burghley

I have one and never had any issues using it to acquire reasonable access at venues. From what you've described, that is a poor level of service on their behalf as they should be offering options to assist on the day of your booked event, of if they cannot give an answer there and then, to get back to you with the correct answer. I'd contact them again and see if you speak to someone else; and make them aware that you weren't satisfied with the level of access support on your last contact.

They've only got themselves to blame for neglecting their responsibilities.

We have since relocated into the new property, and feel so much more relaxed. The key handover was an absolute mess. He turned up nearly an hour later than agreed, an estate agent turned up not long after we did. On top of that, he was extremely rude; which his words were noted. We've also had the response back from the Solicitors with the information; now we're in the position to attempt negotiation before court action. The solicitors have given us a 25% + VAT success fee, taking it to 45% if I am correct? We're unsure whether we should pay the solicitors to try negotiate a settlement outside of court on our behalf for a fee (and they also get the 45% of the compensation 'win') or if we should do the letter ourselves, now we've got the information and law in writing directly from them which we can highlight and refer back to. We do believe that it will likely be put in front of a Judge; we're pretty confident as we've got enough evidence to support our case. So our question would be, should we pay the solicitors and let them take that 45% chunk of the money if they settle negotiations pre-court, or should we write the letter ourselves to attempt settlement of compensation before pursuing court action?

Our original letter was sent 1st Class with proof of postage on 2nd June, the same day that the Landlord offered us to stay in the property for a longer period and we declined in the email, but took it upon ourselves to send our notice to vacate. Heard nothing back. The solicitor and Citizens Advice advised us to send it next day guarantee, so I've followed their advice. I've taken screenshots of the tracking record. It should have been delivered on Saturday, however with no answer, I selected it to be re-delivered for an attempt tomorrow. If they don't sign for it, I'm sure this would flag up on the tracking and the Judge would be interested to know why they refused it.

I sent a letter to the landlord in November and December 2020 about the outstanding repair work, alongside the gas safety checks needing doing. I kept receipt of this, and the letter I sent (as with the latest communications about us vacating by 2nd July). Again, this was not acknowledged until near enough end of January. Believe standard is 30 days for this to be resolved, yet only one of the 5/6 matters stated were dealt with with no further update or response to the remaining. The wording of the agreement was raised by said solicitors. We contested the wording of the deposit, but it was never fully clear regarding the term of the tenancy. It looks like it was just pulled off the internet and he only adjusted what he felt was relevant. The council and TRO were informed of the invalid notice, an email and letter were sent to him, again with no response or follow up from him to serve it correctly. The notice caused a large amount of emotional distress. We had been trying to look for a property since February however there was never anything suitable (that didn't have mould which was a deciding factor) or we weren't selected for the other properties we had high interested in. We had to use other methods to secure the property we're now moving into. Both tenancy agreements we were provided with clearly states the Landlord must provide us at least 24 hours notice before arrival, this was a broken clause in my eyes. Again, this caused distress and he did not respond when I questioned twice why he hadn't given us notification. Even when I refused entry and said an agreed date and time is needed, they still walked into the property which they had no right to. I'm sure in previous comments, I had contacted the Council and Environmental Health, they said they could not do anything because it was not 'severe enough' to be dealt with, despite my persistence and sending them the letter from my Doctor confirming the symptoms I've experienced, and still do. With regards to us 'causing' the mould, I replied to ab6262's comment. The council sent the same information about ventilation, I told them all this, as well as the Landlord in an email from January that we've always kept the windows open. The only occasions we've kept them closed (or on the very first latch-lock, still allowing for ventilation) have been when we've worked later days, or being away from the property for the night.

We've had all windows open every day, in all weathers since the day we moved in. Bathroom doesn't even have a vent, yet we've kept the window open and open it further when we've had to use the shower or bath. We've got a tumble dryer, the pipe goes outside of the window. We've always hung washing outside in nicer weather, never inside. Even the clothes airer goes outside. The mould isn't in any other part of the property except the main bedroom. It's well ventilated, has been since we moved in, curtains/blinds opened, so there shouldn't be any reason for it to grow on the walls.

Thankyou for your helpful input, Hippogriff. We've asked the solicitor to provide us with the law where we would stand in court with regards to the matters of: - Them not completing repair works that were originally reported in 2019 - The wording of the 'updated' tenancy agreement - The way he served notice (which was invalid) - The unannounced attendances - The failure of gas/electric safety checks - Mould situation which has been medically confirmed as a detriment to my health - The deposit (which we're aware of) for the sake of getting it in writing. They've been made very aware we're not instructing them for court purposes as we'll be dealing with that ourselves and we've simply requested professional opinion. From the deposit side, the Landlord definitely won't have any evidence or shown attempts of securing the deposits, yet we've got the emails from him stating 'he couldn't put it in', and in his own handwriting on the 'updated' tenancy agreement that we, the tenants, should put that money into the DPS, which wouldn't go down well in the courtroom! We would offer a LBA; however since 2nd June, we gave our notice to vacate by letter. A further 2 emails, a (read) WhatsApp message and a letter/reminder (guaranteed next day, which wasn't successful due to no answer) to arrange a mutual date/time for handover and property inspection before 2nd July, we've heard absolutely nothing in return. Again, I presume all of this would go hand-in-hand in our favour. It's highly unlikely he's going to respond to agree a figure for his neglect. At this rate, we'll simply just be issuing a letter for attending court, once we've received the response from the solicitors, which will assist us in making our claim as we're not sure what is reasonable to request money figure wise to show for the above as we can say how it's affected us emotionally and physically.

We've instructed a solicitor to look over everything for us, asked them to let us know where we'd stand and if it's worth taking to court. I've sent them a folder consisting of 235 items (scanned docs, email communications and pictures) so hopefully we'll have a good chance

Bit of an update. We've finally found another (much nicer) property and moving out at the end of the month. The landlord tried to issue us an illegal notice by email saying we had 5 weeks to move out because he wants to sell. No Form 6A. No paperwork/documents through the post. Nothing. 🤣 He's honestly got no clue! Told the Council's TRO and they've tried to contact him, now he's gone silent, even after we wrote him an email with our months notice to vacate and asked him to confirm an agreed date/time for handover and inspection. So glad we're getting out.

I just contacted them again as I had an issue with the website not showing my annual bill that I've been trying to print off. I also enquired about this months payment, as it's showing as Outstanding on the account. They told me I could do one of two options.. Either pay manually, or let it take a double payment next month. Decided to pay manual as I'm moving at the end of the month.

I managed to phone council this morning after my payment hadn't been taken (yet said it was processed 1st June on the self-service account), they told me there was an 'internal error' with their systems that's currently being investigated but no definite timescale to when payments will actually be taken...

Hence I said 'I'm aware not everyone is technically minded', incase you missed that bit. The surgeries would have information, in written and other formats that can provide instructions how to do it. Based on the fact they can even try get through to them in the first place. It's a clear communication issue. It's out there, yet nobody talks about it enough so people aren't aware of how they can access the information or support people to find an alternative method that works for them. I made the point that there is an option available. It's a shame that people are too embarrassed to ask others to help them, whether that be family or friends to even get them an appointment. As long as the surgeries are aware one way or another that they can have a nominated person to contact on their behalf due to circumstances beyond their control, it would make it that much easier. No system will ever work for everyone, things have to be and will be adapted, but at the same time people have to work out a way that is suitable for them. I've had to, and that's coming from someone who has medical needs that require the doctors attention every other month.

I've never had any issues with getting through to my GP. I'm aware not everyone is technically minded, but it may be worth investigating whether your GP offers a mobile app / online booking service (Ours uses Patient Access) whereby you can book the appointments; without the need of waiting long periods on the phone. This information is usually found on their website. Our GP also offers an online contact form that allows you to raise a request to have a doctor contact back for existing/new medical concerns (essentially book an appointment/call back) or even general enquiries whereby you can get a call or text response from them. They respond within 2 working days. I've even had video consultations with the GP. I can't fault it. It has saved me so many hours of phoning and waiting, and reduces the trips so that the doctors/nurses can actually see those who are genuinely in need to be seen.

Did report it back in January, as I suspected they didn't want to know anything about it and all they could offer to do was send a letter to the Landlord to get the mould fixed. 🤷‍♀️ It's across the ceiling and around the walls in our main bedroom, by the windows. One of the windows was condensed up; we reported this back in 2019 also.. We will be taking him to court, as he turned up AGAIN unexpectedly last week, after we wrote to him in an email requesting 24 hours notice and copying in the section of the tenancy agreement that also states this. It's going in our favour as we're keeping record of everything and I've printed out all the emails/screenshots that were sent since the day we moved in. We've tried to look at other properties, we managed to get a couple of viewings however the estate agents are now not communicating back with us to get an application going which is our next frustration!

We have and we couldn't find anything that looked suspicious/off. It's in only one bedroom (ours); but mainly front facing wall. We had our very kind neighbour check the gutters when we first experienced problems to see if they'd been clogged or damaged, alas nothing was found. Definitely noticed when we had a large bout of rain in January it got a bit worse in terms of spread. We can't get access into the loft - It's tightly shut that even my Dad couldn't get it open pre-COVID. I did suggest if LL could look up there, he's never done so or made any attempt. Will ask again, whenever he turns back up. (Was meant to return last Saturday, never did, still no communication from him!) Checked air bricks, no blockages with those either. Very odd and definitely putting us at a loss at what to do. Thankfully, one of the estate agents came back to us to say the application on a property fell through and if we'd like to view tomorrow - Something positive for once in this!