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tallorder

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  1. Tenancy was a secured tenancy from 1977 - I think a rent officer came round and registered appropriately. They found out the rental was before the big changes that wiped out some significant protections. The son became disabled and went off to university, paying council tax, rent share etc while there. His work year took him away from home intermittently, days, sometimes weeks at a time and on rare occasions a month or so. Part of his studies took him overseas for 3 months / 12 weeks at a time. The whole story revolves around the last time his mother was admitted to hospital *before* the issue that ultimately caused her death after her final / subsequent hospital trip. In the last 2 years before his mothers death he was trying to spend more time with her. She had saved money for a deposit to purchase / part purchase the flat and told him he was registered. Her organisation skills meant cheques went uncashed, appointments were missed and documents covered in tea / food. Since all this happened (and in part thanks to Brexit) his work has dried up and his business closed. He is now in the process of claiming benefits. The first question - ADDRESS - is stopping him as he no longer knows what to do. Any extra advice would be helpful.
  2. No notices were posted The mother passed away October 2018 and locks changed late June 2019 The son has contract work, which is still continuing this month He and I have tried daily to call but never get to first spot on queue before other constraints take over No idea about county court, but very doubtful as it seemed to happen after boiler safety check Is being told to call the HA and last email reply was talk of not being tenant so can’t discuss arrears and advise not paying further rent. They want to arrange collection of belongings and (then?) issue Notice to Quit It’s all getting a bit much for them, so he’s taking a sick day to go to CAB Today. He’s due overseas next Monday until September.
  3. That's an interesting thread. HA is in Devon. Council was fully aware of situation, and advised in writing only single occupancy for council tax. Continuously on electoral roll so there is definite first hand evidence. Bank statements, landline telephone bill. Every annual gas / safety check (bar most recent) son was always present. His work was down the road, but since the place closed, he's had to take his skills on the road. Often staying overnight at clients expense - so no receipts for him - both in UK and abroad. As an example - oil rig workers on six month contacts don't pay council tax *unless* sole occupier - as far as I understand it. Surprisingly common for some workers in Devon. He had a two week residential training course the week the changed the locks and a gifted holiday, so will likely have been away three out of the last four weeks. No correspondence was received from HA nor were any substantial answerphone messages - the usual 'Call us back' on a number that is prohibitively expensive on PAYG. He's been asked to call that same number to arrange a call back - £35 for an on-hold message before his credit ran out. It's all less than ideal and is putting a great strain on the son.
  4. The rent was paid via housing benefit until his mother died, he has taken it on and I think was something like two months behind. He's never claimed in his own right, but has a disability which all the paperwork relates to that address which is his sole residence. All the bills apart from the telephone were in his mothers name and the original agreement has only her details on, despite having young children at the time.
  5. This is a follow up on another post. March 2019 My friend works away from home probably around 9-10 months a year. There is nowhere nearby to work with his specialisation. Often Mon-Thurs with long hours, travel and hotels. His mother recently died and lived in a housing association flat along with him he would be there most weekends and holidays, and work permitting could sometimes do remote working. She had been advised by the council previously that it would be best to pay for a single occupant, even though they were aware of her son. He also needs to get the tenancy in his name as despite this being his only home, he had never been added formally.  As far as I know his mother had planned to buy the property (been there since 1977), but again nothing was finalised before her sudden death. June 2019 As he works away often, he has friendly neighbours that looked in on his mother and now were regularly forwarding any mail as his mother previously did. Last week, when the neighbours stopped by, the key no longer worked and a new coded key box was attached to the outside. The new lock would allow criminals to enter the property without a key as they had done before - which lead to a burglary crime number and eventually at police suggestion a different type of lock. From other posts here, I have gleaned that there might be rent arrears which ultimately could lead to eviction, but no notice has been given. He received an unknown caller which went to answerphone the day before the lock change was noticed, but as his personal mobile is PAYG combined with other post bereavement costs he has not yet heard what it says. His voicemail takes around 30 minutes to get to most recent message. A short email arrived telling him to remove his mother's things: From this I gather they don't even see him as resident, despite receiving 4+1 weeks rent each month to reduce the arrears. He is in quite the state right now and understandably is loosing sleep and not thinking straight. Another friend agreed to take him on holiday abroad as a gift, this holiday starts on Wednesday for 10 days. Understandably as they have already changed the locks he is not looking forward to something that should have been a welcome relief. Any suggestions are most welcome.
  6. My friend works away from home probably around 9-10 months a year. There is nowhere nearby to work with his specialisation. Often Mon-Thurs with long hours, travel and hotels. His mother recently died and lived in a housing association flat along with him he would be there most weekends and holidays, and work permitting could sometimes do remote working. She had been advised by the council previously that it would be best to pay for a single occupant, even though they were aware of her son. He also needs to get the tenancy in his name as despite this being his only home, he had never been added formally. As far as I know his mother had planned to buy the property (been there since 1977), but again nothing was finalised before her sudden death. In terms of Council Tax the recent statement says the property is vacant. Best suggestions are welcome.
  7. Thanks for the reply fkofilee. They are old enough to know better, but have never really been good with money. They don't trust credit cards and have never bought anything on credit either. Apparently they have a second account (also basic) which has been in constant overdraft of £24 and change for a long time. It seems that the majority of charges were from PayPal direct debits not being honoured, while at the same time extracting funds and making the account negative, then not permitting the re-presentation of the same DD for the same amount and charging again for that! Noddle seems down (for me) today but Clear Score is up. There is some irony in the fact they have shares and get new ones with each dividend. The difference (if less than £5) is just pocketed by santander.
  8. If there is one complaint about this bank, it's that it isn't countrywide as yet. My mother is rather technophobic with computers and prefers to deal with people in branches, rather than phone conversations or email. This bank impressed her so much, she actually travels 3.5 hours to get to her nearest branch. I do most of the online things, and check things are running smoothly. There are fewer whistles and bells, but I can find what I need and can advise if needed. The manager of the 'store' has been the same one for over four years now and recognises an occasional customer on sight. Another plus for my mother is the free drink for customers and dog biscuits and water for canine companions. Definitely not a perfect bank, but a huge improvement on putting the customer back in a respected position.
  9. Their business bank account is a maximum of £60 / year if you do not keep £5,000 in it each month. Interest charges are reasonable and you can automate a bank feed into your accounting software for £1 / account / month. For someone starting in business, they offer the most reasonable account fees I've seen in this country. If the region of £100-£150 / year for operating a business account which offers free European banking access scares you, you may not actually have a business, but an elaborate piecemeal job. Talk with your accountant and see what their advice would be regarding which business account they would recommend and let us know what they discover.
  10. A friends son has been banking with Abbey all of his life. Nothing fancy, simple child saver account which eventually they changed to a basic bank account - without an overdraft facility. They make purchases overseas frequently in USD (dollars) and because of a delay in the transaction time / rate of exchange, are often hit by being a penny or so overdrawn. To date, I think the most was less than £2. The bank in it's infinite wisdom, basically just deduct £25 as they can extort from his account and leave it overdrawn, despite this not actually being allowed under their rules. From my looking at his (disorganised) statements, he may well have paid over £400 this year alone and says it goes back much further. What is the best way to proceed on reclaiming these charges, before he moves to another bank?
  11. I mistook Metro them for the Malaysian bank and would still consider them as they made their banking system jump through hoops to serve the customers better.
  12. Would be interesting to hear updates on peoples experiences. No news is good news?
  13. My friend has been with Metro for around three years and has been delighted. Straightforward, uncomplicated, more like a smart hotel experience than a bank. Open 8 in the morning until 8 at night means they can get banking done when it is convenient for them. As far as charges go, they have only mentioned negative interest, not actually branded 'charges'. That has saved them a fortune as a frequent European traveller. They were charged 'reasonably' when they went to Australia, so they are recommending them to me on that alone. I am having to travel to the nearest branch by train, but will see how they compare to my friends experience some years after this thread was started.
  14. As the original page is now 'not found' here are two archived copies: https://archive.today/TD4KL https://web.archive.org/web/20120509182317/http://www.equifax.co.uk/About-us/Press_releases/2011/EQUIFAX_WELCOMES_THE_ICO_CREDIT_FILE_CAMPAIGN.html
  15. This is really shocking behaviour. I had a friend work for insurer for a while and the description of some of the office games would make your blood freeze. One that stuck with me - as it seemed to be my file in question was the drop the file to the bottom of the pile 'game'. As stupid as it sounds one random file is labelled (usually with a post-it) and it keeps being put to the bottom of the stack and the person who see it gets a penalty from their colleagues. Insurance is meant to be there when you need it. No delay and utmost professionalism. Sadly this looks to be almost as endemic with insurance as the banks are with 'levies'. You'll enjoy the 8% more than you can imagine when this gets resolved.
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