will want their costs covered. I doubt H&W can afford that. So lets say they lose in court, and there is an injunciton about not competing in certain area for certain time, as well as a costs order, made against them. I am thinking they may need bankruptcy or a debt relief order to draw a line under this. They have practically no assets (rented accommodation, beat up car etc), and generally speaking I think would qualify for DRO, which generally looks to be a better solution than bankruptcy. Thoughts welcome generally. I assume that if a DRO was awarded debts under a high court costs order would be subject to the moratorium, and discharged after 12 months? But any injunction would still apply, so they would not be able to work as cleaners in the specified area for the time the injunction applies. I assume that they will qualify for DRO under the residency requirment, as they moved to England permanently in 2012, so are now domicilied here. I assume also that there are no immigration implications of a DRO for EU citizens lawfully resident in England? Does that sound correct? Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this situation.
  9. Oldcodja makes a very fair point - in particular if your home address is near the station you 'mistakenly' went out of zone to they may be suspicious that it was a 'mistake' you make all the time, and if you complain that you weren't asked to pay PF that might suggest you knew what you were doing and how you expected to close matter down immediately if you were challenged . Your suggestion above reads fine to me.
  10. In similar cases when q of whether to wait to hear or write in straight away has come up the consensus has been that it is best to wait to hear from train co first. There always a chance they will never get round to it (unlikely but possible), also you can respond to precisely what they say, and if you write in unprompted it is more likely that your letter never gets properly matched with their case notes. So on balance best to wait. Appreciate that having this hanging over you is a worry but you can be quite hopeful it will get closed down quickly for a payment. I am slightly nervous about mentioning numbers as settlement amounts vary so much, but if forced I would say good chance in a simple case where you have not come to their attention previously, and assuming inspector does not put the boot in, £100-200.
  11. Yep, very frustrating but that is the way it is. And although letting your frustration show at the time was understandable, my advice would be to apologise for that too. You could say something along the lines of 'unfortunately the discussion with the inspector became heated as I did not understand why I was not offered the chance to pay a penalty fare which I was willing to pay immediately, and also because the inspector thought I had given him a false address when he was not able to verify it. I had in fact given my correct address as soon as I was asked. In any even I appreciate that letting my frustration show was not helpful and I would like now to apologise for doing so'. It's the best way to try to get this closed down as quickly and cheaply as possible, annoying though it is.
  12. In a week or two you will probably get a letter saying notice of intention to prosecute and asking if there is anything you would like to say about the incident. If you write back acknowledging your mistake and apologising for not making sure you had a valid ticket for your entire journey and ask if they would be willing to settle without court proceedings, there is a good chance they will be willing to do so. You should offer to pay the fare and a contribution to their costs, and you can expect to be asked to pay in the low hundreds. The fact it got heated is not ideal. Before offering an out of court settlement the prosecution dept usually check in with the inspector and if he says you were aggressive they may choose to prosecute. They may do that anyway, but more often than not where there are no aggravating factors an out of court settlement is offered. I can understand your frustration, as your circumstances do sound like they would often result in a penalty fare rather than a report to prosecution dept, but unfortunately train cos don't have to offer a PF and the law does allow them to successfully pursue criminal cases for inadvertent ticket offences, some of which are so called strict liability and therefore do not require any proof of dishonest intention, only that you did not have a valid ticket for your journey
  13. Hi I agree with the comments above, all you can do now is be completely up front with them. I doubt they will want to discuss in detail on the phone. You might want to call them to check that and to confirm address to write to, but I am sure they will want a written submission from you. On your questions. Will husband get his ticket back and any additional fares refunded? I *think* he will, but on this the train co will need to be satisfied that he did not agree to you taking his ticket. They may well need confirmation from him that he did not do so. And he will need to retain the original replacement tics, they will be needed before any refund will be considered. As for your personal circumstances, I would not go on about them too much. If there genuinely tragic circumstances the train co might take them into account, but they have heard all the excuses under the sun before, and anyway your circumstances cannot excuse lying to the inspector. You may want to consider hiring a solicitor. There are some who specialise in train ticket cases and have lots of experience negotiating with train co prosecution departments, and they will have contacts there and may be able to accelerate the process. Will of course cost hundreds but may be best way to sort out asap and also make sure does not escalate, as train cos sometimes take abuse of season tickets very seriously because of the potential for significant loss of revenue.
  14. Hi Could you be prosecuted? In theory yes, the rule is that proceedings must be taken within 6 months of the offence in the case of a minor ticket issue such as this. In practice it is highly unlikely to come to that. It sounds as if you are not in Southern / RPSS system as having an outstanding PF - they usually follow up aggressively so you would have heard if they thought you owed them any money. And even if they wake up now and realise your payment didn't go through they would almost certainly allow you to pay rather than seeking to prosecute you. If it were me I would just sit tight and wait for them to contact me - if you have told them what happened, offered to sort it out and they have not taken you up on your offer what more can you do? I suppose you could email them again ask how you can pay so you are then doubly sure you have done all you can to resolve the issue, but personally I don't think it is necessary.
  15. Thanks for the update. Annoying that it had to go that far before being resolved, but better than getting a conviction I suppose.
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