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Edited by Dynamic Dave on 27/04/2009 at 20:37
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My flat is a shared ownership one with a ridiculously long and complicated lease.
It says, among a lot of other things: "The leaseholder hereby covenants with the landlord... not to assign underlet charge mortgage or part with the possession of part only of the premises. Not to underlet the whole of the premises."
That's the only bit about letting or subletting I can find in the whole lease, and I think what it's saying is that I can't move out and let the flat to someone else? So I'm thinking I could rent out my spare room, as long as I still live here?
I'm going to email the people who own the other chunk and check, but I'd quite like to know what I'm talking about first. Just don't understand why they can't write these things in plain english!
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You are not permitted to rent out all or part of your flat, under the terms of the Lease that you set out. You may be permitted to do so if you obtain the permission of the freeholder (Housing Association) - although they may not grant you that permission as they allowed you to purchase the shared ownership flat, not you and A N Other.
All the talk from other people of licences etc is simply incorrect. There would be a tenancy of the room, with use of shared facilities e.g bathroom, kitchen, living room etc. They would have exclusive possession of the bedroom (who would want to rent a room where the landlord could move stuff/people/themselves into the room too?).
Your mortgage lender probably has a restriction on renting out the flat or a room, and if you do so you would be in breach of your mortgage conditions, so you need to get their consent to rent out the room. This they may well give (they may consider as you remain in the flat that it is not a commercial loan and therefore not change your mortage product i.e charge you a higher rate of interest). However they would require the lodger to sign a consent form accepting that the lender has a right to possession of the flat, if you default on your mortgage)
Now for the good news...
Whilst you also live in the flat it is an Excluded Tenancy, i.e not an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (because you are a resident landlord - which conincidently is why your mortgage lender would still want them to sign the relevant forms. If you move out, then the tenancy reverts to an Assured Shorthold Tenancy, as you would not longer be a resident landlord). This means your tenant has no security of tenure (cannot remain in the property) and has no protection under the Protection from Eviction Act (which Act basically means to get rid of any tenant, you need to obtain a Court Order). Beacause of this many people (very naughty) simply take in lodgers without informing their mortgage lender and/or freeholder (if a flat), knowing that if anyone complains they can get rid of their lodger at very short notice.
Obviously the correct advice is to get all of the necessary consents, and still have a properly drawn up tenancy agreement (for the use of one room with shared facilities - which will also set out payment of bills etc, very useful if you do move out in the future and let the lodger stay on, as you would already have all the terms of what would become an AST already documented). However many people don't do this. Whether you do, is up to you.
Posting, as always, in the hope that it helps.
Edited by mufcnumber18 on 23/04/2009 at 15:01
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In answer to PG's sub-letting question from previous volume:
I think you read the terms of the lease correctly, although you are more or less entitled to let your spare room while you are still living there.
I sub-let the whole of a leasehold flat in London some years ago, with the permission of the mortgage holder.
They didn't seem too fussed, although I imagine things might be a bit tighter now.
Might also depend on repayment history and debt-to-equity ratio.
In my case, repayments were up to date and the flat was worth a few thousand more than the outstanding mortgage.
subect header re-titled and tagged onto PG's question
Edited by Webmaster on 18/04/2009 at 17:17
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PG, I assume you know how much you're allowed to charge under the rent a room scheme without incurring tax on the income. The amount charged is meant to include bills.
Edited by Webmaster on 18/04/2009 at 17:16
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Yep, thanks - got all that info, just need to check I'm actually allowed to do it. Luckily I live somewhere where lots of people want rooms during the week only, so I'm not going to go over that threshold and I still get to wander round in my pyjamas until lunchtime at the weekend without upsetting the lodger! :)
Edited by Webmaster on 18/04/2009 at 17:16
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PG, you might find this forum useful;
www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/index.php
Edited by Webmaster on 18/04/2009 at 17:16
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I'd be surprised you cannot have a lodger. I can see why renting the whole lot out might not be allowed.
Edited by Webmaster on 18/04/2009 at 17:16
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There should be no problem renting a room to a lodger as long as they don't have exclusive possession of any part of the flat.
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The tax position for renting a room appears fairly straightforward:
tinyurl.com/2qqk86
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>>and I still get to wander round in my pyjamas until lunchtime at the weekend without upsetting the lodger! :)
You obviously wear much more than me in this centrally heated environment ;>)
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I think that in strictness your lease won't let you sublet whether the whole or a part of your flat.
I suspect that's because, as you say, it's a shared ownership and allowing a third party some right over even a part of your flat prejudices the ownership rights of your co-owner.
You're checking the position which sounds sensible because in the extreme case a failure to comply with the covenants in a lease can result in the lease being voided leaving the tenant (you) with nothing.
Mostly, though, informal-ish sublets are ok.
Edited by Optimist on 19/04/2009 at 12:26
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I am no lawyer, so with that disclaimer you should ignore the following as idle speculation on an internet chat forum:
The first part refers to part only of the premises - thus a single room -= i.e. what you are doing.
>>not to assign
You are not selling (the lease to) a part of your flat
>>underlet
You are unlikely to be doing this as underletting requires a lease. A lodger will occupy the place under licence, and has no rights to exclusive possession of any part of the flat. There is no point in giving a lodger an AST, for you - as a resident landlord - are not in a position to do this.
>>charge
>>mortgage
These are (approximately) the same thing, and you will not be taking out a loan.
>>or part with the possession
See "underlet"
>>Not to underlet the whole of the premises
Clearly as you will be living there, this section does not apply.
Therefore, take in your lodger, and do it without paperwork so you are at no risk of creating any sort of lease. If you get sick of your lodger, change the locks for you are at will so to do.
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If you rent a room to someone in these circumstances, that person is your lodger, not your tenant.
They cannot establish rights to your spare bedroom in the same way a hotel guest cannot establish rights to a hotel room he is booked into.
I think the legal types talk of a 'licence'.
Notice periods are usually based on the frequency of rent payments, so most people take rent from a lodger weekly, rather than monthly.
To be on the ultra-safe side, a houseowner I knew in London years ago used to service the room - hoover or change the sheets - so as to make it absolutely clear it was a hotel or B&B-type occupancy.
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>>To be on the ultra-safe side, a houseowner I knew in London years ago used to
>>service the room - hoover or change the sheets - so as to make it absolutely clear it
>>was a hotel or B&B-type occupancy.
Aha, in the days of the good old Rent Act 1977 - (although even then lodgers were exactly that). Fortunately long since superseded for new tenancies - though not repealed.
There is absolutely no need for PG to change her lodger's sheets.
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Something else to think about . .
if you have a mortgage it may limit what you can do without the lender's position. Will probably be similar to the lease.
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Daughter completes her mental health BA (or BSc?) nursing course this year @ B'ham Uni. (My wallet says hoorah!!). She expects to pass but not spectacularly.
For the 1st two years she had a b/f down here, the net effect of which was that she spent little time living the Uni life. He has been out of her life this academic year, and she has got very involved in the Uni life, in particular with the freshers with whom she has been sharing Halls.
So much so, that they have asked her to join them in a student flat next year, which she is v keen to do. It's a large house - 9 rooms I believe.
My first response was that she has to get a job - as an aside to the main question below, does anyone have any idea of the odds of a newly qualified mental health nurse getting a job in B'ham area?
But the main question is - I've been told, and researched, about how council tax works in respect of students. I understand that if a property contains all students then it is exempt, but things change if a student shares with employed people. What I can't pinpoint is what the change is, who would have to pay Council Tax, and how it is calculated. If anyone can point me to an appropriate page I'd be v grateful.
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Firstly its a Bsc (my wife qualified (upgraded) BSC(hons) last year)
Secondly, jobs in the national health service are going to bomb very shortly. The chancelor is going to have to announce savage cuts in spending in the next budget and the budget after (he has already warned the cabinet).
That said she may get a job as being newly qualified she is a low banding and therefore cheap(er).
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Someone will be along in a minute to point you in the right direction for the rules, but my understanding is that if even one person in the flat is NOT a student, then they have to pay the Council Tax. In year 3 at UCL daughter shared with non-students and Council Tax had to be paid, in the same way as when you have student children living at home.
I suppose the rules may differ if each person rents a room in the house, rather than it being a joint tenancy?
Edited by deepwith on 19/04/2009 at 19:40
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One employed person and the house loses its exemption. As she will be the only one who has to pay tax, she will get a 25% (I'm fairly sure) rebate on the cost.
Trouble is, a 9 bed house will be in an extremely high band, so it's likely to be cripplingly expensive unless she can persuade the others to pitch in, or if she can get some other proper people in there with her.
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If there is one non student in the house then council tax is definately payable. And I'm not sure they'd get the reduction either because they are not living in the house along. And as someone else says, a 9 bed house is not going to be cheap in terms of banding. Might be a bit of a non starter.
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I've just received my pension documents and I've got to make a decision.
There's a commutable element between my tax-free lump sum and my RPI linked annual pension.
For each £1k PA of pension I give up, I can receive an extra £17K (approx) of tax-free lump sum.
I calculate it would take over twenty years of pension payments (with basic rate tax deductions) to equal taking the tax-free, additional, lump sum.
To me, it's a no-brainer. You take the lump sum.
I'm not asking for advice to what I should do, but is there anything I've overlooked?
I don't need the cash, the mortgage is paid off, the kids have left home and I'm not exactly short of the readies. I'm not profligate (Kia Pride!). Do I expect to live into my eighties? I've already exceeded my parents life span!
Any thoughts gratefully received.
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Don't forget the effects of inflation.
It is currently low, but could increase a great deal over your 20 years and erode the lump sum.
Have a look at: tinyurl.com/cwupdd
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>>Don't forget the effects of inflation.
Yes, I appreciate that.
I'm assuming the index linking on the pension will sort of match interest rates if I invest the lump sum.
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If you took a lump sum of £17000 you would need to invest it at 5.88% interest to get an income of £1000 per year.
(a) Interest rates like 5.88% are hard to find these days.
(b) The temptation will be to spend the £17000, in which case you'll get no income whatsoever from it.
When I retired 7 years ago I was faced with making a similar decision. I decided that I would prefer the income rather than the lump sum, and I haven't regretted that decision.
When you were working you probably found it easy to adapt to income increases ~ wage increases etc. When you retire it's likely that your income will be lower than when you were working, and you will find it more difficult to adapt to the decreased income ~ so keep the decrease as small as possible.
It's much easier to adapt to an increase in your income than to a decrease. This theory has been give a name ~ somebody's law ~ but I can't remember whose.
Edited by L'escargot on 19/04/2009 at 23:10
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Monsieur snail.
You're expecting the £17K to still be there in twenty years time.
I'm not expecting me to be here then!
If I just draw down five per cent PA of the £17K per year, that's £850, each year for twenty years! I think that if I invest and draw down I can better £1K PA, even in this economic climate.
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my biggest concern would be rampant inflation maybe 4 years from now
how would this infect if you kept your pension in house
Edited by bell boy on 20/04/2009 at 00:16
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>>I'm assuming the index linking on the pension will sort of match interest rates if I invest the lump sum.
I'd guess interest rates would also rise?
The major part of my pension would be index linked to the RPI.
If the company that pays my pension goes mammary glands up (hint - my initials) at least I've got a 'bird in the hand'.
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I think that if I invest and draw down I can better £1K PA even in this economic climate.
If you can do that then it's the best choice. The point I really wanted to make was how difficult it is to adapt to a decreased income, and therefore your primary aim should be to get the highest income possible. The size of your assets is of secondary importance. Just beware of the temptation of spending the lump sum to the detriment of your income.
Edited by L'escargot on 20/04/2009 at 08:33
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Also to consider is tax.
If you take the money now, your 17k is tax-free capital, of which you can spend 100% over the next years of your life.
If you leave the money in your pension, then the 5.88% yield is subject to tax at (I guess?) 20% (or 40%), thus reducing your yield to 4.7% (based on 20% tax rate).
BP shares are currently yielding over 7%. And your children get to inherit the shares... but their value can of course fall as well as rise, as can the value of their dividend.
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The morbid thought I was told was that if you take the lump sum, you and your relatives have it, if you leave it in the pension it goes when you die (apart from widow's pension considerations if any)
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RPI indexing is very valuable but of course still lags behind average earnings. But since you seem to have a good bedrock income, I would take the lump sum and spread it around high yielding gilts, investment grade bonds or bond funds and some slightly riskier high yielding PIBs. Details of the latter can be found in the Saturday Financial Times, with more on www.thisismoney.co.uk/pibs. PIBs are a narrow market and you may not be able to buy or sell just when you want. They also rank last in the case of a bust but hey!, 16.6% in Northern Rock can't be all bad (by no means the highest in the bunch). The best gilt is Exchequer 12% 2013-17, 8.53% a day or two back but the redemption yield is only about 3%. I would put the highest-yielding of your selection into an ISA.
This is what I do but then, I am too old to worry about growth. In any case, it is wise not to take financial advice from amateurs and I like Woody Allen's definition of a stockbroker, someone who invests your money for you until it is all gone.
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But since you seem to have a good bedrock income ..........
Going off at a slight tangent to the original post .............
One snag is that, as a general rule for ordinary mortals in the private sector, HMRC limit occupational pensions to 2/3rds of final pensionable salary, which means quite a drop (from when you were working) until you start getting the state OAP. If you don't manage to accrue 2/3rds pensionable salary then obviously the drop is even greater. It's even worse if your pensionable salary is "sliced" ~ it's fairly common for occupational pension schemes to calculate final pensionable salary as being actual salary (perhaps averaged over the last two working years) less an amount equal to the single person's state OAP.
For all those not in a pension scheme it's never too early to join a scheme. For all those already paying into a pension scheme, it's never too early to start planning to maximise the eventual pension.
Here endeth the lesson!
Edited by L'escargot on 21/04/2009 at 13:50
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Many thanks for all your replies.
I'd already decided, more or less, to go for the maximum tax-free lump sum option, but wanted to know if there was anything I hadn't considered.
bintang's reply was interesting. I'll put the money away somewhere safe while I study his suggestions and learn more. I've used independant financial advisors a couple of times before and found I can get better returns myself.
Thought: If my pension increases are RPI linked and we're in a deflationary period with negative indexing, will I get pension decreases?
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An allotment buddy of mine has aquired an old electric wheelchair from a mutual friend, who now has a new scooter.
He has re-designed the chair into a type of powered flat-bed trolley, on which he can load things like bags of compost/fertliser etc, and he can stand on the back of it to "drive"it using the original joy-stick control box.
Today, he landed down at the allotment after having been up town on it to pick up some rolls of wire and other stuff,I've mentioned to him that he "may" fall foul of the law if they see him, but he says that it's still 90% a wheelchair and he should be ok.
Anyone any thoughts on the subject please?
Billy
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Provided he conforms to the relevant rules regarding the use of such a contraption, either on the road or on the pavement, I can't see there will be a problem. Or is that stating the obvious?
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Does the RTA apply to an electric wheelbarrow ? It may be classed as a pedestrian controlled vehicle. All it takes is a bored policeman on a quiet day with a target to achieve.
Edited by Old Navy on 20/04/2009 at 09:19
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It might be classed as an electric fork lift truck, in which case ..........
www.fork-lift-training.co.uk/legislation.htm
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Thanks for replies so far, I must admit I was thinking along the lines of Pedestrian controlled, when i mentioned it to him. I notice I am allowed to "Drive" a "Mower" on my licence.
Maybe he should fit some blades to the front! ;-)
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Can anyone point me to a website giving corporate bond ratings for the amateur please?
Moodys and Standard and Poors seem to be limited to registered professionals and companies themselves tend to keep ratings concealed.
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I would be very cautious or even dismissive of such ratings.
These are the people who gave AAA's to all those who turned out to be in big trouble!
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The Dispatches programme on Channel 4 last night was quite scary regarding AAA ratings by Standard & Poors!
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The local Sailability group has two RIBs, which live on road trailers in a secure area of a carpark, not far from the slipway. For safety/insurance reasons, the sailors cannot go out on the water without the RIBs. At the beginning of each session they are towed down to the slipway and launched, by some friendly volunteer who happens to have a towbar on their car. They are too big and too heavy to be pulled by either able or disabled.
The problem arises when none of the available volunteers has a towbar fitted to their car. One solution suggested was that we should find some form of mini-tractor, at least 5 hp (I understand !!), which could pull and then launch the boats.
Any suggestions for what we should look for, what problems we might encounter and how much we are going to have to raise?
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How about a quad bike, 2 or 4 wheel drive as required. Plenty of used ones around. Tow hitch should not be a problem.
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unfortunately a quad bike in its natural habitat would stay there at least a day before it was hoiked out by undesirables
my thought is a freecycle request for an mot failure with a tow ball
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It may even be worth asking local MOT centers or scrapyards for a suitable car. So long as it starts, stops and steers then it really won't matter if its failed an MoT on a load of niggling faults.
Potential good publicity opportunity for a scrapyard too, to be seen doing something good for the community.
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The Omega sitting on my drive with no MOT ( emissions and broken spring) should still run if you're interested. Doesn't actually have a tow ball but does have all the brackets etc. Located near Christchurch.
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Thanks for the suggestions and offer from Spamcan :-)
Unfortunately, after a little research, we cannot use a car without MOT/tax as we use a public, Council owned carpark. We have three spaces, which are enclosed in a cage now, for the two RIBs, so no room for a full sized car. We are not allowed to take cars into the (privately owned) boat park or leave one parked there :-(
So back to the drawing board.
Bell boy is quite right about a quad bike - the RIB we had delivered last year was actually removed by the undesirables before it was even launched! I wondered if there might be a ride-on mower type vehicle which might do the job?
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Might not be of help, but can't you buy motorised jockey wheels? Might be smaller, cheaper and easier than getting a tractor.
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That's a good idea, I use a hand-cranked one to move the caravan about at home, but some are self contained with a battery.
Look on Ebay for 'caravan movers'
Ted
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Ride-on mower (minus cutting blades!) is used for RIB movement by an organisation near me. RWD only but copes OK on slimy slipway although I think there have been problems with driveshafts (splines rounding off?). Tow balls front & rear for flexibility. Unfortunately bodywork, despite hosing down after every use, does not like seawater & has rotted although this has taken a few years.
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Could a ride on pallet truck be adapted to the task?
tinyurl.com/d5zufz
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A small farm tractor - if you can get one cheaply - might be useful, not least because you can tax and insure it as a works vehicle. You'll have no issues with driving it home after use, either.
Another alternative is a fork lift truck with a tow hitch on the back - I've seen both solutions used in nearby boatyards to handle powerboats, and both seem to work well.
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Thank you all for your suggestions. I have copied them all and passed them on to the Treasurer/Committee, complete with info on the various options.
Will up date when they have made the decision!
Edited by Pugugly on 29/04/2009 at 18:15
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A few days ago I noticed that a drain outside the front of our house had standing water right up to surface level. It has in fact overflowed very slightly since. It is the drain which the kitchen sink goes into also.
I've tried using one of those domestos containers which you just empty the whole thing down and leave for a couple of hours, with a minimal amount of success. The water level has dropped by a couple of inches, but it's still there, and not looking too pleasant.
I was going to just buy another of the same and try again, but the ante was upped this morning. The downstairs toilet has started to drain very slowly. Now this toilet goes to a completely different large-bore drain on the side of the house, but it seems too much of a coincidence to me, so I reckon that the blockage must be fairly far down, past where these two drains meet. But on the other hand, I know nothing about drains.
Am I likely to be correct? And what is my best course of action? Do I try the Domestos drain unblocker again? Or am I better just getting a man in? If the latter, can anyone suggest a company, and does anyone know the likely cost?
Thanks for any advice.
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Daughter in London had this problem (and worse when the flat above had a bath!).
Thames water turned up within two hours and charged £65 for 'jetting' the sewer. Quite reasonable I thought.
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Responsibilty for unblocking cost will be very dependent on cause, where the the obstruction is, the layout, how many people 'share' common sections and the age of the property/ drains and a host of other issues. You will need to undertand the difference betwee drains an sewers.
If a good relationship can be established with the utilty operatives, the cost can be as low as a bottle of scotch!
I would be extremely wary of any commercial operation, costs can escalate alarmingly.
In certain instances your building insurance may cover certain damage/causes.
If you think that you have problems, our outlet goes through a graveyard - under certain circumstances of digging to clear a blockage would , I believe, require an act parliament!
p
Edited by pmh2 on 23/04/2009 at 10:12
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Same sort of thing happened to us a few years ago - turned out to be a blockage some metres down a pipe which we shared with neighbours. We got a local drain unblocker bloke to do it for £80 (split with neighbours) but only after I'd spent ages up to my arm pit in sewage trying to unblock it myself :-(
If you can get Thames water to do it quickly for £65 then yes, that sounds like a good deal.
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Find where manhole/inspection covers are, lift them, see what you see.
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Yes, I had a feeling that we had done this not too long ago.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=72...7
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Cheers all. With the realisation that the words 'foul water' were involved, I lost pretty much all interest in trying to solve this myself!
I tried the council first, and from their website, United Utilities. They however were not at all interested in doing anything until I had proven that it was a problem in the public sewer, not just the drains under my house.
A bit difficult to do this, and in the mean time who knows what could be building up? So I've bitten the bullet and called a drainage bloke, who will be coming round this afternoon, I imagine to stick a high pressure hose down there.
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watch how you get billed
some of the biggest cowboys out in this world run drain unblocking so called companies
watch how they bill you
do they bill in 15 minute intervals or part thereoff
do not give them tea and biscuits as they will charge you for their time as they supp it
sorry not a fan of these aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa companies
a friend of mines father was done by them a few years ago and i saw the invoice
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In thirty years of drains I've seen very few domestic drains that really needed jetting - it's only ever restaurant drains that get clogged with fats that benefit from jetting, and even they can be cleared by rodding with effort..
All other drains can be rodded, and while it looks old-tech, it's by far the best. The jetting guys talk total rubbish, and several episodes of Rogue Traders have shown how they rip you off big time.
The chances are that there is a mass of tissues, loo paper, nappies or similar that has snagged on a bend or joint that is partially obstructing the flow that will be shifted downstream fairly easily.
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Daughter's blockage was somewhere at the bottom of a stack where (or near) it entered the drain. The only visble manhole was upstream and the drain was rodded from there, without success.
To clear the blockage, a lavatory pan was disconnected (flexible joint), which gave access. The stack was a couple of feet away at a right angle join, in plastic.
Is it possible to rod round a plastic right angle?
A jet cleared it quickly.
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"Is it possible to rod round a plastic right angle?"
Rods just act as a hydraulic ram, and don't need to come into direct contact with the blockage. I have a snag in a run of drain that's about 10' from the septic tank - I clear it with rods that are 25' long from a manhole 100' away, and just build up a hydraulic head with the plunger on the rod and run in through several times until it's been washed through.
If I need to clear round a bend I use a long length of 25mm polypropylene hose (the blue water pipe used underground) with/without (depending on diameter) an old brush securely wired to the end - it's flexible enough to get round any bend.
Edited by oldnotbold on 24/04/2009 at 11:28
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Thanks for the plastic hose tip, I'll have to try to remember it!
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To give the full story - I was initially going to use dynorod, but put a request for recommendations onto an electronic noticeboard at work, and used the local company whose name I gained from that, so there was some reason to believe them to be trustworthy.
I also asked the man on the phone for an idea of the likely cost, and it having now been done, he matched that quote exactly (£80 + VAT ).
As expected me used a high pressure hose and blasted the blockage through into the main sewer. He says it was just a build up of grease and similar, and nothing to worry about. (I don't know whether he used a camera to confirm that, or is basing it on his own experience, I wasn't present to ask more detailed questions).
I agree that rogue traders makes you scared to use any local small business - but they're not all like that! Given reason to believe them trustworthy, I would much rather give my money to a local firm than a large faceless corporation.
Thanks for all advice received.
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For 80 quid, no he didnt use a camera. If the blockage returns you will need a camera down there to see what causing it. You get a DVD video of the drain and a report, and a yellow mark sprayed on the ground where the issue is. This costs more than 80 quid so get a fixed quote. tree roots are quite a common issue, they sniff out and search out the nutrients, breaking drain joints to get at them.
IF the yellow mark is outside your boundry, its the responsibility of the utility company, if its inside your boundry its your cost. Make sure you are insured. It costs to dig up drains.
Every home owner shoudl have a set of 19:99 drain rods and 5:99 thick rubber gloves. Its nasty but could save you a fortune. Mine have repaid themselves many times over
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My drain rods don't owe me anything. But always remember to turn them clockwise as you're pushing the rods down and when you're pulling them back out, otherwise you can unscrew them and leave a length down the drain which I think is at the top of most people's lists of Very Bad Ideas.
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I would like to get Premiership Rugby scores for this weekend sent to my mobile. I have searched the Tesco site to no avail.
Any ideas please/
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You need to sign up to a text alert service - mine is my brother in law (!) - but there are commercial operators.
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My partner was about £400 out of pocket, last September, when ZOOM airline went bust. She paid thru a Visa Debit card and this has been regarded as a 'credit' card transaction. She very quickly got a small refund of the cost of pre-selecting her seat, about £25 and then endless faxing of invoices and booking forms etc. She has had already complained about the time it is taking to finalise this and Visa have now got back to her saying that as she has failed to return to them form they claim to have sent her in January (she never received it) the claim has passed their deadline for resolution and is closed. For the sum involved she wouldn't have ignored the form, of course, so what is the next step? Can Visa arbitrarily set a time limit? Her initial claim for the whole amount was in on time, witness the payment of a partial refund. can anyone tell me what ombudsman she should approach? I am not sure of which one deals with credit card disputes. Thanks you.
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Ring 'em up, and ask to speak to a supervisor.
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Good Luck, I complained to he Ombudsman about a PayPal problem. it involved quite a long form, and printing the many pages of supporting material. All I think they did was to forward copies of the stuff to PayPal, presumably on the basis that PayPal would crumble at the sight of a letter from the Ombudsman. They didn't, and I gave up, losing £200 unfairly in the process.
I would have thought the credit card company's web page would tell you where to go (in the nicest possible way) with unresolved complaints
Good Luck!
Edited by smokie on 24/04/2009 at 10:57
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Is there mileage in simply going to
www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp
And filling it in? They are jointly liable, you're out of pocket, end of story.
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Jointly liable if a credit card but this is a debit card transaction being treated as though it were a credit card. (?)
I'd have thought it's the issuing bank OP is after not Visa which is the processing organisation.
Time limits for claims are in statute not set by Visa. I'd suggest you go to the customer service of the issuing bank. If they were originally prepared to take the hit on the loss I don't see why they'd change their mind now.
In my experience most banks are useless (does this surprise anyone?) and if you don't keep on at them your complaint or whatever will simply drift. Make a nuisance of yourself.
Good luck.
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Payments paid through PayPal (third party) are not covered by the normal credit card transaction legislation. See:
tinyurl.com/dgm6wq
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All credit cards are covered by the Consumer Credit Act - therefore the full weight of the law is behind you.
Visa debit cards (and only Visa debit cards) have a system in place known as 'chargeback' whereby the cardholders bank can claim the cash back from the vendors bank should the contract not be honoured - there appears to be a 120 day period to invoke the claim:
whatconsumer.co.uk/visa-debit-chargeback/
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Brilliant bit of info. OP looks ok since claim initiated within 120 days, it appears.
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I had an issue with Paypal (goods didn't turn up), and had paid with Visa Debit.
Paypal didn't play ball, nor did the bank, so I discovered the magic keyword was indeed "chargeback". I used that in a conversation with the bank and they paid up in a few days.
I assume Paypal then went after the seller for the money - certainly his eBay account vanished anyway.
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>>All credit cards are covered by the Consumer Credit Act - therefore the full weight of the law is behind you.>>
Did you read the link I provided?
Incidentally, Chargeback is detailed almost at the end.
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Stuart - not wishing to hijack the thread, but I was going through the PayPal disputes procedure as, while payment to me was by PayPal, the purchaser of the offending item settled their PayPal payment by Barclaycard. The item I'd sold was a Red Letter day, and Red Letter Days went bust some months after I'd sold it, and before the buyer had used it.
The buyer claimed through Barclaycard, on the basis of non-delivery. Barclaycard initiated a chargeback from PayPal, who paid up pretty much without question then demanded the money from me (bailiffs etc were threatened). Despite fully explaining the situation on a number of occasions to PayPal, as I'd disposed the proof of delivery some months earlier, (having verified that the item had been delivered) I was on weak ground to contest the claim - even though I had a confirmation from the purchaser that they had in fact received the item.
In the end I just put it down to experience.
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Many thanks for the replies and very useful information - I have been away for a few days. The matter is/was being dealt with under "Chargeback". It seems to be a question of muddle at Barcays Visa handling Department. The Bank have told my partner that the claim has 'timed out' and yet at the same time they are saying that they continue to investigate her complaint about the time it has taken to resolve the issue, which she and her local bank branch regard as ongoing.
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I live in one of a pair of '60s semis. The guttering is arranged such that the downpipe is at one end (mine). It overflows in heavy rain.
I've checked it's clear, I just think it's not up to the job.
The floor area of both properties is roughly 40' by 25', so each gutter (front and back) is trying to drain an equivalent flat area of 500 square feet.
Before reaching the downpipe, the gutter turns ninety degrees round the side of the house and runs along a couple of feet to the downpipe, which is on the side of the house.
Could this turn be reducing the flow significantly?
I thought the cheapest solution might be to cut in a running outlet before the gutter does it's ninety degree turn and feed it into a downpipe branch on the existing downpipe.
I thought I might increase the slope of the gutter a little also.
Any thoughts or advice would be welcome.
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How big & of what form is the guttering?
It's possible that the downpipe is blocked, or partially blocked.
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I cannot help but feel that your neighbour must be at risk of causing a legal nuisance through allowing his rain to overflow into your house.
My suggestion would be to rearrange the guttering so that there is a downpipe at both ends. Obviously it will require removing and realigning. I am sure your neighbour would not want to be damaging your house anyway.
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The downpipe is clear.
To arrange a downpipe at both ends would mean laying new drainage underground.
The houses were built this way back in the 60's - I won't say by who, it may upset Popeye's hamburger eating friend. There are many in the neighbourhood.
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>Before reaching the downpipe, the gutter turns ninety degrees round the side of the house >and runs along a couple of feet to the downpipe, which is on the side of the house.
>Could this turn be reducing the flow significantly?
Where does it overflow? before the 90 bend? Yes water does not like having its direction of flow altered and it always tries to go straight on, tho in this case if there was to much for the bend it would go right over the top *at* the 90 elbow, not further up the flow
Unless there is not a consistent fall between your party wall and the elbow.
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A second, supplementary drain in the gutter, attached to the same downpipe will probably improve things if the problem is the corner; it won't if the problem is the capacity of the downpipe.
Maybe try REDUCING the slope of the gutter, rather than increasing it. My suspicion is that the water is flowing too quickly to get safely round the corner (think Nigel Mansell). Slow it down, and the progress may well be safer and drier.
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Is it something as simple as a leaking joint in the gutter, not the gutter overflowing?
It's very easy for dirt to build up between the gutter and the seal, and expansion and contraction due to temperature changes can cause considerable lengthwise movement of plastic gutters.
Ignore these comments if you've altready checked these factors!
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I know its a trivial question, but why does liquid form on the top of marmalade once you've started to use it? There's none there when you've just opened the jar.
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Don't know - but we're so security conscious in our house we have our Marmalade shredded.
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Good to have a spread of security measures I suppose.
Just in case you find yourself in a jam....or indeed a pickle.
Avoids a sticky situation and preserves your property.
Think I'll stop now........
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i cant top pug so will just say i have my marmalade and eat it
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Don't know - but we're so security conscious in our house we have our Marmalade shredded.
Another fan of the Now Show!
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I am off to Norway on a cruise in the Summer and I wondered if any folk here have any experience of costs on land, Flamm, Stavanger and Bergen are on the itinerary. I have heard that costs may be eye watering!!!!!!!!
Best regards.........MD
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Coincidentally was discussing fjord cruises earlier tonight with people who said that land costs were astronomical. Didn't quantify though I am afraid.
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MD, I'd spend a bit of time on tripadvisor if I was you for updated info.
Beers and spirit prices are certainly hefty, but of you like good wine Norway is a good place to go because the tax is a fixed price so the more expensive the bottle, the less the proportion of tax and the more you are paying directly for the quality.
Are you doing the Hurtigruten?.
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We visited Norway briefly last year - DFDS stopping the route from Newcastle.
We weren't in Stavanger for too long - a Fjord trip and then the return leg. But prices were a little high but for a day visit not so bad. But we had a meal booked on the boat on the way back come to think of it.
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