My 84 year old Dad lives in a flat run by a housing association. They seem to have a company who come in and service/repair the gas boiler etc. Anyway, they came Tuesday and found a gas leak. Gas was turned off. They provided him with heaters and went away. So no cooker, or hot water but at least temporary heaters. Yesterday I phoned the company who seemed to have no plan in place but promised to send someone. Someone else turned up yesterday, made a few excuses and admitted they can't fix it either. No plan is in place for further work. Am I right to expect that, after two days, they should have, at least a plan of action in place here. At the moment, it just seems that no-one is particularly interested. Like I said he has a temporary gas heater but no cooker, no hot water so he cant wash.

I have been living in a privately rented property since October 2010, signing a six month lease to begin with and a yearly one since April 2011. Long story short I am about to move out as I take my family back to my hometown and finally escaping the city but I am not sure what responsibilities I have when moving out. I have been living in the house with my wife and three kids so obviously there has been general wear and tear to the property (hard to avoid with kids aged 11,8 and 2) but nothing that I would deem extreme (for want of a better word). During the time that we have lived here the landlord has fitted a new bathroom and added an extension to the back to give us a kitchen diner so he has put some money into the property but the new kitchen is at least 2 years old now and there are some signs of wear on the walls (dirty marks etc). As for the living room we painted a couple of the walls red (they were all beige when we moved in) and my youngest has ripped the net curtains in a couple of places. Is it down to me to repaint the house back to the colours that were in place before we moved in or is that up to the landlord to sort out? I have filled in a couple of small holes in the wall that I made when putting up pictures (DIY is not my strong suit) but there are sizeable holes that were made by the sky engineer when he was fitting our multi room so agin is it my job to fill those or not? Upstairs there is an unpainted wall in my baby sons room which the landlord had replastered to try and fix a damp issue that we have throughout the upper floor of the house but he never came back to get it painted and I was so hacked off with his inability to sort the damp issue properly that I refused to paint it myself. On the wall going up the stairs there are small patches of damp which I try my best to keep clean but keep coming back and in my bedroom there is alot of damp coming through around where the landlord had new plaster boards fitted to the celings as his solution to the problem (I dread to think what it might actually be like under the new boards he fitted). Oh and in my daughters bedroom there is a hole in the wall where the builder who fitted the new bathroom drilled right through from the bathroom when fitting the sink to the wall. Finally there are stains on the carpet (which has not been changed since we moved in) though again I would argue that these are not necessarily anything out of the general wear and tear that occurs with kids over time. I guess what I'm asking is, how much work am I expected to put in when it comes to leaving the property and handing it back to the landlord? Do I have to repaint the whole place and are things like carpets my responsibilty? Also do I have to fill holes made by other people and is it up to me to replace the net curtain or can I just take it down? Oh and whilst I think about it the landlord fitted a sheet of lino on the floor in the new kitchen but it has never been completely flat and therefore it has sustained small tears in certain places meaning the whole sheet will likely have to come up, is this down to me or him? My wife says she does not intend to replace or pay for anything as his false fixes for the damp and other things like fitting a heat detecting alarm directly above the oven meaning it constantly goes off have annoyed her to the point that she doesn't see why she should have to. Speaking of the oven it has not worked properly since the new kitchen was fitted as evrytime you turn on the switch to be able to use the ovens ignition button it trips the circuit for the entire room and stops everything from working. Rather than agreeing to fix the problem which would have involved having to sort out the electrics by taking tiles and so on off the walls his solution was that we should light the oven with matches which involves having to squeeze a match into one of the slits in the bottom of the oven and turning on the gas whilst hopefully not burning yourself We have been doing this the entire time the new kitchen has been there. So is she right in thinking there are issues with the house so on the grounds of fairness we should not have to repaint walls etc or do we not have a leg to stand on?

I sent a CCA request to Capquest this was passed to NCO However a reply has come back from Arrow Global and I am responding with a Dispute letter,but they have not put a return address on the letter ( only their registered office in the small print at the bottom ). In this letter they state that " The account is being operated on our behalf by NCO Europe ltd. We will only deal with this document request only and all other enquiries should be directed to them " So who do I send the dispute letter to and to where ?

Hi all Hope you can help me with a few questions. My father passed away last week we are currently in the process of sorting out his affairs. He left a will and a small amount of savings. So far we are on top of everything after taking legal advice regarding an ISA with just over 5k in it have been informed that due to the small amount of savings and the will... probate isn't needed. But there is a loan outstanding that was unsecured and taken out in March/April of 2015 to have solar panels installed on their house. This loan was done soley in my late fathers name. Once the funeral expenses have all been paid out there isn't enough left over to clear the remainder of the balance.. . It won't even come close to putting a dent in the remaining £8.5k or so (I think the original amount was 10k) after about 15-16 months of paying £126 a month. He co-owned a house (they'd done a separation of tenancy to cover any potential problems should my dad have to go into care if my mum passed first) and my mum inherits everything. .. Which is the house and a small amount of savings (less than 7k total) and funeral expenses that are expected to be a little north of 5.5k. The loan in unsecured with Icanobank... but we need to know if my mum will be expected to continue with payments, or if a demand for the balance will be made (which cannot be paid in full) or if they may try to make a claim on the house when it's sold (my understanding is that they cannot try to force it's sale as it was an unsecured loan). There is a small mortgage remaining on their house of about 18k We are still in the process of sorting out my mums finances, she will retain 2/3 of my dads pension each month and the DWP are currently calculating her state pension but have said that my dads NI payments (mum only ever worked part time) can be used to top off my mums, so she should be getting the full £155 per week. This means that her income would be enough to cover all of her outgoings.. . unless she has to keep making payments on this loan in my dads name. Your advice would be most welcome as I want to be fully aware of legal rights and responsibilities before contacting them to inform them of his passing.

I've been with my employer for over 12 years and during that time have gone from being an engineer to senior engineer, "senior" in this case referring to length of service / experience. Last year, after previously working alone, I gained an office buddy - we both report to the same manager so although he is on a much lower grade than me, I am not his boss. At the time he was hired, I pointed out to the company that I didn't seem to have a proper job description aside from my title, and HR promised to provide one. I'm still waiting. Since then there have been a couple of times where I've not been happy at assumptions made about my role. Mainly, the Health & Safety manager circulated a new H&S policy this year which outlines various responsibilities to named individuals - I am named in this document as a manager. I pointed this out to the H&S manager, that I am not a manager, but if they were to offer me such a position (2 grades above my current pay), then I might consider it... of course they will be doing no such thing. I understand that someone needs to be responsible for H&S on a local basis, as there is only two of us in this office, but I'm really not happy that other people think it's OK to incorrectly assign job titles, and the assumptions that might follow.. Today I have been asked to complete "H&S training for managers", and again there is a document attached to the email which lists me as office manager. I am happy to take certain responsibilities at a local level, but unless they are going to promote me I don't want to be referred to in this manner. TBH I'd love the money but I have no aspirations to be a manager, it would be a complete change from my current role and something I have no training or experience for. Just wondered if anyone else has been in a similar position..?

Ok, this is a unique one so I think requires reason and rhetorics, rather than jurisdiction knowledge, as such. I started working as a bike messenger for a company as one of their in house couriers just under a year ago. At the time of starting, I was told that I would be responsible for the costs of running my bike. This I accepted at initial face-value. Since then I found out that the drivers get their cars provided and paid for. I accept this as just one of those negotiations I missed out on, like pay raises. Over the course of the past year, I kept my bike safe to ride spending somewhere around £400 (that's what 30 miles a day of city riding does!). It all came to ahead yesterday when I tried to tell them that, to make my bike safe to ride (therefore my health and safety secured), £200 would be needed to be spent on my bike and I could not afford it myself. They offered £100, I refused and asked why they pay for the drivers costs but not mine. They explained their legal obligation to do this if they wish to keep the cars on the road. I explained their obligation to keep my work vehicle in good working order due to my health and safety needs, regardless of legal requirements for MOTs, tyres etc. on cars versus cycles. They blank faced me. I handed my notice in and refused to work my notice period, due to my bike not being safe to ride due to ware and tear. My question are: Do I have a case under the HSE's requirements for them to make my, already insanely dangerous, job safe by providing funds for keeping my bike in good working order? Does this take presidence over the contract that says I will be responsible for paying for my bike to remain safe? I doubt they even risk assessed my job, should they have done? I guess if you risk assess a bike messenger's job, you'd never employ one! I know I have not worked there for 2 years, but do I still have any rights under civil law? If they offer me my job back, would I be reasonable to refuse to work for a company that foregoes health and safety in the name of cost and claim compensation instead? Thanks, in advance.

Hi all, and thanks in advance. As noted in a previous post by myself, my landlord failed to carry out repairs, which sadly ended in a fire. We were very lucky that we were not in bed at the time. A leak near electrics was left for 3 months, after repeated requests to deal with it. I was at home when I heard a bang in the attic. As I pulled down the hatch to investigate, I was greeted by flames and smoke with the attic ablaze. The fire crew told me the fire had been going for around 4 hours. This was at 10.30am. Had I not been there, and not opened the hatch, the whole house could have collapsed. (bungalow) Now, begrudgingly, the landlord put us in a hotel, at 6pm that evening..... we are still there! He called me this morning and said we should be back in by Friday, but also told me I was lucky he was paying for this and claiming it back as tenants normally have to pay themselves then claim it back! Surely this is not correct??? He also told me I could not claim for broadband (£3 per day) I have fibre broadband at home and need it for my job so surely this should be covered. There are a LOT of out of pocket expenses that I am yet to mention!!!! I'm not impressed that he is making out like he is doing me a favour. If it had been worse, he would be on a manslaughter charge for failing to carry out the repairs which in turn endangered a family of 3. The letting agent also told me not to mention to the insurance that we had informed them of the fault...... Something to hide? To add to that, he invoiced me on Saturday for the next months rent. The cheek!!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Hello, I am one of the executors of my late mother's will. I have been informed that the estranged mother of an 18 year old beneficiary of the will is demanding to see a copy of the will. Probate has not yet been granted; My question is, are we obliged by law to release the contents of the will to: 1) any beneficiary 2) any person who is not a beneficiary before probate has been completed. Thanks for your help.

Hi I slipped in a Chinese.takeaway where I also work and resulted in injuring my coccyx. I spoke to my employer and he laughter at me. I then spoke to my solicitors who then are taking action against yhier insurance. The boss sent my solicitor a letter saying that I'm not an employee and that I'm only self employed worker and tend tha the company in question has no proprietor and is now trading under a different name and will not be making any compensations to me . I have a sneaky feeling that they do not have insurance. The company itself is being investigated by HMRC for not paying its employees national minimum wage. Please advise me, are they trying to avoid blame or what?

My girlfriend and I live in a basement flat which she owns and the rest of the house above is rented out by a large London letting agency (the "F" word). The tenants living above (2 couples) have also had 2 other people living in the living and dining rooms for the past few months and have been noisy and disrespectful (coming in at 4am and playing dance music/raised voices) despite knowing how much it affects us and our neighbours. We've complained to the letting agents on a few occasions but they basically did nothing and haven't even done a house check since february as it turns out. In the end, we've resorted to talking to the actual landlord of the property (who lives a few hundred miles away) who's furious about the way these tenants have been behaving. He spoke to the agents at the start of the week, and they've done nothing. We were woken again at 4:30 this morning and phoned the agents later in the morning, and they still seem to have done nothing as the music is still playing. We've tried environmental health, but it has to be above a certain decibel level for them to do something. It doesn't change the fact that it's bothering the people surrounding them. We're in Hackney, so a lot of this stuff goes on and the council feel things have to be "seismic" with noise before they'll do anything. Just wondered whether anyone else has experienced anything similar and if this kind of failure of management by the agency (these people are obviously breaking their tenancy agreement) is widespread. If somebody knows the responsibilities of the agents and could give me a basic list I'd be grateful.