Hello (and sorry for the long post) I am a leaseholder and I have had leaks in my roof for many years that have got steadily worse and worse - starting with damp patches and discolouration and ending with large dumps of dirty water at random places in the ceiling when it rains heavily. I have complained about this throughout but there has been no action from the various managing agents that have been in charge. About 18 months ago a large dump of water damaged some electronic equipment and a piece of furniture. This prompted the managing agent into action and some temporary repairs were done. The freeholder's insurer eventually paid out for the damage on the grounds that the freeholder was negligent (ie, was in breach of contract as they hadn't carried out their duties under the terms of the lease). The insurance claim process was excruciating, and I was only award a proportion of the value of the goods as they were some years old, so I an very reluctant to go down this route again. For some periods since then I have had to cover up our furniture and floors with plastic, and put buckets down at night or when we went away for weekend to avoid damage. I have been complaining to the freeholder and sending them pictures of the room in this state explaining how inconvenient this is! I have also told various people at the freeholder and managing agent and emailed numerous times to say that I'm very worried that any water would potentially damage our wooden floor and/or furniture. Works were started about 6 months ago to carry out a proper repair. However, for some periods the contractors left the site in a worse condition (ie, took away the temporary repairs and then abandoned the site). I complained about this when I found out what had happened and sent the freeholder photographs of the obviously not-water-tight roof. I was able to avert a potential incident when I came home, luckily, earlier than planned and found water coming through the ceiling. At this point I contacted the freeholder again saying that it was lucky that a lot of expensive damage was prevented and reiterating my concerns about the floors and furniture and pointing out the poor standard of the contractor. Before the works were completed (finally, about a month ago) there was another leak and our furniture was soaked with dirty water while we were out. To get new covers will cost many £000s as we have a two matching items and the material is no longer made, so I can't just buy individual covers but must buy 2 full sets of a similar material. Btw, the items are now ~4 years old. Given the long history of this issue and my many letters pointing out the danger of considerable damage, and the precedent of an earlier successful claim for damage where the freeholder has implicitly admitted negligence, I have no doubt that I would win a claim in court. However, my questions are: 1) does damage to one area of one item allow me to claim the full cost of a complete remedy? I would assume so but I would like to check whether you think a court would tend to award the full amount or whether there would be a compromise and I'd be awarded a proportion of the amount of a full repair/remedy due to either the severity/extent of the damage or the age of the items? 2) I have used the county court track in the past and successfully won a simple Sale of Good Act case, however, would you advise that for this case I should use a professional litigator? 3) if so, can anyone suggest who I could contact to discuss this further? Thanks -B

Hi all, As the title says, I was given a promotion to "Supervisor" approx. one month ago at my part time job, accompanied by a raise for which I negotiated with the Assistant Manager. Promotion and raise were given at meeting between Assistant Manager, Head Bartender, Floor Supervisor, and myself, during which I was given new responsibilities including mentoring newer staff, I was asked to come into work earlier, etc. I took the minutes for this meeting. After meeting, Assistant Manager met with each of us individually to negotiate raise with us. He made me an offer, I made a counter-offer, he accepted, we shook hands. I go into work that week as supervisor, everything is right as rain. Fast forward to this week. I need to open the till as I've forgotten to give a customer his change. To do this, I need to make a sale, even though I had been told that supervisors' till keys allowed supervisors to open tills without making a new sale. So I go into the office. General Manager is there and I ask if he can register my key with supervisor privileges. He asked me why I needed them. To open tills, as the previous supervisor was able to, I said. Then he told me I wasn't a supervisor. I said Assistant Manager had promoted me and given me a raise a full month ago. General Manager said he had heard nothing about this and asked me to leave so he could talk to Assistant Manager. Five minutes later Assistant Manager pulls me off the bar and asks for a chat. Says he never had authority to promote staff or give them raises. Effectively, I've just worked for a month on minimum wage thinking I had been promoted and given a raise. I told Assistant Manager and General Manager in clear terms I was upset and did not understand how something like this was allowed to happen - I had explicitly told Assistant Manager during meeting a month ago that I needed a raise to make the hours worth it as I am also a full time Masters student. Surely this situation is illegal. Worse, this is just the latest in a slew of managerial missteps, including failure until November to distribute pay slips, and almost consistent failure to pay correct amount for hours worked - for me and all other staff. All in all, I am a little worried about the shadiness of this place, and, given the behaviour of management, unsure about how productive discussions with them about this would be. What do I do?

A family member is in need of the above but i have no idea how i would go about finding one. Ive been warned away from any no win no fee outfits. Many thanks for any help offered.