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.

13 minutes ago, ab6262 said:

landlord must be well happy

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?

4 minutes ago, Hippogriff said:

A mistake people often make (Tenant to Landlord and Landlord to Tenant) is sending actual letters via something like Recorded Delivery... the service that requires a signature as proof of delivery. Firstly, this costs you more and gives you a false sense of security / achievement... and it can easily be foiled... if the recipient knows it is coming and they know they don't want it, then they can just refuse to sign for it. All your plans evaporate.

 

Far, far better to just send two copies of the same letter via normal First Class post... get yourself a free proof of postage from the counter... for your purposes a First Class letter is considered "served" two days after the date sent. You have no issues, then, with people being out or refusing to sign for Recorded Delivery letters (this works both ways - if I have to send a Section 21 I will send two copies of the same form... I will even go to two different Post Offices, it's not as onerous as you think, and get my proof of postage - I am then covered).

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.

26 minutes ago, Hippogriff said:

You (the OP in their last post) appear to be conflating a number of things... kinda weirdly. I'm going to try and disabuse you of any unrealistic hopes you might have...

 

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.

11 minutes ago, ab6262 said:

houses with mould on outside walls any higher than about 2 feet is due to the way the person inside lives, windows closed heating on constantly steam from baths , showers not escaping, wet clothes being dried on radiators, clothes airers inside, typical of rented accommodation mould is rarely seen in private house s like this.

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.

19 hours ago, Hippogriff said:

And what will you be doing about the Deposit situation once you're safely somewhere else and you can catch time to breathe?

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...

2 hours ago, cuttsie said:

Most pensioners have no idea what you are on about .

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.

1 hour ago, Anna B said:

And many more, particularly the most elderly, the disadvantaged and poor who perhaps have more need of doctors and health care, are at a complete loss with the new systems and don't have smart phones etc. Even those with access and nouse are finding the new systems horrendous. 

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.

On 30/03/2021 at 05:05, mafya said:

Contact Sheffield city council private  housing standards team , 

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. 🤷‍♀️

On 29/03/2021 at 20:18, Amyvictoria said:

Where on the wall is the mould? I had lots of condensation on my windows and mould starting to grow on the walls around the windows. The windows, although double glazed, were old and the seals had broken down. A new window has solved the problem. As to what to do about your landlord, nothing you can do will change him into someone who is more responsive to your complaints. It does seem that you will have to accept him as he is or move out unfortunately. 

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!

On 22/03/2021 at 09:44, geared said:

Have you tried to investigate the source of the problem yourself?

 

Is it in one spot or house wide?

Do you notice a spread or increase in the mould after it rains?

Is there any obvious damage to the gutters or drain pipes?

Have you got in the loft an inspected for signs of damp or water ingress?

Does the house have air bricks, are they blocked off?

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!

13 minutes ago, spider1 said:

 

...Whats going to happen when your 6 moths lease is up and he refuses to renew it . Is landlord going to give you a  letter of recomendation .

6 months? We've been here 2 years in May, the agreement is on a periodically run yearly basis. We're fully prepared to challenge, as we have done previously and recently. If he provides a negative recommendation, we have full traces of all communication and receipts from our end and a previous good recommendation from my previous landlord to counteract. 

I do things the legal way and always have done, so nice try in attempting to weedle us out. 😁

8 hours ago, spider1 said:

Mould on the walls  and the a window is always ventalation  .  So windows not open enough or not enough heat in place to dry it out . Seems to to me  landlord has had enough of moaning tenants and just wants them out even bought there deposit back to give them  but they refused to take it.  Landlord did not serve a section 21 because it would cost him money and prob not won case if they had paid rent on time   and they know that . There is no winners in this case eitherside so go live in a hotel til  you find some were. Stop paying rent youll get a sec 21 then youre out and there is still property to let in sheff but obvious you dont want to move like to hear  landlords side bet he wont be giving a reference to tennants as future estate agents will check 

Advice stop arguing with landlord take your deposit back get him to give you a reference saying you are a good tennant always paid your rent and move out  your not in charge he is you will gert blacklisted if not carefull 

We have had the windows open most days as I stated in my original post. Most days equating to minimum 5 out of 7 days during the day. Heating has been on everyday at night. We've spent nearly twice as much over the Winter period and it's still not done any good. So the ventilation shouldn't be an issue. I've dealt with mould previously in other houses growing up with my parents, I'm not that stupid to not know how it works and I've followed exactly the advice from the council and all the sites/leaflets provided with no success.
We are not "moaning". It clearly states that our legal obligation as tenant in our AGREEMENT to report any issues when it first arises, which we have done. He had failed to act on them in a timely manner, which is ALSO stated in our agreement, that he also has a copy of.
We have requested the Landlord's side to understand why he's not doing things right, he's chosen not to give us any answers, so that's on him and we've chosen to act on the basis he's hiding something from us which has resulted in him doing things illegally.
 

So in actual fact, I'm kindly denying your 'advice'. We pay the rent on time (and early) every month. Never missed a single payment, so to even stupidly suggest us to stop paying just to get ourselves into complications is ridiculous advice and we will not be subjected to move into a hotel; that is absolutely low.
 

5 hours ago, bassett one said:

why can you not get a SCC property to rent?

We have been applying with the property shop weekly for over 2 years for a 1 bed with no success at any point. It took our friends minimum 3 years to get theirs. Tried to contact them regarding my disabilities also to see if they could offer any support/small push on priority however we got declined. Seems we have a long way to go.

1 hour ago, spider1 said:

What do you mean have been trying to get out for months.  Why not just go when its obvious he dont want you there

He has been problematic in not responding to our communications and repair requests that we originally reported in 2019. There's only so many attempts where you can follow up an email to get a response, to get half-assed replies or no reply at all, then for him to pull illegal tricks.

The rental market in Sheffield has been extremely popular lately, we have tried since November 2020 to get through to agents for all sorts of properties, in any area that was commutable to our work, we increased price ranges in our budget by £200 to at least get something and we get told the properties are either let or they are not taking anymore bookings for viewings. This week alone, I've tried to book viewings for 10 properties. We had one scheduled, but literally an hour before we were due to go view, I get a call saying an application had been put in so we couldn't attend.

If he didn't want us in the property, he surely would have served us a Section 21 notice way before now.

So 'just go' isn't exactly a helpful suggestion, when we have been trying and contacting various people and agents in general with no responses or success.

Hoping to speak to someone who can offer advice or point us in a direction of legal advice about what we can do regarding our Landlord; and if we'd have a strong case if we were to take him to court.

It's a bit of a lengthy story to even mention; but I'll do my best to summarise (which is not one of my strongest points.)
 

Moved into property May 2019. Signed agreements at Estate Agents (who we found out were simply advertising the property for the Landlord).
Reported complications with mould a few months after moving in, followed by issues with bathroom/water leaking through ceiling. (This somewhat got resolved... Very badly from poor workmanship which he somehow signed off.)
 

Several emails sent out, which were ignored, regarding reporting mould in late 2019. Window that we had problems with got measured just before 1st Lockdown, and was told 'will not be doing anything with the window' - Fast forward a few months, contacted again about increase of mould, the window still causing issues and that gas safety check needed completing.
Again, no response.

Sent a letter late December (next day delivery) reminding him of his legal responsibilities, we got the gas safety check done (Eventually, that was way beyond the year mark.. Was last completed before we moved in, was done Feb 2021. That in itself is illegal that it was not done, despite requests and reminders)
 

Followed up yet AGAIN regarding mould - I'd started getting more than usual symptoms of mould exposure due to the neglect, despite our attempts to prevent this in many possible ways.

He eventually replied, stating he would check the window and mould. Claimed he had seen no mould pictures, even though I had sent pictures to him via email in November 2019, and again in January 2021.
Tried to arrange a date and time for him to turn up  - We explained we work until a certain time, and we cannot leave early due to the nature of the role, however he kept coming back with dates and times that were during our working hours. We offered weekends and he came back with 'I can't get a builder on a weekend'. We eventually agreed on this Tuesday, on the basis that we'd ask our managers if we could leave early, however we were not permitted and got the response of 'I don't see any point in coming if we can't get in to sort the window'.

Also, last week I also went through our paperwork - I noticed we didn't get any confirmation from him regarding our security deposit that we paid to the estate agent when we moved in. I questioned the Landlord via email if he had a reference number to provide to us, as I could not find the details on any of the Gov approved deposit schemes (DPS, TDS and mydeposit) - He claimed he did not receive any money from us, however I did also contact the estate agents and they provided me with the letter showing that they transferred the money to him. (This is where it comes interesting in a bit...) I forwarded the email and letter the estate agent sent us and requested he check his documentation again and provide us with the information. No response to that email...

To our surprise... We came home from work this Wednesday to find him outside of the house, completely unannounced. Not only were we shocked, but we were equally pee'd off.
We let him in to see the mould, claimed the house was stuffy despite us having the windows open most days and the heating on to reduce the damp/mould (we've spent more on heating this year than we did last year!) and said the mould on the wall was 'powder' and it was 'silicone mould on the window'. I showed him yet again the pictures I took in November 2019 and Jan 2021 of how bad it had got, that I had tried to use a solution to resolve it, to which he just kept saying we were not ventilating the house properly - Even though I had told him five times by this point (in 2 minutes) that we have the windows open almost daily and heating on. He pondered to look at the mould again and the window in question, said he'd come back this weekend. As we went downstairs, he provided a folder and to our surprise again, full cash of the deposit we had paid back in 2019. We'd caught him out that he had not put the money into a deposit scheme, which we also know is illegal.
He told us he was returning it back to us and that we had to put it into a deposit scheme ourselves (which I already had a bit of understanding it is NOT the tenant's responsibility).

 

We have been trying to get out for months now; the final straw has been today when he said he was returning from Wednesday, I messaged this morning asking when we could expect him and he never showed up at all.

So. Apologies it's so long. Hope someone is able to assist us with what on earth we can do next?!

Hi MrAllen.

I've sent you a private message, you may see a little notification somewhere at the top of the page. 🙂

An early morning outside Northern General Hospital

(For anyone who's curious to know... I uploaded the image to ImgBB. Put the image to get a url, but copied the image address to get the direct url, then selected 'Insert image from URL' on desktop!)

19 hours ago, catmiss said:

I tried Pharmacy to You and they were ok for a while but then decided to increase the packaging on my 2 inhalers so they would no longer fit through the letterbox.  I’d gone with them as getting to the chemist whilst working full time was difficult but retrieving the parcel from PO depot when I wasn’t in to accept it was even more problematic 

I'm surprised to read you had complications with P2U.

Been using them for over 2 years and never once had any problems.
I even had a delivery a couple of months back where they put 8 boxes of medication (4 months supply) in one large card envelope/flat packaging for me, which I didn't expect, especially since my doctors authorised for one month! Probably because it was during the peak of lockdown and they were trying to minimise the postal deliveries.

Did you ever contact P2U to explain about the inhaler packaging? They must have certainly not been made aware or even had chance to look at it. More surprised they'd request a signature, even for neighbours. Hope you can get a solution that works best for you.

CAB are good if you've got the right people; you just need sufficient information to back up your case on where you lost points on.
Read what the assessor wrote in your report. If you've not got this, you are entitled to a copy. Just ask the DWP for it and they will send it, along with their reasoning why they denied your PIP. This is a great starting point if you can recall what happened at the assessment and counter any claim they wrote on their report. They are notoriously great at putting irrelevant/incorrect points into the reports to not award claims.
Remember, PIP is based on how your disability/illness affects you on a daily basis, whether it be daily living or mobility.

For example, if you cannot walk for a certain distance, how does that affect your body and mental state? What happens when you walk beyond the capacity you know you can? If you have Autism (this is a wide spectrum, it differs for each person), what traits affect you? Is it the difficulty of social cues, not understanding body language/tone of voice/behaviour? Is it the sheer exhaustion /limited capability of understanding someone, struggling to follow instructions? How do these affect you, and people you interact with? It's trying to think beyond what is there and understanding that you need support.

Depending on the circumstances, as someone else mentioned, it may be worth enquiring to see if there are any local support groups or charities that specifically deal with what you have as they will likely have more information on how it affects you.
 

Your doctor is also a good point of call if you weren't able to get any written communication from them. They may even charge for such information (as I know I had to get letters and was charged for the printing cost of this). Even a letter from a service you used from the NHS, or private. It all comes down to proof and you explaining in detail how certain symptoms/traits affect you personally.

If you'd like more information, please do feel free to contact me privately. I've supported friends gain their PIP awards so I know the rules behind it all. I can even offer support if you simply need someone to check over your forms and try ask questions to help expand your answers to get the award you could be entitled to.

Good luck.

A friend just sent me a link with an article regarding Sheffield Arena and City Hall being at high risk of being closed permanently after staff were written to by bosses with potential redundancies.

This would be a devastating blow to Sheffield arts and entertainment, and sports too.
Had a few events booked at both of these venues and were the only events planned for this year too.

Anyone know of any further information?
 

1 hour ago, Padders said:

Interesting....

had a google, seen a similar sixpence fetching £365..  shilling not so much, some are fetching as little as £25--£60.

Oh that's really interesting! Was trying to avoid ebay as the prices are all over the place and I'd have no idea if anyone would try take advantage. Would love to try get what I think they're worth. The shilling I was expecting around that range, genuinely surprised about the sixpence. May do some further research! 

59 minutes ago, Padders said:

As has been mentioned before on a similar topic, if you go to Elsecar Heritage Centre, there is a antique shop there, and a guy who deals in old coins, the shop itself is well worth a visit if you like that sort of thing.

I did have someone mention Elsecar in person a while back. Been meaning to visit so hopefully once the current guidelines are more acceptable, I'll definitely make a trip.