Hi there. Required reading first, and then ask, if you have any further questions: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/tenants/118508-help-being-evicted-11-a.html#post1204743 http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/tenants/94427-revised-homelessness-code-guidance.html http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/tenants/117572-unfair-deposit-deductions.html#post1188882

So what have we here then? What are the implications of no Section 48 Notice having been served? Is a letter by e-mail sufficient Notice? What are the problems with the dates? How might S.196 of the Law of Property Act 1925 apply? Does the 3 months Notice clause override the landlord's statutory entitlement to serve only a minimum of 2 months Notice? Are there any other implications that are not immediately obvious? (1) No section 48= the notice served by the landlord is invalid. I am not sure whether rent continues to be payable..... (2)As discussed recently- email notices are not appropriate. (3)Don't understand except that notice (which is invalid anyway) does not seem to be issued within prescribed time limit (4)section 196 talks about the service of notices and how it should be served. (5)Yes That's it for now, as the "implications" bit could go on and on... and :? how did I do?

Amphetamines ?

I am fuming like an old granny who lost her dentures and the new ones don't fit! I am supposed to be writing an assignment (a bit like you Jen, I gather) and this nonsense is interfering with my already half-hearted efforts

Well spotted demon. More tenants have problems with landlords and less access to resources then landlords who have problems with tenants. Nothing, absolutely nothing to do with us hounding landlords away (although I did try very hard once, but am reformed )

un-bloody-believable. Shame that you have edited your original posting- you needed a lot of advice, believe me, I saw that posting. Shame about your delicate sanity level- if you think a few posts could affect you, maybe you should not have lodger (NOT TENANT) who dares to cook, listen to music and shower. As for the "wrong side of the stadium"- puuhlease, you do not know what you are talking about. This is one of the most helpful, polite, informative, respectful, impartial, up-to-date and passionately caring forum in UK on matters of tenant/landlord laws, on par with much older Landlordzone. The contributors here get very rarely frustrated with posters and are quickly brought to order by others- I know, as I am the one with a potty mouth and short fuse! Fancy someone popping in for 2 seconds and shooting their mouth of like this! !!

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/tenants/119485-i-am-landlord-dont.html#post1219121 could this possibly be a reason?

Can we ask the person who suggested the changes to post their reason; maybe there is something we are missing, some logic that we were not aware of, even after posting here since March 2006? We have had some sparks flying between landlords and tenants but they were very few and quickly dealt with- so this cannot possibly be a reason for this split. Whatever else?

I very much agree with Mr Shed. I wonder who was consulted with regards to this change. As far as I know none of the regular contributors asked for it. It is impractical, doesn't make sense, it's unhelpful and nobody wanted it. Landlords learn from replies given to tenants and vice versa. Please can we go back to the original design. It wasn't broke- no need to fix it!

We, I have asked similar question on this other forum, I'll get back to you when I have my answers. As far as I know the light bulb or a light strip has to generate a right kind of rays to help with S.A.D. - but I am just starting to find out stuff.

A friend of mine was moaning on another forum about the cost of special lightboxes which help with Seasonal Affective Disorder. They cost upwards of £100 on average but they help enormously. This is a very interesting reply she's got : Check in your local Yellow pages for Electrical Contractors. Ask them if they can get hold of Full Spectrum (not daylight) 960 rated (96% equivalent) fluorescent bulbs. A 4 ft one should be about £6. A 4ft flourecent light fitting is under £10 from a DIY store. Swap the bulb, get someone to fit a mains lead if you're not sure how to do it, and bask in 10,000 Lux for under £20. To put in context (pricewise)- average 10,000 Lux lightbox will set you back about £250-£300! Disclaimer: for goodness sake, make sure you know what you doing if playing with live electrics or get someone who knows!

Your situation can develop into two scenarios: (1) as you have made an agreement to extend your tenancy for further 6 months, you have a new, valid contract. The fact that it is verbal doesn't mean it's non-existent; it would be just quite difficult to prove, if someone wanted to. You cannot just give notice and expect to be accepted. You are bound by the rules of your original tenancy agreement, which was extended. You can only leave if the landlord agrees to it (vital to get in in writing) or/and if your original tenancy agreement contained a so called "early break" clause- essentially a parahraph which states that early termination is allowed and gives the conditions (how much notice, etc). If your landlord has a knowledge of landlord and tenants laws and regulations or if he seeks advice, he may not accept your notice and would be entirely within the law to reject it. Besides, your notice is not even a month long (contract expires on 25th, you've left a message on 1st, prescribed form for notices is in writing). (2) Normally, tenants who do not wish to extend their contracts and intent to leave when the tenancy expires do not have to give notice. It is understood that they just leave upon expiry. This is your hope- that your conversation about extension would be ignored. Small hope, I know. I would suggest that you have a chat with your landlord and follow it up with a letter, confirming your intention to leave. Maybe he would agree; tell him you are aware that you have a poor payment history and that you may be going through financial difficulties (no landlord likes that!), so by leaving you are really doing him a favour! Sweeten it up with a fridge freezer and you may get lucky.

I just read this great tip which can help with protecting your deposit: take lots of photos of the place at the very first day. Print or develop the asap. Post these out to yourself. When the package arrives, do not open the envelope. Open only if needed, in front of witnesses. The postmark will bear the evidence of the time the pictures were taken. Funky little tip, from Sunday papers, not bad, eh?

I , on the other hand, have a great sympathy, but that's maybe because I fully understand what it means to be a lone parent in a council house and the value of £590 in such circumstances. I fully believe the OP when she says : im sat here in floods of tears. Naive and misinformed? Possibly. Greedy and whining? Not at all. How would you react if you spent your money in a circumstances when you did not have much and few weeks later you'd have found out that you did not have to spend that money at all but nobody bothered to tell you when you asked? Pretty ****ed off- I would. I do not believe that she made her bargain- I feel she was possibly cheated out of a bargain. It is possible that she did not have to spend this huge amount of money at all. As for the free windfall, I wonder what did you mean by this? Did you mean landlord fulfilling repair duty? Did you mean tenants getting what they are entitled to?

wow...and i thought my childhood in communist country was austere.... only joking, only joking, Bookie, I wouldn't want you to make an omelet out of me . You do enjoy a debate, don't you?

I am not sure if that means you agree with me or not, sorry I am foreign Council will not need to replace the door, OP has already did that, the issue is now whether she should have been told that there is a replacement program on the way and whether the inspectors misled her. As for the manners; yeah, I totally agree, civilised and respectful discussion should be the rule......yet sometimes I get carried away by some of the more special posts. You know how it feels.....when you can barely restrain yourself. So yup, I put my hands up, I can be a nasty girl. So bite me

eeeeeeeew :o too much info!

... er, she is! Big time! And needlessly too. If she was only advised properly by the "inspectors"! You bet she feels bad. £590 is a lot of dosh for a lone parent, trust me. Esio, we really appreciate your comment about your lack of sympathy. Beautiful. Also, we are really glad that you must be one of these people who never makes mistakes, always seeks advice from knowledgeable people and carefully, reasonably approaches each problem. How lucky you must be. Additionally, we feel it is very insightful to tell the OP what she should have done instead of what she could do now. It allows us to feel superior, doesn't it. Especially if it's not our door that lets the cold and rain in and it is not us being messed around by whole host of jobsworths, patronising "customer services" slappers, and couldn't-care-less employees. Do you work for "the council" Esio? With regards to the posters who point out that OP hasn't got grounds for a complaint: with respect, I have pointed it out in my previous posts that she may or may not have legal leg to stand on, but we don't know the full facts and I wouldn't want to discourage OP from taking action without full knowledge. I have referred to my rule of thumb; if in doubt (and it doesn't cost you)- complain and see what comes out of the woodwork. I know that OP proposed to replace the doors herself when she was offered to have it "re-sealed" but we really don't know much: how could "re-sealing" help with a large gap? What was the overall condition of the door? Was the replacement program in a pipeline? It is not only legal arguments that we have to contend with, it is also other factors, like possible misinformation from council officials etc. And finally; my experience of local authorities who are landlords and their repairs track record tells me that in 9 out of 10 cases, council screws up.

Ed may be right; n the other hand, he may not, but because there is so much at stake I would still campaign and complain. Complaint letter doesn't cost much- it takes a little time to compose, it takes some effort to lay it out in a chronological and logical order and it may generate a good outcome. In order to establish facts about the dates of replacement programme (when was it decided, who was entitled, what was proposed)- why not submit Freedom of Information Act access request? I am pretty certain that if your front door was faulty to the point that it stopped performing it's function properly i.e. kept letting the wind in, did not proteect from elements etc - your landlord had a statutory duty to repair under section 11 (http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/landlords-tenants/74057-disrepairs-privately-rented-accommodation.html#post641938 ) where it says that the landlord must keep in repair (see below) the structure and exterior of the building or part of a building which is let to the tenant. and The landlord's obligation to repair only comes into operation when there has been damage to the structure and/or exterior which requires it is made good. The landlord is therefore obliged to put right something that has gone wrong, or which does not work in the way it was intended to work. If in doubt about the detailed grounds for a complaint, my rule of thumb is to go ahead. Be reasonable and polite. If your complaint is rejected, the letter will carry the arguments for the rejection of your complaint. It will be up to you to see whether these arguments are true, make sense and are irrefutable or not.

littlesally ; did you ever think about taking your HA to the Housing Ombudsman Service: Dealing with disputes and complaints against landlords and housing agents, and other housing disputes ? Read the Notes: The Housing Act 1996 requires all social landlords to belong to the Service. It does NOT include local councils: council tenants must complain to the Local Government Ombudsman. It includes all landlords registered with the Housing Corporation and any landlord who has taken over local authority homes, such as a 'local housing company'. The Service includes landlords which have joined voluntarily. Many unregistered subsidiaries of registered social landlords have joined, as have other landlords. Check it out: Housing Ombudsman Service: Complainants Area - Home. Dealing with disputes and complaints against landlords and housing agents, and other housing disputes

pardalis; we have prepared special threads (stickies) to deal with most common complaints, simply because it would be crazy to keep reinventing the wheel, repeat yourself and re-write the issue each time. Ed's advise about being too verbose is a very valuable and correct one, for many reasons: readers' and judges' attention span being the most important one. The very last thing OP would want to achieve is to bore and confuse and frustrate people. Besides, I really don't understand this: What is that all about? Don't tempt me, pardalis

Aw, dear, poor poor girl I do feel for you. Let me get it straight: your front was broken/drafty, you were under the impression that the council will not replace it, so you did it yourself. You spend a lot of money seemingly needlesly. Sit down and write a stonking complaint to the landlord (I presume council?). This kind of disrepair is a landlord's responsibility. You were seriously misled. You were also badly treated when you called to complain. Now your children's Christmas will be pitiful, due to the inspector's lack of adequate information. Make copies: one for the landlord, one for the Council's Chief Executive, one for the Head of Housing, one for your local counselor, one for your MP, one for the local paper. You do not have to use legal language- all you need to say that the landlord has a duty to repair and they did not fulfill this duty to your serious detriment and now you are considering taking your complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman if you are not recompensed speedily. Use strong emotive phrases but be polite; lone parent, small children, Christmas ruined, not being able to pay for essentials, etc etc. Make a lot of noise, make an utter nuisance of yourself, make them want you to go awayso badly, that they compensate you swiftly. The crucial think in the "snowed under" strategy is to send a lot of letters to a lot of important people, so about getting the names and addresses.

wow, who'd have thought, trick or treaters bringing things to the boil on CAG! I am sure we strayed very far off topic, because OP was interested in something entirely different, but I will go with the flow and talk about Halloween. When I see the "traditional" festivities on american films, my heart warms up; costumes, sweet kids, sharing with strangers, laughing at "scary" outfits etc etc. Nice time for little ones. When I come down to Earth, UK- the reality hits me; "crass commercialism of those forced jollities", etc. It makes me really really sad, because we are either unable to enjoy ourselves, or we cannot abide others enjoying themselves or the big money come in and push it down our throats so much that we get sick of it. I used to go around neighbours with my kids when they were little. I used to explain the history of this traditions. Now I look carefully through the curtain whether kids who knock are just little ones with their parents or surly teenagers after few quid for an alco-pop. Sad,cynical world.

Right....it doesn't seem to be "correcting itself". Do you think we may be stuck with this mix up forever? Yesterday is still 1st of November and 31st of October.

Do you know- I was just thinking the same. I a going to ask them if they can do that and reduce the price. I somehow don't trust Vista yet.