No, it's a proper house. It used to be his family home. But it's a bit of a mess and not suitable for 5 adults. I actually didn't even know what an HMO was until the other new housemate brought it up. She mentioned it to the solicitor who drew up the contracts and he said it wasn't a problem and that they could get a licence if they wanted but he wants to move back into the house at some point so didn't want to get one. Which sounds like rubbish because he's been renting it out for over a year and we all signed 12 month contracts last month. I paid a considerable deposit, which is in one of those safe deposit schemes, and fees for a reference check so I want to make sure I can get that money back before I start making any threats.

I am renting a room in a house which has 5 separate occupants the LL doesn't have an HMO licence. Can this make the tenancy agreement void? I've only been living here for a month and the house is not in good shape and would not meet the health and safety standards required. I moved in at the last minute because I was let down by another landlord and had no other choice and would like to get out of this contract and get my deposit and fees back.

So I ended up going to the IUC and it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it might be. The only reason they wanted to interview me was because the system flagged up that I had stopped claiming JSA but still kept receiving HB - they didn't know if I'd been working, if I was still at the same address, or anything apart from the discrepancy between the JSA/HB. I ended up being honest about my situation and the person who interviewed me was very sympathetic - she said that the amount that I owe will need to be reassessed and it might even turn out that it will be less than the first amount quoted. Now I have to send them my bank statements to show how much I earned over that period and then they will use that to assess how much I actually owe. Feel stupid for not just going to the IUC after I received the first letter as it would have saved me a lot of stress and maybe even some money!

I feel like my thread has been hi-jacked a bit here - any advice for me, anyone?

Last year was not good for me; I was suffering from depression and had a serious alcohol problem. This made it hard for me to hold down a job for more than a week or two at a time. I was living in London and made a claim for JSA and housing benefit. I was granted both. But I missed signing on a few times and the jsa stopped but the housing benefit continued to be paid into my account. Having never claimed before I wasn't sure on how the two were connected or that it was my responsibility to notify the local council of my change in circumstances. I finally ran out of money and moved back up to Scotland to stay with my family, I left my belongings in the flat but someone else started paying rent for my room, a friend of the people I was living with, despite the fact he didn't move in to the flat until Feb this year. Between the end of Sept, when I moved back to Scotland, and now, I lived in a number of places including a hostel, friends' couches, as a lodger, as a sub-letter and am only now getting back on my feet. I stopped receiving the housing benefit at the start of Feb this year and a month or two later received a letter at my family home in Scotland asking me to attend an 'interview under caution' - due to the fact I was no longer living in the area and work commitments I was unable to make it to the first appointment and subsequently failed to agree upon a date that would be suitable. Meanwhile, I had given them an address in London that they could send my mail to and I received another letter from the local council stating the exact amount that I had been overpaid and I called the overpayments team and agreed to set up a direct debit to start paying it back - the total was around £1,800. I thought that starting the direct debit would be enough to settle the matter. However, last week I was contacted again about having to go in to the council office for an 'interview under caution'. I'm currently back in Scotland. What I'm basically asking for advice on is what my options are: do I need to go? What will happen if I don't? And have I already made an admittance of committing fraud by starting the direct debit? I just want to avoid court or getting into legal trouble. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Okay, I'll wait until I receive some correspondence from HFO and update you when it arrives.

Okay, thanks for that. I still haven't heard anything from HFO since that call from Roger last month but Barclaycard told me that they had sent them a copy of the executed agreement (unsigned) on Jan 5th so I'm expecting to hear from them soon. I was thinking about making a pre-emptive strike and getting a lawyer to send them a letter confronting them with the facts that I have so far. Would this be a good idea or should I wait until they send me out a letter? Bearing in mind that they've failed to reply to the last two letters that I've sent them and haven't sent written contact since last October.

Also, Barclaycard told me that under section 78 of the consumer credit act they do not need to supply a signed credit agreement for a credit card contract, it only appies to loans and mortgages.

Update: I called Barclaycard today regarding the letter they sent last month. They confirmed that the account had been sold to HFO services in 2007 and was now out of their hands. I also checked my credit report online and the strange is that Barclaycard don't show up. The credit agreement that is in default shows as being a credit card debt owed to HFO services Ltd which shows a default date of 01/05/2007. I asked the guy at Barclay card about the default date on the account and he said that it entered default in September 2006. The last payment made on the account was February 2006 so how does this relate to the law with regard to it being statute barred? Is it from the last date the account had a payment made on it or the date that it entered default? Also, did HFO have any right to put a default date of 01/05/2007 on the account under their name?

Yeah, I threatened them with legal action if they didn't cease and desist and it seems like it worked. And now, due to a visa mess up, I won't be going to Asia for another couple of months so hopefully I can persuade HFO to do the same.

Received this from BCW the other day: One down, one to go!!

I haven't received anything in writing since October. The last contact was when I returned a missed call from them before xmas.

Well, that's my worry - that they decide to start legal action and I'm not there to defend myself.

Yeah, I had a look at those. I still haven't been threatened with litigation. But I'm not sure how to keep fighting them whilst I'm going to be living halfway around the world!!

Now. as I have mentioned before. I am moving abroad next week and will be working out in Asia for an undecided amount of time. I am now worried about how to handle this whole HFO/Barclaycard/BCW situation that I have been trying to keep on top of so far. I know for a fact that the BCW/Aktiv Kapital acc is statute barred and that the HFO/Barclaycard will be SB by February 14th. I tried calling BC the other day and was passed around a few lines before being hung up on. I then called back again and was put on hold for an hour before giving up so it looks like sending letters is the way forward.