The lease shall commence on 1st November 2010 and shall expire on the 30th April 2011 and thereafter from month to month until terminated by either party giving to the other at least two months notice of termination Having spoken to Shelter Scotland on ed999's advice......apparently this means that 2 months notice has to be given despite the wording that states the lease expires on 30th April.....to leave on 30th April would mean giving notice by 1st March 2011. Annoying as it doesnt read clearly like that to me Thanks for all the replies JPea

Thank you everyone for your replies. Thanks Ed999 I will certainly start by contacting Shelter here in Scotland. I agree there is certainly ambiguity in the contract wording. Will keep you updated if anything useful/interesting comes up. JPea

Hi dx100uk thanks for replying I think I assumed that The lease shall commence on 1st November 2010 and shall expire on the 30th April 2011 meant that it did expire on that date and that I would just need to indicate if I wished to continue from thereon. Still confused!! JPea

Hi I would be grateful for any advice as I am very confused. I am the tenant of a private property in Scotland. An Estate Agents mananges the lease. The lease states: The lease shall commence on 1st November 2010 and shall expire on the 30th April 2011 and thereafter from month to month until terminated by either party giving to the other at least two months notice of termination At the beginning of April (5th) I went into the Estate Agents and said that I did not want to renew the lease beyond its expiry date on 30th April. However, they have told me that I needed to give two months notice of this and therefore I am responsible for the rent until 5th June 2011. Have I misunderstood the wording in the contract? As I thought that the expiry date would mean that the lease ended on 30th April, unless it was renewed to be continued on a month by month basis. Any knowledge or advice would be very welcome Thank you JPea

Hi mickeyjane and Tam Thank you so much for your replies. I am sorry that I havent replied sooner, I have not been online. I do hope that your situation resolves successfully mickeyjane.... I have good news regarding my supposed overpayment and I hope that the same will apply to you. Having recieved a letter from the special case officer saying that he had reviewed my case and that I still owed about £6000......I decided not to let matters rest there. I knew that I had not done anything wrong as I had informed them every step of the way. Also on reading the letter from the case officer it had flawed information in many aspects. So I wrote two detailed letters outlining all my contact and communication with the TCO and stated that I had kept all my responsibilities. They re -reviewed it and wrote back to me with an apology stating that they had misinformed me and given me the wrong advice and that the overpayment would not need to be paid back. I can now relax as I was so worried about it all. Thank you again Tam and everyone for your help and advise here. And mickeyjane, perhaps write to them outlining all you have told them and what they have told you and they will review their decision. JPea

Tam....Thank you I will certainly contact the CAB. I was beginning to feel like some sort of criminal......but you are right I have not done anything wrong. I will let you know how things proceed. Thanks again JPea

Thank you everyone for replies. Tam in response to your reply. When they stopped my single claim at the end of last year I put in a joint application. They paid it to me backdating it 3 months and started up new weekly payments. It is 3 months later, ie this month, that they have written to me saying I owe the 6K, due to my single claim being wrong. They say they cannot take it off my weekly payments and I will have to pay it back directly to them. The complaints officer says he cannot write off the overpayment. I have written a polite letter saying I do not believe I was listened to correctly or given the correct information....but I am told in the letter that I cannot appeal. Still seems pretty bleak to me Thanks for your help JPea

Hi tam65 Thank you for your message When I got married at the end of last year, they stopped my single claim immediately. I wrote in complaint and recieved the letter this week telling me of the overpayment. They said they cant write off the Overpayment because I didnt keep my responsibility to tell them of all my circumstances....and that my claim should have been a joint claim from the start. However, I have always told them all my circumstances within a day or two of any changes. I am so baffled? Thanks for your interest and help with this matter JPea

Hi Everyone Thank you so much for your responses. Here is a little more information as requested. There have not been any child care costs involved My husband has Right of Abode in the UK and therefore no restrictions on claims, so I believe When I intially alerted the TC office that my babies father was staying with me as a guest, at no point did they say that I would have to change my claim, they said to alert them if my circumstances changed. I wasnt sent a new claim form or anything. And they continued paying me. So for 8 months I continued to be paid as a single claim with the TC office knowing that my babies father was staying with me. What baffles me is, if that was wrong why didnt they tell me to change the claim at the time? Nothing changed with my financial situation.....I did and have continued to provide everything for my husband before and after we were married. He has no income, no savings and claims no benefits. So none of the financial details in my claim have ever changed. Once I married, they stopped the claim for that whole period of 8 months and said I should have claimed jointly all that time......when they were already aware fully of my circumstances. Presently and for the past 2 years I have been unable to work due to medical complications....I claim Employment Support Allowance. Therefore a debt of nearly £6000 is a horrifying thought.... (I worked for 22 years as a nurse prior to this and am very new to the claim system) Thank you in advance for any replies JPea

I would be very grateful for some advise Last year I had my third child and accordingly alerted the tax credits office. I also informed them that my babies father was staying with me as a guest, for an indefinate time. He is Australian. I informed them that he had no income, funds and was making no contribution to the household. They told me to inform them should these circumstances change. And my single claim continued with no disruption to my payments. 8 months later we married and I alerted the TC office immediately as I knew that due to marriage the claim would need to become a joint claim. They immediately stopped my claim from April 2010 and I have been landed with an overpayment debt of nearly £6000. I feel totally confused? Have I done wrong? JPea