Hi I have some relatives who own property in Cyprus, who now wish to dispose of it. They are not resident on the island anymore, and as I understand it property prices there are still depressed, but they are very eager to sell to assist with cashflow issues. Are there any reputable agencies dealing with selling real estate in Cyprus, which are competent at also marketing it to the British (and potentially, Russian) markets?

Hi everyone, I am trying to get some advice on a secured loan that was taken out with Welcome Finance in March 2005 that was repayable over 10 years. Due to redundancies back in 2008 and 2011, I fell behind with repayments and I think it was November 2010 when the account was officially defaulted. When I took this loan out, it was secured on my home. However, a while back I managed to get a copy of my title deeds from the Land Registry and I discovered something quite interesting - under the section listing financial organisations having an interest in the property (e.g. my mortgage lender) I noticed that Welcome Finance was NOT listed. The account has done the rounds of a few debt collection agencies but now am repaying the debt albeit at a reduced rate. Now, if the loan had been secured, it should have been registered with the Land Registry and, if it was truly secured on my property, I would probably have received a repossession order by now ! What is also a mystery, is that in the original paper work, listing charges that they added to the loan, they added a mortgage indemnity fee of £ 1100. If the loan was not 'officially' secured, they had no right to charge me a mortgage indemnity fee ? ( as it was technically not a 2nd mortgage/secured loan, as it was not recorded with the Land registry ?) . Do I have any right to get this fee refunded, considering how long ago it was taken out and do I have any right to make an official complaint for the charges incurred when the loan was not secured, as such ? thanks Dean

Hello all, A good friend of mine has been given notice of eviction by his landlady after he complained about her workmen damaging some of his possessions and holding her liable for the cost. He is now unsure of how to go about following up if she refuses to compensate him. Does anyone have any advice? Thanks in advance!

Hi there My leasehold property is on the market via an estate agent for 9 weeks now. I've had one offer from a cash buyer and I have been approached by someone privately who have asked me to sell the property to them without using an estate agent. Is this a good thing? I will save myself around £4k, but is it a risky business? I don't know the first thing about this other than I will need a solicitor however, should I be suspicious? If I go ahead privately, and I enlist a solicitor will then do all the necessary checks to ensure that I'm not being shafted? Please let me know asap! a very very unsure Ladylovessalsa!

Hello, I am hoping someone can give me some advice. I have a £10,000 debt with MBNA which resulted in me going to court and a charge being placed against my house. Basically I pay a set amount each month, but if I sell my house they get paid the full amount. The only problem with this is my house is in negative equity to the tune of around £30,000 Due to a serious operation it looks like I may be dismissed on capability ground as Occupation Health feel I am no longer able to do my job and due to cutbacks there is nowhere else to place me. My debt with MBNA is managed by Optima Legal who have said they will only accept offers of 85% of the debt. If I can offer less they have said they will put it through to the 'client'. I have spoke to MBNA who have said that it is Optima who make the decision. Prior to the debt going to Optima MBNA offered me a settlement figure of £2800 which I didn't have at the time. I'm trying to do the right thing by sorting out a settlement figure now - before I lose my job as I am pretty sure once that happens the amount I will be able to pay them will drop to literally a couple of pounds a month. Has anyone any thoughts or experience of what figure MBNA would be likely to accept? Thank you for reading this far. Hx

Hi I am not sure if this is the right place for this query. However I have a question i hope someone can help me with. My house is subject to HLM Property management, they are responsible for the maintenance of the estate and I get a bill each year as a service charge. I had cash flow problems so was late paying the £152 fee, this was due on the 1st of January, but I received the letter, apologizing for the delay in issuing the charge, dated 16th February. I was informed that the balance owing was over £290, the extra £140 odd pounds is an administration fee. I was gobsmacked but I have sent a mail to them regarding that and have paid the £152.31 I owed pending the outcome of what will happen with the extra administration fee. I paid the £152.13 today , 20/04/2015. Now if 28 days are allowed from receipt of the letter, which at the earliest would be 17th, then I am 27 days late in paying. 28 days late if 28 days from the date of the letter. Can an administration charge of this amount really be justifiable? I have put my case to them but I am banking on them being unsympathetic but I do feel an administration charge that almost doubles the original fee is somewhat disproportionate and would appreciate some advise as to what I can do in this situation. Many thanks in advance. DJC.

Hi, We rented a property during 2013 for £695 per month, in the contract it stated about the renewal and the increases would be 3% making it £715 for the second year etc. Anyway. the landlord at the expiry of the first year term decided not to issue us a tenancy agreement via the letting agent but instead use one of the templates purchased from Staples. This year he has decided to go back using the agent and now wants £750.00 per month. 1st Year £695 2nd Year £715 3rd Year £736 (Landlord now wanting £750) so my question is this, the first agreement was a fully detailed contract which stated the 3% increase per renewal. the second contract was so basic it was just a 1 A4 Page with no mention of the 3% now i suspect the new contract from the agent will again contain the 3% increase. so basically by the landlord not giving us a new contract last time which is the one issued by the agent, Can he now put up the rent to what ever he wants?

Hi im hoping someone can help me and my family. A charge has been put on my parents property of around £8500. we tried to dispute it but the application was refused (as they said it wasn't a proper application). my dad was involved in car accident & lost the claim so he has to pay all the solicitor & legal fees. He intended to pay the money back in instalments. Those solicitors are saying we sent a letter out to our address asking if we would like to pay in instalments. But we never received no letter. & now the charge has been put on our property. My parents also have to attend county court next month. They are clueless as they dont know what to do next. Shall they just wait to attend court or is there something we can do. we would really appreciate any help. regards

I recently accepted an offer on my property in cyprus. We agreed the price and the purchaser placed 2000 euros with the sole agent as deposit . it was sold unfurnished,and the CASH purchaser needed to complete ASAP. I then instructed my solicitor, sold all my contents, and flew back to uk , giving power of attorney to my lawyer. I signed the contract 3 weeks ago. I don't no whether the purchaser signed after me, and I still need to complete. My lawyer informed me yesterday that the purchaser's solicitor as requested the purchaser wishes to reduce the price by 1000 euros and is detailed as 'REDUCED' offer. Because of the market down turn in cyprus, my lawyer as advised my to take up the new reduced offer. I don't want to do this. I feel ripped off. What protection is available to me, if the buyers pull out .please help

i signed a tomlin order in 2012 in my name. I was the executor of the estate and the debt was against the estate. I could not pay the claimant so he put a charge on my personal home and the estate. Can someone tell me if this is allowed the debt is against the estate not me personally. Has the claimant infringed my human rights?

HI all, Looking for some advice on a French mortgage debt please. I moved to France a number of years ok to work with my uncle and his property renovation business. My uncle wanted my cousin to get on the property ladder (he was 11 at the time) and he had some money to put down as a deposit on a mortgage. I had no money to my name as the business was struggling and I wasn’t paid for a number of months. We managed to secure a mortgage on a property owned by my uncles firm the date was around may 2007 . I never paid the mortgage as I had little control over my finances due to non payment from the business. Funds were put into my account for the mortgage every month. I left France in roughly 2008 and shortly after I was chased for mortgage arrears via email. I passed this onto my uncle who said it would be sorted. One thing to point out is I never had keys for the property!! About a month back I was pursued by an international debt collector for the sum of £32,000. The property was purchased for 68,000 Euros. Apparently the property was repossessed and I am being pursued for the outstanding debt. To confirm, the bank have made no contact with myself about the mortgage arrears or about the repossession of the property. The debt collector has told me that the French bank did not have any details for me. However, he has forwarded me the European enforcement order dated 28 July 2014 and it clearly has my UK address on it. So, where do I stand? I am being chased continually by them and there next action will be registering the EEO in the uk courts? To be clear I have no assets what so ever. They have asked for a breakdown of my income and out goings and I have been honest with them and there is no spare income to pay the debt. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Hi All, I co-own a property with my ex. I moved out due to separation in 2013 and at the moment until finances are straight, the mortgage is in both of our names. As the property is a new build, the water pipes and network is owned and managed by a private firm known as Blue Property Management. This is a private company to whom we have to pay yearly charges to to look after it and maintain etc etc. There are arrears on the bill when I contacted them last year after much deliberation from them they reluctantly decided to accept £10 per month from me in order to bring the balance down. Ever since this agreement was reached, I have been paying this amount on a monthly basis. It has only been a few months however. Today I have received an email from them advising that should I not pay the balance before the end of March they will take legal action and issue proceedings against me without further notice. Unfortunately, my ex is not in a position to help financially. They have also added charges on for arrears, an £87 pound charge for a reminder which wasn't received and not necessary and have now passed this through to their legal department. I obviously don't want any legal action to be taken against me and I don't know what to do or what to say to them. Can anybody provide me with any advice as to the unreasonableness of the company? Many thanks

Out of the blue we have been contacted by EDF some 3 years after selling our house and settling our final bill. We've had a revised bill from them claiming that we owe them over £2,000 This is the story in a nut: Early 2012 - We were an EDF customer for a short time before selling our house at the beginning of 2012. - We paid by direct debit/standing order and operated our account in credit. - The day we moved (hectic) I took the GAS reading on my hand (we were being cajoled by the new owner who wanted to get in ASAP), it was pouring with rain. - I duly passed this reading onto EDF EDF sent us a bill for over £2,000 (early 2012), I had a coronary, contacted the new owner and got the reading she took the day we completed (my reading had included the spinning digits without the . ). The rain had smudged the figures in my hand, I had given EDF an incorrect reading. I called EDF with the correct figures and it was all sorted out. We received a revised bill the account was settled and all was good. Great! Fastforward to February 2015: - We receive 2 letters in quick succession from EDF - Letter 1, sorry we made a mistake we owe you around £300 call us - Letter 2, sorry we made a mistake you owe US over £2000 I have spoken to EDF and they realise that something is not right, the agent I spoke to stated that it would be impossible to run up a bill that big in the time period etc etc.. They are supposed to be sorting this out, but, it's kind of alarming and scary that they can be sending demands like this over 3 years since they account was all settled and closed. Any advice on dealing with them? The demand is definitely erroneous and we do have the original paperwork advising the revised figures etc. Thank you

Hi Couldn't find anywhere else to write this, i guess it could be a housing law issue.. So i'm an only child & the folks are getting on & they live on outskirts of city, i live in city. They are on at me about what's going to happen to the house when they die. It's my inherritance, i don't want to live there but also i couldn't sell it. Can anyone give me advice on my options. Regards & thanks Gaz

Hi, I was just reading an interesting book which outlined that Intellectual Property is actually and can be quantified in monetary value. How exactly is this worked out? As a director, and as a programmer, we have several "programs" out there which have unique aspects... ow does one quantify the actual value of the Intellectual part of the business? It is quantifiable by the amount of sales multiplied by the average cost to design it? Is it quantified by what a director believes it could attribute to the company in its lifespan? I thought this was interesting so I'd love some input! Cheers A

I recently moved house and have noted an issue in the new property that I feel should have been disclosed to me during the conveyancing process and as such puts a liability on the vendor to make good – I’d appreciate some help and advice on my position here if possible. During the conveyancing process I opted for a standard valuation as I felt the property was ok and was more or less aware of the things that needed doing. There wasn’t anything I noted that required my attention. The part of the property in which I have identified the issue is the garage which is adjoined to the house by way of a ground and first floor extension (the hallway is extended at ground level to almost mid garage and a first floor bedroom is extended to the same point across the roof – no internal access). The issue is that there is penetrating damp from an adjoining property. When I viewed the property (twice) the garage had things in it which would have prevented me seeing any damp spots. The garage and property were cleared by the vendor before completion. During the conveyancing I raised an inquiry via my solicitor asking “is there any damp in the property?”. The response which was received from the vendor solicitor on their headed paper was “the property does not suffer with damp”. Clearly is does, and it appears to have existed for a while. My question here is what is my position and how can I progress this matter to get the vendor address the issue. Had they not stated what they did, I feel I would not be able to challenge this point but as they categorically stated there is no damp I feel they are liable. At this moment in time I have written a letter to the vendor advising her of the issue and my position. I did state that I hoped we could open a dialogue to come to an amicable resolution and asked for the thoughts and comments on the matter. I did propose that they settle any cost for resolving the damp too. Any help and advices would be greatly appreciated Merv

Apologies if this is in the wrong section as i couldn't find one more suitable. If this is the case could you please point me in the right direction. Ive been recently talking to a friend who has a shared ownership flat wherby they pay mortgage and rent. We discussed a number of repairs that she had paid out for herself which i thought maybe the landlord (radian housing) could possibly have been responsible for and had maybe misinformed her. If this is the relevant forum section then id like to ask for advice and or experience on the matter from those more in the know. Many thanks.

Hello I am trying to work out if I may have a CGT liability coming up upon selling my house. I bought the property 15 years ago. Renovated for 2 years. Rented the whole house out for next 1 year. Then lived in it for 1 year. Since then, 9 years, I have either done short rents - anything from a few weeks up to 6m - and around that rented rooms whilst living in it. I have filed Self Assessment tax returns each year, including either Rent a Room page or the Land & Property page with the property income, less expenses and relevant % deduction of the interest only mortgage for my benefit of living in the property. It is the only property I own. When I rented the whole house out it tended to be around holiday time and if longer we stayed in a friend's place for free. The property was also bought on a short lease. After 14m of negotiations I have just finalised terms to buy the freehold. It is now my intention to sell the property. But I am nervous if I may have a CGT liability. The value on the short lease is low. The value on the new freehold is very high. There is a huge difference in the value of the property now compared to 15 years ago. I aim to sell it on the freehold / high value rate. As the property is my only property / sole residence will I have a CGT liability? And if so, how would I work it out - on the short lease value? or on the long lease / freehold value? Also - for how long - without any rentals - would I have to reside in the property to not incur any CGT liability? Or am I not due any CGT anyway as it is my only property? Would be most grateful for advice. Many thanks HP

Hi All I am hoping that someone can help me. My husband and I purchased a new kitchen from Magnet, costing £5000, when we bought our first house back in 2004, which was on finance. We were not explained the details to the agreement in any way and were informed that the agreement was over 5 years. Once the agreement had been signed we received paperwork from First National Bank that the agreement was actually 10 years, we queried this as we weren't happy that we would have been paying back £10,000! We paid as normal (no missed payments) until my husband was taken seriously ill (cancer) in 2010. He lost his job and due to a technicality the serious illness cover did not pay out. I contacted GE Capital (previously First National) and made them aware of the situation and asked if they could freeze the interest so that we had a chance to pay it off - the payments I was proposing would not have even cleared the monthly interest. To cut a long story short, they said no, told me to stop paying altogether so that they could sell my debt in which case the interest could be frozen and this would be better for me. I did that, they sold the debt to Link Financial who did not freeze the interest and continued to charge interest, meaning my debt which had been reduced to £3,500 was now back up to £7,500! They also then said that my payments of £50 per month was not enough and that they were now going to get a Legal Charge against our property, (again added more fees) and that they would pursue for the full amount. I want to know if this is lawful, can I challenge the charge? Can I actually challenge the agreement? I feel we have been dealt with unfairly and they have acted very unkind especially given our hour of need. What can I do to resolve this matter? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

I wonder if there is anyone among you, who have experienced Leasehold Fraud. The point being, in that some may have been Repossessed due to Service Charges, even when they've redeemed their Mortages for the considered sum. I'm looking to speak to anyone who fits that specific criteria. It appears that Leaseholders are being deemed as Tenants.. . This is a sufferance & not to be mixed up with actual Tenants. Even RICS have stated that Managing Agents in particular are the wild west of their industry. Also how many have the statement: "the lessor is seised of fee simple in possession free from encumbrances" - as far as I know with that statement it should mean once the Mortgage is redeemed - it's yours. Providing you've been in situ in excess of 12 Yrs with the Freeholder not actioning recovery of the Premises - you're meant to be on the home run. Apparently not so. So does anyone have any info about this?

Hi peeps, here we go again. Every year there seems to be something, even though been trying to keep my head down low! So I need some advice. Last year (1 year 7 months ago) I purchased a domain for a potential get back "into work business", I purchased the domain name based on personal experience and the service provided. I checked IP search and at the time there was "no trademark" nor application for one. I had no trouble securing the domain I wanted. Upon developing the website I noticed another website with a similar plural version of my domain name although a different TLD. The website was not providing the same service but providing a connection between people such as myself and those who wanted people such as myself. A portal. Plural and Singular domains often coexist, and as our services were different although in similar area, I didn't think anything more of it. End of this May, I received a personal email basically telling me I had infringed on their IP due to complaint/confusions, that I set up the website in "bad faith" claiming I am "passing off" against their name and threatening court which will be extremely costly to me. I responded immediately, reasons I was denying this claim and that this claim appeared to be an attempt at "reverse domain name hijacking". Nonetheless, I offered a compromise of a disclaimer, and if this was not acceptable to consider alternatives that would satisfy them. I didn't hear anything back from them, until few weeks ago just prior to going on the first holiday in 8 years. Literally few days before. I was setting up a market stall on a Sunday morning in town, when a man came up to me and said you have been served regarding a domain you own. I was so shocked! Basically a package with letter, form to sign on my own headed paper, and images of my website, twitter and facebook and theirs. It was from a solicitors in London now acting on behalf of the man who contacted me initially. They are very prestigious by all accounts. Their claim infringement of IP and demanding I hand over my domain to them immediately and sign the paper to the affect I would remove my fb and twitter account, not set up another similar sounding website or (and this is what got me) any variations and pay costs. (front page said if I did this by x time they would waver costs). I contacted an IP lawyer who gave a free initial consultation, sent him docs, and he felt that yes they had a case but I also had one and that it was going to cost me at least £600 to start the process of rebuttal. Well, I didn't have that kind of money. My holiday was a birthday present from my family and not wanting to dampen my holiday, I wrote back saying I had prearrangement and i would get legal advice upon my return, but as a gesture of good will I would put a disclaimer on my website, and deactivate (not delete) my fb and twitter accounts in the interim. They wrote email and letter back saying the noted the deactivation and have given me till 5th Dec. So, here I am. Been doing lots of research on their alleged intellectual property rights. They first applied to trademark in oct 13 months after I had set up site, but it was in response to someone else trying to get trademarks, they opposed it, and managed to get the other parties application over turned, however their own application was withdrawn (due to non payment of second fee). They then applied for a EU trade mark with an image of their website name, it's in the publishing stage, but they also are trying to get that name IP (uk) and that's in the examination stage. So technically, they don't own the trademark of that name, yet. They have a case under "common law". Sorry it's long and not to bare my predicament any longer, just wondering how I should tackle this? I am happy to remove website (as I have had no client so far via it) for out of pocket expenses (realistic wise) and set up with a new domain however suggesting this may be deemed as my intention which it most certainly was not! I feel their demands of signing to any variants is unreasonable without stating what those variants are, due to the descriptive and generic nature of the service, and area they could oppose me at every turn. Would truly appreciate any help and advice, thought tackling Barclays was hard enough but this is way out of my league!

I am hoping to move to a property with more parking available now that my daughter has passed her test. There is no room for two cars at my present property. I rented privately after a divorce, was not working and my daughter was then at school. I have been renting my current property for 8 years with never a late payment on the rent. I have not been working for last few years as I was a full time carer for my father who has now passed. I viewed a property through a letting agency and decided I wanted to take on a lease. I can provide a landlord reference, a character reference, there is no reason why I would fail a credit check (I recently had a credit check for a new phone contract and passed). I have £30,000 in the bank which I have provided two months bank statements for, but the agency is saying it is unlikely I would be accepted without paying 6 months rent in advance plus the deposit. Rent is £610 a month. I am looking for work now I am no longer a full time carer, my 20 year old daughter who they insist has to be on the lease, has only just finished college in June and has started up as a self employed nail technician but obviously has no accounts as yet as only set up for a few months. I just feel the agent is being "unhelpful". They claim I could go on a wild spending spree and spend all the money in a few weeks!! (I am 50 years old not a young idiot) , by the same argument the landlord could have a mortgage and the property could be repossessed, they could not carry out any repairs when they were needed and something could happen structure wise making it inhabitable there is risk either side with a new tenancy. I nor they know the landlord well. I would have no leverage, I am feeling put off the property by the negativity/rudeness I am feeling from the agent. I feel that as there is enough to pay the rent for at least a couple of years in my account, I am active in looking for work and my daughter has set up a business we are credit worthy. Do you think this is reasonable or would other agencies be more realistic in my providing references, bond and have ample funds in bank for a six month tenancy agreement. i have no assurance this is a long term let and would have to move anyway if the landlord decided to sell house or something., When i rented the present property I was told I can stay as long as I like, and the tenancy is now a periodic tenancy. The property has been empty for at least 7 months so surely it would be in the landlords interest to get a tenant in as soon as possible. several other properties have gone before i have even had a chance to view so it is not like anyone is champing at the bit to sign up for it. I had to wait a week to view, then we couldn't get in due to lock being seized and agent didn't have a key for the back door with them, then I had to wait another 6 day before they could reschedule, then when we did view half the lightbulbs were missing and we had already seen damp on one ceiling so decided to view again in daylight (Old damp patch no leaks as builder looked, just needs repainting ceilings which they say landlord will do) Three weeks on the books and not taken and like I said, lots go within a few days. Was empty for at least 6 months before they took it on their books as I remember seeing it up with another agent and being empty and garden all overgrown so decided against a viewing at that time. Why couldn't other agent rent it? Should I walk away or would i have same problem with another agent?

Hello I have a friend who has used this advice forum a lot and it comes highly recommended This is my first posting and use of this forum Over the last 6 months I've found myself in a really tricky situation. I lost quite a high powered job, high income and so on, had no savings, high outgoings etc and stopped paying cards, mortgage and so on. I've recently been re-employed and look well back on track. But long story short, I've been declared personally bankrupt in court in the last few days. I took a long look at the options, took advice, it was the right thing to do. Whilst not pleasant much of the process seems straightforward. However one item is pretty tricky and is like to ask for some advice on it please. I live in separate rented accommodation, but I own another flat. The Mortgage is £155k, the mortgage company currently value it at £140k Mortgage payment is £750/Mth, service charge £150/Mth = total £900/Mth The flat is rented out for £900/mth (to two Chinese student with poor English skills) They have paid £900 deposit plus a full year Upfront to cover 1st September 2014 to 31st August 2015. They paid a year upfront as this tend to be normal for foreign students. The money was paid direct to my mother and is held in her bank account as I intended to shield it from my personal bankruptcy. However, since late August around half had to be used for day to day expenses and there is £5800 balance remaining. The mortgage on the property has not been paid in 6 months and a repossession order is in place with a hearing booked for Monday 1st December. The official receiver has indicated she's not likely to be interested in the flat as its in negative equity and therefore it's up to the mortgage lender if they wish to force a repossession. However she is keenly pursuing the rental money held in my mothers account. If the lender insists it is repossessed then the students will be evicted at some point. They rightly should expect the remaining balance of rental money. However the official receiver is demanding I hand it the rental money immediately. I fear if I hand it over now the tenants will not not see it and not only be asked to leave but will also be left without any rental money to find a new place, along with this being hugely disruptive to their final year studies. The thought of this is a heavy burden to me and I'd like to know what my options are with the tenants and the situation as a whole. Aside from dropping them right in it, I can see them pursuing my legally for the rental money. Ultimately I'd like to keep the flat, setup a plan for payment with the lender to settle the shortfall and get it back on track. I wondered if there was any way I could do this. Any advise or guidance would be very helpful. Kind Regards, Rob

Link through from Scoop http://www.westerngazette.co.uk/house-time-forgot-Crewkerne-property-seized-owner/story-24528741-detail/story.html

To cut a long story short, I have three interim charges on my property. I have recently been in contact with two of the companies involved and have negotiated a settlement figure. The third I haven't managed to contact and my post has been returned. I have found an email address online and that hasn't been answered either. A company I contacted in error by phone, with a similar name, have said that the company doesn't exist. As they have a charge on the property, how can I get it removed. I'm currently in the process of selling my property so would like to clear this up ASAP. I thank you in advance for any help on this matter. Regards