chipfork

We use Frontline Plus and it has been effective. The "Plus" version used to only be available from vets but for some time now it's freely available, our last batch came from Amazon. A few years ago we hadn't kept up with flea treatment and had an infestation. Indorex was very effective along with a lot of cleaning and washing of clothes and bedding. I think we found that to be cheapest from a seller on Amazon or eBay.

Great advice, I believe Citizen's Advice can also help. A good solicitor will be able to assess the needs and if relatively straightforward guide them through the forms for a nominal fee. Family on my partner's side were charged over £4k which seemed excessive given the requirements were very similar to those that I'll discuss below. Therefore it is essential to get a few quotes for the work before entering into an arrangement with a solicitor. Look for a specialist, the Law Society is a good starting point. This will find regulated solicitors (SRA) but is no guarantee of their quality, reviews and word of mouth can help. We recently looked at probate advice and the quality of the responses and projected fees were very mixed. I helped my partner's parents with an LPA (Lasting Power of Attorney). I'm not a solicitor, I did a lot of research , triple-checked everything and then validated what I had learned with those who had knowledge. We talked everything through, filled out the form on the government web site, paid the nominal admin fee and received the completed agreement some weeks later. My partner's mother's health was expected to worsen so we wanted her spouse to have control over her health and financial affairs whilst she was an a position to agree. It was relatively straightforward and proved to be worth the effort.

I've posted a number of USB network adapters and as is the consensus, Royal Mail is your best option. I have some small thin jiffy envelopes which work perfectly, if not a normal envelope and some bubble wrap will do the trick. These are generally over the 5 mm limit but the cost of a large letter is cheaper than a courier. Getting to a post office and gaining a proof of postage is a challenge for me so I tend to put these into a letterbox and no issues so far.

My partner is a nurse so I have some insights. She went through the traditional nurse training/qualification. About 5 years ago, on her own volition, she completed her degree in order to help with advancement and opportunities. She funded it and we worked on it outside work. From what I understand the degree focus doesn't change things dramatically, there's still placements and hands-on involvement. Privatisation is slowly creeping across the NHS. She works in NHS mental health and the service they manage is tendered every few years. This service is one of the few of this type, it might be the only one, that was won by an NHS trust aligned team. Across the country many mental health services are now with the private sector. You may have seen the news/Panorama and the problems with at certain privately run mental health services. That's not to say the NHS services are perfect, it just demonstrates that there is a level of privatisation which many may not realise. We'd be deluded to think that the private sector priorities aren't aligned to profit and returns first and foremost.

I'd never ever thought about this until I went to my local tyre fitter. I tend to wait and watch the process. My local tyre fitter cleaned up the rims first to help the bead of the tyre sit better in the rim (?), they added a bit of copper grease to the wheel nuts as mine were a pain to remove and then finished tightening the bolts with a torque wrench. When I've been desperate and gone to a chain tyre fitter there's been none of the cleaning and the bolts were just put on with a gun. I don't know what torque as when I had to take a wheel off I could only shift the bolt with an extended wrench and was worried about breaking the bolt. I'm much more picky where I get tyres fitted now.

The bills are going up and their retentions team seem a lot less generous with discounts. What's important to us are a comparable broadband speed (60 Mb/s down / 10 Mb/s up) and a reasonable TV selection. Freeview is more than adequate. Not bothered about a landline although this seems to be bundled and if like Virgin, tends to be cost neutral. We have had a brief look on comparison sites and for our area (S11) there seem to be a few fibre options including Sky, BT, plusnet, TalkTalk, NOW, etc. I see TalkTalk bundle in TV but not sure how that looks. We have a Smart TV so have access to some content through there. A Freeview or Freesat with a PVR would be the ideal solution. Does anyone have any experience with these broadband and TV options - any recommendations and any to avoid? We would need a new aerial or dish and a PVR but factor in that we'll still be saving over the short to medium term. Interested to hear if anyone else has defected from VM and the options that were chosen.

There's very little information as to the restrictions, particularly in relation to insurance. Because of the way insurers still like to price their renewals, we've swapped insurers every year since I can remember, we make sure we have more than adequate cover. Thanks, we'll put the freehold on hold 😉 The key concern was the lack of communication and a bill from the new owner of the freehold. At least the ball is in their court.

Thanks, so a little shy of £1,500 which doesn't sound an unreasonable amount. I am struggling to understand what we would gain from this investment by acting now rather than in 5 or 10 year's time. We've no plans to alter or sell the property and the £7 per year fixed ground rent isn't much of a burden.

Thanks, the main concern was about the ground rent and the lack of communication, we're happy that the ball is in their court. I'm still unsure of the benefit of looking at the expense involved in purchasing the freehold now when we have 700+ years on the lease and a £7 a year fee. Is there any rush when there may be reforms in the future that make the whole process easier, perhaps even fixing a formula to the cost.

Thanks. I guess we wait for an invoice for the ground rent. It appears to be a one-man band operation, not sure why they took over a batch of properties with so little return. There's very little information about the terms and nothing about the alterations that would constitute an admin fee and what those fees would look like. We've no plans to sell anytime soon and no plans to make alterations. Given the long lease and little outlay in ground rent is buying the freehold worth the cost? I guess there's no harm in asking for a quote.

I posted over a year ago now when we received a letter explaining that a company called "Fee Simple Estates" had purchased the Freehold Interest in our property from Norrow Estates. Our leasehold has 713 years left, the ground rent is £7 per year, we have no alterations planned and therefore see no reason to attempt to purchase the freehold. Unless we're missing something? The letter from May 2021 includes a rent demand notice for arrears of £0 as we were up to date with Norrow Estates, the fees run annually from March. It also states it sets out the amount of rent due and by when, but it only refers to the arrears in the letter where our balance is £0. The letter makes clear the action and penalties should we not pay the ground rent, yet we've not had any letters from them. Norrow Estates used to send an invoice and for a while we were posting cheques until we determined a standing order was easier for us, and certainly advantageous for them. Should we be the proactive party, are they expecting us to contact them to understand the fees, when they are due and how we can pay? The letter states that if there are any questions then we should write a letter. I'm concerned that if we wait on them to send an invoice then we'll be hit with the penalties or court action that they outline in the letter. I will ready a letter, this had slipped my mind. Given we're beyond March when the ground rent is due, what penalties are they able to apply?

I sanded (hired a floor sander), stained and varnished most of our house around 15 years ago. Most is wearing well and that was with 3 to 4 coats of hard-wearing varnish specifically for floors. Over the last few years certain heavy footfall areas have worn and I have been instructed that re-sanding, changing the colour and re-varnishing is on my list of jobs. Can't wait 😁

VM didn't ask for our second box back when we discontinued the service, maybe because it was an older generation box. We looked at backing up the content but could find no way to do that. The USB port didn't provide access and I believe the content is encrypted. VM have a way to transfer content from box to box but not export it, so we were told. When they replaced our main box to the Tivo box (not sure what gen that is) they said they'd copy the recordings across. They didn't which explained why they didn't stop long and made a sharp exit. We managed to find everything we'd lost elsewhere 😇 and have them on a USB hard drive plugged into our Smart TV.

I rang mine, Scottish Widows, a short while back and without much of a wait got through to someone who surprisingly answered all of my questions without having to put me on hold and speak to someone else. You don't customer service to be like that these days 😁

I hadn't really made any firm calculations, at the start it was more of an interest/experiment. I had expected to recoup the outlay for the miner in 6 months but I need to do a bit of optimisation first and also consider how HNT value develops.