Hi Unfortunately not all is resolved and the story continues. I’ve just been given my quarterly bill which British Gas wants me to pay in full now not through the monthly standing order instalments like they said I could. Not only that it says my tariff changed on the 6th Sep 2021 (the day I changed the payment method) and they are now charging me more for Gas and the tariff is fixed until Nov 2021. They’ve left the Electric the same and that tariff is fixed with them until August 2022. Also my smart meter hasn’t let me see my usage now since I changed the payment method. I’ll upload a copy of my bills https://pdfhost.io/edit?doc=1e9c6228-9b2c-491a-894e-662b266abfb9

My gran passed in Nov 2020 and the property and probate only finished in July 2021 so my mum only got the property in her name July 2021 this year

Council-Tax-Demand-Notice-20212022 IBB.CO Image Council-Tax-Demand-Notice-20212022 hosted in ImgBB that’s the bill my mum got

Thanks Andrew So how do I go about this because my mum stupidly made a payment thinking she had to pay this last month. She was the executor of her mother's will and didn’t pay any council tax from when her mum past Nov 2020 to August this year when she got the demand and only decided to tell me she paid today. She was only put on the land registry in July this year so only became the owner of the property then. So does it mean she has until July next year or when refurbishment finishes whichever comes first to pay nothing then a 50% discount until someone moves in? Thanks Andrew

Hi everyone Just want to check what my mum has to do here. She’s currently refurbishing her late mothers house that she inherited last year. No one is living there and refurbishment isn’t finished on the property. My mum told the council that the house is empty and unfurnished. Any help much appreciated Thanks Andrew

I’ve spoke to them by chat and they’ve said the money from my electric will be sent to the gas in 5 days. The also said I’m free to change to standing order. Thanks for everyone’s help Andrew

Well they’ve said no recovery will happen if I keep up with the £120 a month until December 15th. By then they think my new calculation will be done and that will get the bill down and they will most likely be able to lower the £120 a month after that. Does the liability order matter if I keep up the payment plan since dx100uk said it doesn’t go on your credit report? Looking at my bills I could probably manage £120 until December but don’t think after so should I try and get them to lower it now or wait until then?

Is asking on the phone the only way? I really hate talking to them on the phone but if I have too I will because I want it sorted today. And I have both Electric and Gas from British Gas but there different tariffs. My gas is HomeEnergy Fix Nov 2021v3 and my Electric is Fixed Price Aug 2022v2 Is there definitely no penalty or anything they can do if I just cancel the direct debits and move both to standing order?

How do I do that and do it before the next direct debit?

I just don’t want to mess my credit rating because it’s actually good and it hasn’t been since 2013 it’s just typical I finally get my rating good and COVID happens. I read that they would just give you the whole amount you owe as a bill to pay in full if you cancel the direct debit. I’m in credit in my electric account just in debt on the Gas part. I’ve got £152.93 credit in the electric and -£187.51 in the Gas and the direct debits are £51.90 for the electric and it was £38.64 for the Gas but they now want £71.94. Can I not just write a letter because I really don’t want to talk to them on the phone again because I’m convinced they say they can’t on the phone when they would if asked in writing. Could they not just use the credit from the electric account to clear most of the Gas so the direct debit doesn’t have to go up? Thanks Andrew

I should start recording the calls I’ll start doing that and that’s the issue I don’t have anything else I can cut as I don’t want to mess my credit rating as I’m finally getting it back on track. Every other bill I have is in contract with a direct debit so I can’t cut it. And my food bill is already as low as I can get it with having my partner and one year old. Thanks Andrew

It’s a smart meter I’m attaching the bill to this message. Andrew https://ibb.co/CW6yKnJ https://ibb.co/Ykp5XX4

Hi everyone Had a nightmare of a time with council tax since I moved to my new address. I wasn't working at my old address so with the discount and covid discount I only had to pay about £8 a month towards Council Tax. This was back in Nov 2020 before I moved to my new address on the 26 Nov 2020. I updated them of my new address and benefit entitlement and left it to them. About a month or two moving in I found a new job doing self employed work and updated universal credit thinking they’ll update the council. They didn’t and not only that I got a letter about a month after that saying I’m paying to little and need to pay more. The letters calculation didn’t show I or my partner living with me was on benefits and they wanted the full amount. after ringing them they said i hadn't told them about benefits in the address move form (I Did) and they’ll need to workout if I can get back pay and my new calculation. They wanted all the benefit statements so they could work out my new bill and told me to leave the payment. I’d still been only paying £8 a month at that point. I asked can I pay more since I know I need to now I’m working and I didn’t want to run up a big bill but they said not until they work out the new bill. I can’t remember exactly how long they took to get back to me with the new bill but by that time even with the new calculation the then it had got that big I wouldn’t be able to pay the amount they said I needed to. I explained this to them but they said they couldn’t do anything. The same month I got the new bill my partner and I lost a big chuck of our benefits because her daughter moved back in with her dad and was no longer in our care. not only did we lose the child benefit but we got money taken off the housing payment for the extra room (bedroom tax I guess) I told the council of this and they said they needed to workout a new bill and for me to send the new statement. I had to wait another month until I got that and sent it them. That was on the 12 of July and I got a letter yesterday saying there taking me to court for the full amount. I rang up quite annoyed at that point and basically asked what they was playing at. By the end of it they said they couldn’t stop the liability order which is probably great for my credit rating but set up a payment plan of £120 a month for 3 months which I’m still going to struggle with everything else going on. I said I’d probably be able to cover £90 to £100 max but they wasn’t having any of it. And to top it off they still haven’t worked out my new calculation for the loss of the child benefit and housing saying it would still take a few weeks because there short staffed. But hopefully when it’s done they said it will take money off the full bill and with me paying the £120 a month it should stop the bill increasing. Do you think I could get the payment plan down? I had to agree on the phone to £120 but if I could maybe get it to £90 or £100 I should be able to cover that. I know it’s only £20/£30 but my budget is stretched thin at the min. will the liability order affect my credit rating? Thanks Andrew

Hi everyone I’ve had a problem with the Gas part of my British Gas account. I’ve had my quarterly bill a week ago and I’ve gone from about £70 in credit to £180 in debt. They’ve now increased my direct debit which I know makes sense but I just can’t afford an increase on any outgoing at the min. I put a complaint in with resolve company explaining why I can’t afford the increase and all it’s done is have them try and ring me twice when I asked I want everything in writing. They posted a letter saying they're looking into it and it could take a few weeks but the direct debit is coming out next month and I need to pay the same as I can’t afford the increase. The direct debit was £38.64 and it’s going up next month to £71.94 and i want to know if I can cancel the direct debit and just pay a standing order of £38.64 until they decide if they’ll put the direct debit down. Because I don’t have the money next month to pay the increase so it would mean I miss another bill if I leave it how it is. I don’t have a dual tariff with them my gas ends in Nov 2021 and my Electric ends in Aug 2022. Any help would be much appreciated Andrew

Hi everyone I know this is probably a long shot but thought I’d ask before paying the PCN. I received a PCN yesterday from Merseyflow about a toll charge from the 04/03/2021 that I didn’t pay on time. I honestly can’t remember using the road that day but no one else drives my car and I can see on the picture that I did. So I’ve got no excuse but generally forgetting to pay the toll on time. So I don’t think I have any grounds to contest it but thought it was odd they took so long to send out the PCN. Is there a chance they’ve waited too long or should I just pay it now and get the reduced fee? Thanks Andrew PENALTY CHARGE NOTICE - DO NOT IGNORE-compressed.pdf

Hi everyone CAB was no help they didn’t even get back to me about the issue like the said they would. I’ve written up a letter to send below to ACRO it’s probably a long short but if it doesn’t work at least when they get back to me I can say I need help paying the penalty and can ask for more time. Do you think the following will be okay? Dear Sir/Madam ACRO Ref No: I received a penalty notice for not wearing a mask in a relevant place on the 17/02/2020. I do not believe this penalty to be fair or justified for the reason it was issued. I had a reasonable excuse not to wear a mask under the Covid Regulations because doing so causes me distress and anxiety when I wear a mask. The official government website says: "If you have an age, health or disability reason for not wearing a face covering: you do not routinely need to show any written evidence of this you do not need show an exemption card This means that you do not need to seek advice or request a letter from a medical professional about your reason for not wearing a face covering." https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/face-coverings-when-to-wear-one-and-how-to-make-your-own/face-coverings-when-to-wear-one-and-how-to-make-your-own I downloaded and printed out the exemption card from the government website and told the officers I suffer from anxiety when wearing a mask and have the exemption card for that reason. They didn’t take any of this into account and issued me with a Penalty Notice. I request the penalty notice to be withdrawn as I had a reasonable excuse not to wear a mask and have complied with government guidance.

Hi I’ve spoke to my GP and they said they’ve been told by the government not to hand out any letters for people and I need to go onto the government website and I can get a letter of there. I’ve searched all over the website and can’t find anything but the template for the exemption card I already have. It makes clear on the website that you don’t need to proof any medical exemption but the police and shop keepers clearly think otherwise. I don’t no if I’ll have an argument now since my doctor won’t even see me so I can proof my anxiety. I don’t fancy paying solicitors fees if it has to go to court. I’d struggle paying the £200 fine at the moment let alone anything else. I’m going to ring CAB today and see if they can help in anyway. I think it’s likely I’ll end up paying but I really don’t think it’s fair as I followed the rules the government set. If I do have to pay it is there anyway I can pay it in instalments or convince them to still give me the £100 discount? I’m not a solicitor so I’ve needed more time then two weeks to figure out were I stand. Thanks Andrew

After reading everything I still can’t decide if you think I should bother taking this to cab or I should just pay the fine? I’ve made an appointment with my GP to see if they’ll give me an exemption letter because I don’t want to feel like I can’t leave my home without risking a fine.

Hi everyone Was hoping someone could help me with this Penalty Notice of £200. I was stopped in Asda by the police for not wearing a mask. I was wearing an exemption Lanyard that I downloaded from the government website. I get bad anxiety and acne when wearing a mask so I haven’t been wearing one and got the lanyard. I only did that because the government website said I didn’t need a letter from my doctor or seek advice from any medical professional when deciding if I should be exempted. And I didn’t think I’d be able to book an appointment at the moment with Covid-19 to get a medical exemption. I explained this to the police but they still issued me with the notice and said I can appeal it if I wanted too. I think I have reason since the government have said you don’t need a medical exemption to say your exempted. I also use to suffer from asthma and it sort of comes back with the anxiety when wearing a mask. I’m just asking for some advice on how I should go about appealing any help would be appreciated. Thanks Andrew AEA23E4D-C065-4051-8E51-3BDD57571175.pdf

Hi everyone I was just doing a credit check and found I now have a ccj on my report and I don’t no what it’s for. I have moved twice since I started a court case but not sure if that’s what it’s for. Before I moved I hadn’t heard anything for ages from the case and the report doesn’t have much detail. After some advice on how to go about removing it from the report as I didn’t get a chance to defend with moving so that should mean it can be set aside. Also don’t want bailiffs chasing me but haven’t heard anything yet and both moves I updated the voting registration.

I got pictures of the signs back in March and posted them above. I just need to fill out the DQ now. Do I have to put no to mediation or yes?

Hi everyone After offering over 6 months rent up front the landlord still wouldn’t have it. The rent arrears was ‘too much of a red flag’ but they will give us the deposit money back which I guess is something. We’ve applied for two other properties but only me as the named tenant In the application. Not having my partner on the tenancy so we shouldn’t have the same problems again. I still want to sort out what happened with the old letting agent but there not replying to are Facebook messages or emails. Could I please have a template for a Data SAR so I can send it to the two previous letting agents for my partners old flat.

The only thing she was every given to sign was the deposit being moved over to let my homes. My partner doesn’t have a copy of the rent agreement it was from the letting agent that was took over by let my homes

That was the only reason it was increased and it wasn’t put in writing they just came round and told her at the property. I have contacted the agent asking what they what from us to do to rent the house to us. I’ve also contacted the old letting agent to get the figures and what they have to say about it.

I’ve just spoke to my partner and finally got to the bottom of what’s happened. She was up to date with the rent until the letting agent was taken over by let me homes. They increased the rent for a one room studio flat from £285 a month to £390 a month. Her benefits wouldn’t pay the full amount and when she explained this to them they said she would have to pay top up each month of £30. Making her be in arrears of £75 a month every time she paid. So this is probably where the £1000+ arrears has come from. About 6 months with the new letting agent her benefits where stopped due to a family member saying she had moved when she hadn’t. And it took about 5 months for her to get it all sorted. The £285 a month was still paid but she had to live off help from friends since she didn’t get any money to live on until it was sorted out. When she told her landlord about her benefits mix up he called her stupid and that she better still pay or she’ll be out on the street. She had a visit from the council with the letting agent and the council told the letting agent the cost of the studio flat was too much but the letting agent did nothing. I can sort of understand why she didn’t tell me with it all being so horrible but I now need to contact the old agent and get the figure since the new one isn’t going to move forward until we have. If she did pay the arrears with what’s happened could we get them back? I really don’t want to pay with what they’ve done but I can’t lose this house or probably get any house with this issue.