Hi everyone, I believe it is best I give the example first before I ask the question Person A made a Protected Disclosure A little while later, he suffered a detriment He raised a grievance His employer brought forward a good reason why he was subjected to that treatment (it had nothing to do with the PD) Now he is being victimized for raising the grievance If he had made allegations under the Equality Act, he would have been protected from victimization However, since he made allegations under the Whistleblowing Act (PIDA) he doesn't seem to have any protection from victimization My question, therefore, is this; does a person have protection from victimization when his first allegation was found to be unfounded? Section 2 of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 states; A worker has the right not to be subjected to any detriment by any act, or any deliberate failure to act, by his employer done on the ground that the worker has made a protected disclosure. Thanks a lot

Military personnel in Scotland protected from tax hikes READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/military-personnel-in-scotland-protected-from-tax-hikes

I'm a middle age white guy, privately educated. I've been working in my current job for 7 years and am currently being bullied out of my job by an absolute **** of a BAME female manager. I don't hold out much hope to prove it. Do I have any cards I can use? IE/ I'm not BAME or LGBTQI, or Disabled, or mentally ill - just a regular hard working middle age indigenous employee. Nothing comes to mind I can stick them with...

Free bus passes for older and disabled people protected for the future READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/free-bus-passes-for-older-and-disabled-people-protected-for-the-future

Got a Dell Laptop from a Car Boot Sale for buttons, but it's password protected. I can't even start it in Safe Mode or Boot Options without Admin Password. Is there a way I can bypass it without paying for software? OS is Vista Home Basic. Thanks.

What would happen if I claimed back my ppi on credit cards and loans when they where put into my trust deed. My trust deed has b een discharged. Will my creditors have any claim on my claims:?:

Hi A quick question if I may. A friend has a joint debt with wife. He was in an IVA which completed last year, the joint debt was subject to the Settled IVA. Wife was not in an IVA. Seven years after starting IVA - IVA friends wife has received letter saying they are pursuing for outstanding debt, they can't pursue him due to IVA so going after other name on joint account. I guess some of the payments to the IVA from him over term of IVA will have settled some of the debt. In the past seven years wife has made no payment to IVA and received no communication regarding the joint debt. Can wife be pursued for the debt or not as it is statute barred (over 6 years) ? Could company argue there have been payments to account in the last 6 years via husbands insolvency practitioner thus negating the statute barred defence ? Even though she has made no payments to account ? Could a solicitor file legal papers regarding this debt against the wife ? Thanks.

im writing this on behalf of my sister shes a tenant in a shared accomadtion (Live out landllord) about to leave after numerous disputes with LL she took over the broadband/tv pacakge when another tenant left- i did tell her not to but the LL at the time assured her his agreement that she could deduct from the rent a new cotract was set up with virgin which the LL agreed t back in november 14, and everything was fine she deducted it from her monthly rent and he didnt have any problems with it come to last month she gives her required 1 month notice to leave and he starts hassling her about when prospective tenants can come and view the room-she said is it ok to do it just in the evenings as shes at work he said no i want them to come when i want she refused this as not being reasonable and he starts hassling her saying its his house he can do what he likes when he likes he also starts bringing up the payments to virgin stating it sounds too much and why is it 40 pounds a month even though he agreed to this he says hes going to take it out of the deposit as its too much- she has never had a confirmation that the deposit was sent to a protection scheme nor even a proper contract as ive just found out just an email stating how much rent is deposit and how much notice to give so on two points has he got any comback for her not "paying full rent" even though he agreed to the broadband contract and second does the fact is not in a protection scheme supercede all that thanks for any help

Hey guys! I am once again being trodden on by rich people! So I shall post here to see if anyone has any advice for my plight! In november I moved into a rented house in our town, for me and my girlfriend, who is disabled by the way! The landlord was messing us around from the off, trying to let the property when they hadnt even bought it yet, so even though they gave me a start date for the move and I paid up the rent in advance I couldnt move in because she technically didnt own the property as it was awaiting some signing or some such nonsense! Anyway, when I finally got in, there was damp, leaking roof, and RATS the rats kept us from sleeping which is very bad for my partner as she has myotonic distrophy and needs lots of rest. I told them about this problem straight away and about the damp and mould and leaking roof. They just flat lied and said it was just "condensation" - which Ive never had in other properties and that the rats were just "mice" and they would "sort it out" They didnt sort it. Nothing at all was done - eventually after many emails from me they got the council to send a pest officer round who tried putting poison down (had zero effect). She came back two more times, on the last time she said there was nothing she could do and you can never get rid of these rats as they could be coming in from anypoint in the house from underground. The whole time I had had very little sleep - and as soon as another suitable property came up I moved in. I was in the rat infested place for a little over 8 weeks. Since moving out, I told them I have to move, as the rats are causing me ill-health, she has at first asked for proof I had paid my council tax and water and electric and gas bills - which I emailed her. Then I have heard nothing and she hasnt replied to my three emails asking when I will get my £500 deposit back! She has since relisted the property as "newly refurbished" (LIES!) even though it has a terminal rat problem! One thing that struck me is I never had to sign a form like I did with the last landlord about the deposit protection scheme. So I very much doubt she has followed the law that requires all landlords to put tennants money in a deposit protection scheme. Anyway I have read that If I take her to court, then I will get the deposit back, and she may even have to repay me twice the amount. So can anyone tell me how on earth I can take her to court? I have no experience in this and cant afford a solicitor!

Hello, I have a joint AST (with my wife) with a large housing association paying Market Rent - ie we pay a rent equivalent (indeed in excess of) what the private sector would charge. Our deposit was paid at the beginning of the AST, and protected in the mydeposits scheme. We received the prescribed deposit information at the beginning of the AST in May 2012. We have not received any further prescribed information since the beginning of the AST in May 2012. The initial fixed term was 6 months, and we've been on a statutory periodic since November 2012. In January this year I received notice from mydeposits that our deposit in no longer protected by their scheme. I chose to do nothing about this at the time, as I was aware that this made it impossible for the LL to serve a section 21 notice. I have no reason to believe that the LL has taken any action to re-protect the deposit in any scheme. Obviously the LL would have been notified by mydeposits that the deposit was about to be unprotected, but chose not to take the simple action of ticking the check box to ensure the deposit protection continued. I'm now considering bringing the AST to an end, and considering my legal options regarding the return of the deposit, and the 1-3 times penalty. Can anyone confirm that it is now possible to claim for the return of the deposit and compensation via the Small Claims track (my deposit is just under £3K - so a claim for £3K plus the 1-3 times penalty is between £6K and 12K?) post the Jackson reforms implemented last year? Does anyone have any experience of this - I don't want to go down the route of a no-win no fee solicitor (indeed if it is still Part 8 I will hire a decent solicitor).

Hi im seeking some advice We have been living in our rented property for 6 years and are moving out We have informed the landlord and he visited the property to inspect the property so he could give us a reference He gave us a reference ok but now he is sending us texts saying he wants to keep £500 of the deposit to replace the 2 faux sofas that we had already replaced 2 years ago We replaced the sofas ourselves 2 years ago as the ones he provided we cracked and worn out, we texted him and he was ok with this and said as long as there are 2 sofas when u leave that would be ok He is holding a £1100 deposit from us and we could do with as much as we can from it for furnishing are new property and i have to pay for a months rent as our contract isnt up till the 29th of may and were moving to are new property on the 3rd of may so i have to pay for 2 rents We have also found out that it is not in a government deposit scheme and he has kept it in his bank over the 5 years we have been in the property Over the 5 years he hasnt done anything to the property not even visited it I also replaced his old worn out boiler for a new one because we were eligible for a grant and our gas bill was huge due to the old boiler being inefficient Any advice would be great Thxs

Hi all. to keep a painfully long story short the lettings agent me and my housemates rented a house from last year failed to protect our deposit and have now gone into liquidation. After some research and calls to the CAB/Council/Small Claims etc. it turns out the Landlord is equally responsible as he should have ensured the deposit was protected, which he did not. I have been in contact with the landlord, who lives in singapore, and he is saying the good old "it's not his fault" and that he doesn't have to pay. He is now ignoring my phone calls and i do not have his address to send small claims forms to. On our tenancy agreement it just said any notices for him should be sent to the letting agents. Can't do that they are in liquidation so no one would pick up the service papers. After calling round absolutely everywhere all i get is referred to some other phone number speaking to someone who doesn't know what to do. The house is now being rented by new people through another local lettings agents now dealing with my the landlord. Does anyone know: 1. How to progress with this? 2. Can i send the service papers to the new letting agent as i am unable to give the small claims court his residential address and because he is abroad? 3. Who I should call for advice that can actually help? We are all students so pretty limited with a budget for legal advice. I appreciate i might be flogging a dead horse but any advice would be greatly appreciated. Me and my housemates are owed £1100 between us which we cannot afford to just forget about. Thanks. Sean.

I don't think my landlord has protected my deposit and he is holding back £400 for scratches on the laminate floor that were already there when we moved in 4 years ago. My sister has just registered her details on [fee-charging website removed] and I have never heard of this... does anyone know whether this website can help her get compensation like it says it can? Thanks

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could offer me their insight into my problem. I moved into a property just over 3 years ago and have just moved out, but my landlord is withholding the deposit. As background my housemate and I paid our deposit + first month rent to a full management letting agent in cash. A DPS certificate was not obtained and I completely forgot about it (I know, i'm an idiot). The flat we moved into was messy and had a fair amount of wear and tear already (despite it being quite a new build, apparently is was a case of build them quick and low quality) and this was recorded in the inventory. Over time the agent would take longer and longer to reply to our requests for repairs, and eventually stopped replying completely. About a year later a guy knocks on our door and tells us that the agent had done a runner with 3 months of rent from several customers and so the landlord had appointed a new letting agent, which was him. We verified this was true and started paying our rent to the new agent, everything was OK. We have now moved out of the property and are trying to get our deposit back. The new agent wants nothing to do with it as the deposit was paid before they were the agent and have instructed us to contact the landlord. The landlord is now refusing to return the deposit, saying that he was ripped off by the old agent and its not his problem. He kept making out that it was the old agent's fault and tried to wash his hands of the problem, I know this is rubbish. He's also complaining about the state of the property. The place is actually tidier than when we moved in, other than some damage under the bath from a slowly leaking pipe that we didn't know about. I've told him that I will make a claim in court unless he returns the deposit, and he stopped replying to me. I've checked and the deposit was not protected with any of the DPS. There are a few problems though. There is almost no paperwork for the rental. I have the tenancy agreement and thats it, this does list the rent and the deposit amount. I have no receipts for deposit payment and no inventory, though I have bank statements showing me withdrawing hundreds of pounds in cash around that time, which is unusual activity for me - I doubt that will suffice. Also, I don't have the landlords address or phone number, only his email address. My questions: How much of a problem is the lack of paperwork likely to be in reclaiming the deposit? How much of a problem is the damage to the house likely to pose given that nobody has a copy of the inventory? Will it improve my chances of a claim because the deposit wasn't protected? The landlord should have been given a certificate to confirm the deposit had been protected, and obviously didn't check up on this so is he liable? (I know I didn't check up either) Are the new agents required to give me the landlords address so I can make a claim through the small claims court? I haven't signed a tenancy agreement with them as we moved out quite soon after they became agents. Best Regards, Forsh86

Hi, I was on Incapacity Benefit and moved to Contributory ESA for a year. I'm now moving to Income Related ESA but because I've gotten some money this year I will be a bit over the £6,000 savings rate to get the full amount. When I moved to Contributory ESA the amount I got was protected and I got the same as I had on Incapacity Benefit. Will I continue to get this rate on Income Related ESA even though I have some savings? By the way, even though I got about £20 more than i would normally on ESA because I was on this protected rate. All that actually happened is that they took that £20 off my Housing benefit because I was "getting too much". Thanks.

Hi guys, suffering with a really bad back which wakes me up in pain after about 4 hours sleep. I am hoping that a new mattress will help the problems and have found one on the internet which I think will be ok. If I buy it, the seller says I would have to sleep on it for a night STILL IN ITS PACKAGING and return it if it wasn't right. How can anyone try a product such as a mattress without taking it out of the packaging? I doubt it would sit on the bed frame without unpacking it first!! And anyway it might take several nights for me to decide whether its right for me. Should I take the risk of buying, unpacking and trying, then repacking and returning if not right??? Please help, don't want to spend £350 and still be in pain.:???:

Hi guys, I am here for some advise and help before I go completely insane... I have a number of CCJ's which are being enforced by AOE orders and also child support to pay out each month, however someone mentioned on the bus today about I should have protected earnings. Doing searches for the past hour and I cant find any solid answer to my question of what is my protected earnings rate, because to be fair, I think I am being deducted FAR too much money. To outline, my payslip reads as follows... (I get paid 4 weekly) (yearly salary £11631.89) Income:- Basic pay £892.31 Deductions:- Tax £32.80 N.I £29.05 Pension £58.00 Unison £7.44 Court order £54.08 Admin fee £1.00 Court order £35.92 Admin fee £1.00 Court order £41.00 Admin fee £1.00 Child Supp £225.30 Admin fee £1.00 NET PAY £404.72 That's a total of £360.30 paid out AFTER tax, NI, pension and Unison... £404.72 doesnt leave me enough to live on (Rent £360) so basically I have 44.72 or £11 a week to live on. What is my protected earnings and are they taking too much from me? Thanks in advance guys and girls. Jason M.

Hello. I am new to this (or indeed any) forum. Any input on a somewhat complicated matter is appreciated I recently (10/3/13) moved out of a flat where I had been living since 12/3/2012. My landlady lived in the flat nextdoor - she had converted my flat from what was part of her house. My flat was completely separate with no shared entrance, metres or facilities. I initially paid six months rent in advance @ £500 per month plus £500 deposit. My landlady did not give me a tenancy agreement. She had always been friendly and affable, we went for coffee once or twice and I did not suspect that she was anything other than a bit scatty. Six months into the tenancy, I was presented with a bill for six months council tax @£50 per month. I had assumed up until that point that council tax was included but as I had not had the foresight to check, I concluded that it was my own fault for not checking and paid up. I continued to pay rent and council tax contributions until I left the property. I did not receive any council tax bills in my name during this period as, despite a number of requests, the landlady did not register my flat as a separate property. Eventually, in October 2012, I contacted the council myself. A representative visited the property and said that it would be registered separately but that the council would take account of the payments I had made. I still did not receive a council tax bill after the visit. I informed the landlady by telephone one month before of my intention to vacate the property by the 12/3/13 but said that we would be moving out over the weekend 9-10 March with a view to being out and the property cleaned and ready to re-let by the end of 11/3/13. I asked about my deposit and was assured that this would be refunded. Relations were still cordial, to the point of my agreeing to show prospetive new tenants the property with half an hour's notice. As agreed, we moved my belongings out of the property over the weekend. My partner stayed over at the property on the Sunday night with a view to carrying out the final cleaning on the Monday - he had taken time off work to do so. I am a teacher and had to be in work so I left him to it. My partner then contacted me at work to say that the landlady had used her key to enter the property as soon as I had left, had spoken rudely to him (she had met him before on several occasions), had said that we were due to be out by that morning (11th March) and that he should not be there. She came straight into the bedroom where he was still in bed and took the keys to both to her (my former) flat and to my new flat. I immediately rang the landlady and asked her (politely) to return the keys so that we could complete the move. She refused to answer my calls and has done so ever since. I was obliged to call the police to effect the return of the keys to my new flat. This took over a week. I have written to my former landlady asking for the return of my deposit, pointing out that the flat was left exactly as I found it with the exception of some damp stains. I had alerted her to the problem of damp some months previously. I have had no communication from her at all and no reason has been given for not returning my deposit. In May 2013 I received a backdated bill for one year's council tax for my former address. On further investigation and contact with the council, it transpired that my former landlady had contaced the council, provided them with a false tenancy agreement and requested that I be made retrospectively liable for council tax for the year I was resident.there. I argued my case with the council and sent copies of receipts that my landlady had given me, detailing my payments towards council tax. It took several weeks and some strongly worded letters but the council have now informed me that they will 'waive' the payment. Up until that point, their argument had been that I must accept liability, pay the bill (of over £600) and than pursue my former landlady for the amount. Thankfully, this is no longer their position. The issue of my deposit remains unsolved and I have today contacted the Civil Justice department with a view to making a claim for this through the courts. I have written to my former landlady informing her of this. I have not communicated with her on the issue of her fraudulent attempt to make me liable for council tax. She has not responded to any of my communications. I am aware that she has not protected my deposit. She claimed early on in my tenancy that she did not need to do this as she was a 'resident landlord'. I accepted this in good faith as there was nothing in her behaviour at the time to suggest anything untoward. I have since been led to believe that as she has not protected my deposit, I am entitled to claim 3x the amount in court. Given her subsequent actions and the stress and inconvenience caused by them, I do feel inclined to do this. I would appreciate any advice anyone can give me on how best to proceed from here. Do I make a claim for 3x the deposit? Will I incur heavy costs? Am I likely to win my case? Should I instruct a solicitor? Can she claim to have been a 'resident landlord' even though I occupied a completely separate property and she later attempted to make me separately liable for council tax? (the decision to waive my bill was made on the basis of the payments I had made and the retropsective nature of the billing and did NOT infer that I lived jointly with my landlady) Any tips or experience anyone has to pass on would be gratefully received. Many thanks.

Hi, Please bare with me, this is my firstpost and I would really appreciate some advice. I moved into my rental property with my husband and 3 kids on 26th April 2010 and paid a deposit to my landlord. We signed a new fixed term AST every six months up until 26th April 2012 when it was switched to a periodic. On the 19th June we received a notice 21 stating the landlord wanted to move back in. We found another property that is perfect for us regarding schools location etc. We had the references and checks back and agreed to move in by end of August. Unfortunately the current tenants have not vacated yet!!! So we contacted the agency to ask the landlord if we could have a little more time other wise we would be homeless with 3 children advised as a good will gesture he would give us an extra week. That would take us up until our rent date ( I have since found out he could not get us out before then anyway!!) 3 days later I see the house up on the rental market plus £125 extra per month! I called the agency to advise of my anger and disaapointed and was met with 'well he's in his right to serve a n21 - check it'. So I did, yes he can serve it if he protected my deposit. Called the agency back up asking for the reference number, the landlords response was he would be giving the deposit back 4 weeks before we leave as a good will gesture. Advised that was not what I asked and needed the number, week later I received a number but after checking with DPS it was not for my property!! Called again and was told it would be looked at. This month the day before our rent was due the landlord has hand delivered an amended N21 with a cheque for our deposit. Emailed him and advised I still did not have a protection number, this was hand delivered on the 27th (day after our rent is due) by a very rude landlord who refused to talk to me at all. The protection was taken out on the 25th July 2013. The letter he sent said it was all done in good faith and to help us. But looking at the N21 terms he had to do that. My question is should I still take him to court for the compensation even though he has paid the deposit back?? And is the N21 valid if he gives the deposit back on the same day and I have not had chance to ensure it cashes and that the protection confirmation wa not given until the day after??? Any help or advice would be great!! FYI - during our time at the property we were never late with the rent and the landlord said he was thrilled(documented on paper) about how we looked after it.

Hi All I started my 6 month tenancy earlier this year and have recently been given s21. notice to leave at the end of the 6 months. I believe the notice is not valid as the landlord has not registered the deposit (I have checked with all agencies recently and they are in the process of sending written confirmation) however I want to leave anyway as my baby is due soon and I do not want the landlord to register the deposit and then re-issue the notice as by that point I will have a newborn and no way of moving. The deposit was 3 times a months rent (my entire savings!) so I have withheld this months rent already as I cannot afford to move out otherwise. I plan to leave at the end of the 2 months notice (having withheld 2 months rent) - obviously I will be taking the landlord to court for my deposit but is it best to do this once I have left or before? Also how much should I be claiming for? I understand that he may counter claim for the overdue rent and I accept this but don't want it to jeopardise getting the rest of my deposit back. Please be kind I know that I shouldn't be withholding rent but I need to do what is best for myself and my children (I already have a 3 year old) and am going through a horrible break up and I don't want to end up homeless so I need to withhold money now so that I can afford to move. Any advice would be appreciated - Thanks

I rented a property for approximately 2 years and ended the tenancy agreement and moved out in March 2013. The landlord has been dragging his feet on releasing my deposit (held via the Deposit Protection Scheme). He also come up with a list of deductions he would like to take off my deposit - quite a few that I am disputing. As part of my efforts to speed up the process of returning my deposit, I have discovered that my landlord had NOT protected my deposit within the first 30 days of the tenancy agreement. In fact, he only registered it with the Deposit Protection Scheme four months into my tenancy agreement. Legally, does this have implications for him? I think he is not aware that I have uncovered this fact. Do I have a case to take to court?

Hi All, This is my first post but I have been reading through all your posts for a while now and I've gained tonnes of knowledge from you all, thanks! I would like to put my current predicament up here to see if anyone can offer me some good advice specific to my case. I have just vacated a property which I have been renting since January 2010 on an Assured Shorthold Tenancy. I paid a £700 deposit to the Landlords agent at the time, we have had rolling 12 month contracts since then which the Landlord has taken care of himself. On the original contract it was stipulated that my £700 was held with The Deposit Protection Service and subsequent contracts have stated "held in bond scheme from last agreement". Upon leaving the property (in excellent state of repair and with rent paid in full every month) I have discovered that there is no record of my deposit ever being paid into the scheme. I got in touch with my ex-landlord a couple of weeks ago and he said he'll get back to me....guess what! He's gone quiet. Following advice from this forum and Shelter I have drafted a "Letter Before Action" and prepared the N208 claim form. Before I instigate matters I'd like some reassurance that I'm doing things in the correct manner and that I stand a fair chance of getting my money back. Thanks in advance!

Hello, I'm aware that if a landlord has failed to protect a deposit, or failed to provide details, they are liable for certain penalties. Our situation is that: -our deposit is registered as being protected with mydeposits starting August 2010 -since August 2010 the tenancy has been renewed several times -some tenants have been replaced at various times with other tenants since Aug 2010 -when the tenancy was renewed, and some tenants replaced, new tenants were simply told to pay their deposits to outgoing tenants, who signed a letter saying this had been done -we received no updated paperwork from mydeposits (with updated names) when tenants were replaced -we are now about to all move out and end the tenancy (31 Jan) The names on the mydeposits paperwork we have are: -A, listed as lead tenant, who moved out over a year ago -B, who moved out over a year ago -C, myself, still resident and about to leave -D, still resident and about to leave -E, who moved out over a year ago -F, who moved out over a year ago The letting agents are well aware that some of the tenants have changed; we have not kept it secret from them and each time a renewal contract was signed it had the correct names on. My question: do any of the penalties that would apply if the deposit were unprotected apply in this situation? (Obviously we wouldn't just take them to court for the sake of it, but we would be interested in it as a bargaining chip to use if necessary to protect ourselves from spurious deposit deductions). Thanks very much for any help/advice!

Hi This is probably a bit pathetic, i am just interested, I had an email from my previous landlords agents asking me to but the bins out for the property next Tuesday. I moved out on the 24/11/12 and gave back keys on 29/11/12. Is it really my responsibility? Note I did put the bin out the Tuesday prior to handing back the keys but it got filled again. I will do it as I live close, but really! Shouldn't the landlord do this? What if I had moved 20 miles away?? Would I have to get back to the property to do this? She sent a list of other stuff this landlord wants rectifying before deposit is returned and all together it's pretty pathetic, but I will come back in a few days about those as waiting for the quotes as I want to see how much they want to charge for stuff.

Im looking for some advice. I want to take my previous employer to a tribunal. I believed i made a protected disclosure to the trustees of the charity and also sought out the charities commission. After i discovered more financial documents which showed money going to the husband and wife team running the charity. I had been trying to raise the issues for 9 months but decided i had no other option but to go to the media. I knew this would mean losing my job and potential damage to the charity. I have one week to submit my ET1 form before the 3 months is up, I have left it this long as its still very raw and i dont want to use emotive language. I have another job which i got straight away 40% less money but only thanks to a friend. Is there a specific term i use on the ET1 or is it Protected disclosure. Many Thanks W