Hi We moved in to our rented property at Christmas 2017. We both work from home and took the property based on being able to do just that. My fiancé has a photography studio set up here with regular clients coming to the house. In May we found out that the neighbours had sold a patch of their garden to a builder who is now building a house on the land. The noise is unbearable, we are woken up every morning at 7 and we can't use the garden because of the noise and dust. The neighbours are also having their remaining garden paved by a separate company who also make noise from 7am. To top it off, our other next door neighbour have just started work on their house so we have to deal with hammering and banging all day on that side too. The landlord claims he knew nothing about any of it, which is rubbish and the builders have confirmed that they have had extensive conversations with him as part of the planning process and he in fact moved out of the house because of the construction. We have already asked for a rent reduction as we have been deceived in to moving in and the worst part is we pay nearly £2k in rent to live here! In this beautiful weather, we haven't been able to enjoy the garden at all. I have spoken to a solicitor who has told me whilst the landlord did have a moral obligation to tell us about the work, he unfortunately didn't have a legal obligation, which I just cannot believe! We have spoken to the builders who have now said they will try not to do noisy work before 8am, but even minor work causes enough noise to disturb us. We have to have the windows open because of the heat and there is no escape from it! We've requested a rent reduction but the landlord said no and we would have to pay to get out of our contract. There is another month left of the building works and we just don't feel like we can cope with it anymore. We're both being woken up in a state of stress and anxiety and its impacting on our work and our health! Is there really nothing we can do!?

I currently get £23k a year on PAYE as a salary. I'm leaving my job due to work pressures. I am going to be working for anther company doing the same thing, but as a contractor. I will be getting £2000 a month exactly. I am now trying to work out if I will be better off. Since I have just realized that I won't be getting holiday pay, meaning the 6 days I have booked off next month will mean I will lose close to £600! Someone else I've spoken to seems to think you can claim back on many things you buy as a contractor, so would be better off? Have I made a mistake? P.S How bad would it be if I didn't declare taxes on the first payment?

At some point in our lives we may find ourselves in a position where you NEED a job. I signed up with Betterware as a "Co-ordinator" which roughly translated means area manager in charge of several or more Distributors in a set geographical area. The position was self employed. The job entailed taking weekly orders from the Distributors, collating them and entering the orders online to Betterware HQ. The entire value of those orders was placed onto your co-ordinator's "running financial account" in your name. When the goods arrived they turned up in huge boxes which you had to sort for each Distributor and more often than not there were missing products where the packer of the consignment ticked the picking list, but the goods were not in the delivered parcel(s). A claim form and the original picking list had to be posted off to B/W's HQ and hopefully those amounts would then be credited to your "running account" - or not. I am still over £170.00 out of pocket with this system and B/W have all the documents. When you delivered the goods to the Distributors you also had to collect cash from them from previous week's sales, less any commission they were due, calculated at 20% of sold products. There would be times when the customer wasn't at home despite many visits, or they simply refused to pay, so the goods were then handed back to me to be returned to B/W HQ. Commission earned by the Distributor in this transaction = £0.00 Under distance selling regulations, the Distributor is obliged by law to give a full refund within 14 days and many times they did give 100% refunds. Commission earned by the Distributor in this transaction = £0.00 In fact the commission earned from the original sale has now been paid back to the customer so the distributor is now -20% of the good's value. Faulty goods exchanged by the Distributor. Commission earned by the Distributor in this transaction = £0.00. All of these returned items then get handed back to the co-ordinator who gives them 100% credit value on their weekly cash summary. When those goods get returned to Betterware HQ, they then decide to DEDUCT 20% OF THE GOODS VALUE FROM THE CO-ORDINATOR and add that value onto the running account which is debited. I couldn't work out how my "running account" was getting further and further into the red when I was doing the job strictly as instructed, that was until I discovered this 20% deduction on all returned goods which made me livid. I quizzed my regional manager about this and was told it was done to recoup commissions already paid on these goods . It certainly wasn't paid to me that's for sure. If the distributors wanted any plastic bags to protect the catalogues in wet weather, or wanted other paid for stationary , it all came out of the co-ordinator's running account. The major part of the job though was to recruit new Distributors. I spent a small fortune on phone calls and petrol running around chasing people that didn't want to work, or they would spend a couple of hours putting catalogues out then quit, saying it was "hard work". It was THE most thankless job that I have ever had. You were expected to pay each week a "waiver fee" to supposedly protect you against Distributors running off with goods or money. This only applied to ONE invoice so I was told, so it didn't protect you against money shortfalls over several weeks, nor did it protect me from Betterware's own malpractices, as I was to find out. This "waiver scheme" has not been approved by the FCA. Because I wasn't happy about these all back door deductions coming out of the running account, so I decided enough was enough and so I quit. I was presented with a bill for over £800.00, payable instantly. I went to Citizen's Advice about these issues and they told me it was a criminal offence under unfair trading and consumer protection regulation , so they referred it on to Trading Standards to investigate, which to the best of my knowledge they have not done so. I have informed Betterware about this illegal activity and they have never once responded, denied or challenged it. Instead, they took out a County Court summons and got a judgement in their favour, despite me writing to the court informing them that the debt was unlawfully accrued and therefore not recoverable. The latest news is that B/W have appointed baillifs and the debt has now gone up to over £1,000. All of this really has affected my health which wasn't that good to begin with.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3081294/Britain-s-oldest-poppy-seller-dead-Avon-Gorge-aged-92.html This story of a 92 year old being hounded by charities, because she was kind with her money, should make people and charities think. 20 years ago, there were not so many charities around and people loyally gave to a few they had an interest in. In the last 10 years there has been an explosion in the number of charities and the amount of communications they produce. They have become businesses some of which may be more interested in making money for the people running them, than any people the charity is supposed to be supporting. I won't name the charities, but this is my experience. 1) Childrens charity - small DD payment per month. Every month a begging letter through the post with pictures of David or Sally, abused by one of their parents, with very sad pictures and story to go with it. They ask for more money to help David and Sally, so the charity can help more children. Stopped giving them money due to the constant letters. 2) Charity for the blind - After buying some raffle tickets for about £10 or £20, I kept being sent more raffle tickets every few months for the latest draw, with the expectation I would buy or sell them others. I would also receive phone calls from them begging me to take even more raffle tickets. Stopped giving them money. 3) Heart related charity - Gave a donation on behalf of a relative who died - Constant letters asking for more donations, as well as emails and phone calls. Some of the letters would have been expensive to send out, as they were large magazines Have not given to them since and they have stopped sending letters. I expect that everyone who gives to charity experiences exactly the same and I am not sure the charities obtain more money because they keep sending out begging letters. Perhaps they need to have a think about how they raise money.

I need a wee bit of advice. I went down from full time hours to part time hours and now need to look at becoming a full time carer to my mother who has vascular dementia. I moved in permamently with her two years ago and rented the house out, The rental income I get covers the mortgage, insurance and gas contract, and that is it, My mum gets attendance allowance. I keep running into obstacles to try and get to the bottom of what i would be entitled to. Jobcentreplus are unsure as to really what happens when someone has a house they rent out, They mention IS and contribution ESA but i cannot take the plunge without knowing for sure. I am not sure where to turn to fin out. Any help really appreciated