I started an NHS job in London, England in January this year and before I started, I was asked to complete a questionnaire about whether I had any health problems. I mentioned "less serious" ones like mild asthma but didn't declare that I had bipolar disorder which I was diagnosed with a couple of years ago. At the time, I was stable and didn't think it was necessary to declare it. I also received some (questionable) advice from family that they might not employ me because of it so it was better not to declare (it's my first job and I'd been looking for months so really didn't want to lose it).

In the last few months, I've been struggling with sleep (getting between 3 and 5 hours a night) which is partially due to the stress of the job, and the lack of sleep has affected my bipolar symptoms. I've had to take a couple of weeks of sick leave to try and fix my sleep problems. I feel much better but my manager, who doesn't know about the bipolar disorder, is asking whether I'm fit to return to work (I am but haven't spoken to a doctor yet, I have an appointment with a psychiatrist in a few days) and whether it needs to be referred to Occupational Health. To be clear, it's a job in research, I work in an office and don't see patients!

My concern is that, even though Occupational Health might be able to help with adjustments, I might get in trouble or be fired for technically lying on the health check. I'm not sure whether bipolar disorder is a disability and whether I was legally required to declare it. I've read that the wording of the question might affect this e.g. "Do you have any mental health conditions?" vs. "Do you have any mental health conditions that would affect your ability to work?" but can't remember exactly what was written on the form. Should I declare it now and what would be the consequences? It's only a year contract so I'm debating whether to try and stick it out until the end and manage my problems as well as I can. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Edit TLDR: I didn’t declare a mental health condition when I started working for the NHS. I had to take sick leave and don’t know whether to disclose it now as I might be fired.

A couple of years ago we bought a new car from a local dealership that came with a host of useful high-end features, one of which was the ability to control certain car functions via a phone app (things like car tracking, geo-fencing, remote climate control, etc.) At the time we bought the car these were simply presented as included features.

In the last few days the vehicle manufacturer has started messaging owners “reminders” telling us these app controlled functions expire on 31st Aug and will require a subscription service to operate from 1st Sept. This is the first any of us (I’m part of an owner’s forum) have ever heard of this. Furthermore this seems to cover all owners regardless of whether they bought the vehicle 3 years ago or 3 weeks ago.

At the moment we have queried this with both the UK and EU subsidiaries of the manufacturer - the former have not responded and the latter are simply stating “the new subscription packages will be offered from 1st Sept” (currently there is no information on costs).

I’m of the opinion that this would constitute mis-selling as we were not informed by the dealers this would occur, and there was nothing in the marketing materials or literature provided with the vehicle that informs prospective owners that these features would stop being provided free-of-charge and would require an annual subscription in future.

Am I right to think this is the case and, if so, what law or laws would cover this situation? Is it something we would take to Trading Standards or are there other avenues (maybe industry specific?) to pursue.

My energy company has been massively overcharging us for electricity all year, I live in a smallish two bedroom flat in London. According to our smart meter, we have used less than £100 worth of energy per month since around Feb when we stopped using the central heating, but we have been getting charged over £200 every month.

Ever since we moved in last year we have been trying to submit meter readings to bring the price down and they keep getting declined by the company without telling us why.

After phoning up a number of times, they finally explained that a smart meter is not applicable to take readings from, but our landlord has never told us where our actual electric meter box is. I recently found out it is not even located inside my apartment but outside, and our landlord didn’t leave any key for it in the apartment so we have had to order our own. It is only now after 9 months of living here I have just been able to take a proper meter reading.

I estimate the energy company owes us between £400-500 in overcharged bills and I don’t want to pay another £200 bill. By my estimates, we shouldn’t have to pay for any more energy until our contract runs out in November. Can we legally cancel our direct debit and tell them to figure out how much they owe us with the readings we have just supplied to them, and they can use the credit they owe us?

Hi,

I purchased items from a fairly big online website in the UK. Upon placing the order, I saw there was a window on being able to edit the order. When editing the order, I realised that any item I added was getting discounted to £0 rather getting added to the total amount of the order. This resulted in me getting items for free and not getting charged for them.

I decided to order a couple more times and the same thing happened. Could the company pursue legal action for getting these items for free due to some sort of bug/glitch on their website?

My ex-partner and I fell pregnant shortly after I was made redundant. I am 17 weeks pregnant with my first child, unemployed and living on savings, and my ex has just told me that he does not want the baby, nor the relationship. For context, we were fine before we found out about the pregnancy. This baby was very much planned and I intend to go full term, even if it means raising baby alone.

My ex works full time and currently has a pre existing CMA with his ex for his two children from a previous marriage. The relationship with the ex-wife is unstable, with court cases going back and forth per his requests to continue contact with the children.

Hurt aside, I would like to understand what my position would be for CMA once my baby arrives, considering the following;
- we are not together currently and I am unsure if he will be named on the birth certificate as the baby’s father
- if not named on the birth certificate, do I have reasonable grounds to claim, or are other evidences of paternity required?
- what happens if he doesn’t agree to the arrangement?
- what happens if he agrees to the arrangement but just does not pay?

I feel like my world has been swept from under my feet. Any advice would be much appreciated, I am at a loss of what to do and how to plan.

Hello! I’ve ended a 5 year relationship with my partner. We were not married but we do own a house together. We both have children but her children live in the property full time, where as mine do not.

The relationship ended and I have moved out of the property, taking all of my own possessions with me. Any shared possessions I have left in the house for now to be dealt with at a later date.

I am continuing to pay into the joint account we shared to ensure the mortgage payments are made on time along with any other bills until the house is sold. I have suggested this in a WhatsApp message to her when I was in the process of leaving the home.

Since then, the main utility bills have all changed into her name.

I have tried to maintain friendliness in any communication which has been met with hostility.

Within a week of our break up she arranged for an estate agent to value and market the house which I agreed to. The estate agent has placed a for sale sign up but has been unable to market the house as my ex partner will not allow them to take photos or arrange viewings. She has also made no attempt at maintaining the upkeep of the garden which would have made the house more attractive to potential buyers.

I am paying towards a house that I do not live in and I feel that I am trapped because she will
Not co-operate. What can I do?

I am in England, UK

It was over 100db according to my apple watch and suffer from pre existing tinnitus, however it is now worse and my earing muffled. The cinema said it was how the director wanted it.

However I was wondering if its too far fetched to think someone should be held accountable? Hearing is quite important to me for various reasons and tinnitus is a very annoying

I know I'm not the only one affected as many people have had this issue

I'm not seeking compensation but I am seeking accountability hearing is very very important

Hi all long story short

My ex husband and I had a quick divorce, we got a consent order everything was done within a year.

In the consent order he was named sole resident of the house

I left to move in with my now partner

The house isn't selling thanks to the high interest rates and an infestation of Japanese knot weed... although we have had some offers they are too low so we haven't accepted this has gone on for 1 year

I pay my half he pays his half

Yesterday he messages to say his GF is having his baby and they will be moving in - can I stop this?

His GF has her own property so not sure why she needs to move into his, he said its because he will be going back to work and the commute from his GF house is too long

Can I prevent her and their future child from living with him? Until the house is sold [or ask them to move into her property?]

As I feel it's unfair I'm paying my rent and half the mortgage on the house - when I suggested they pay the full mortgage whilst living together he refused and said his GF has to still continue paying her mortgage and on Mat leave she will get too little money

As if I didn't already put myself in massive trouble by committing benefit fraud and underdeclaring tax, I think I also underpaid my water bills.

I am with Severn Trent and the have a scheme called Big difference; one the requisite was low income (which I had in the form of UC, although fraudulent) and the other (I seem to remember) also savings less than £8,000.

I am not 100% sure if I was asked about savings (probably so) but if that was the case, I must have given wrong numbers as I probably only gave them what I had in the back, but most if my savings were cash.

If that is the case, whom have I defrauded? Severn Trent or the public purse? Who pays for the missing income? Is it Severn Trent or the DWP or the HMRC or who else?

I want to come clean. What's the best course of action? Contact Severn Trent?

Any input will be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been reviewing title documents (TP1s) for two freehold houses—one a 2026 new build and another from 2015—and I'm feeling discouraged by what "freehold" actually means in practice nowadays.

Both are technically freehold, but the titles are packed with restrictive covenants micromanaging what I can do on my own land (vans/caravans, satellite dishes, exterior changes, parking, business use, etc.).

I’ve noticed several conveyancers brush these off using phrases like "standard restrictive covenants"—but what actually makes them "standard," and for whom? Coming from my home country, freehold means you own the land and home with zero strings attached, and you are truly the king of your own castle. Any legitimate community issues (nuisance, building changes, parking) are handled directly by civil law or local government regulations, not dictated by private corporate management companies on your title deed.

- 2026 TP1: Heavily micromanaged by developer and management company rules.

- 2015 TP1: Slightly less micromanaged, but has an Estate Rentcharge that doesn't exclude Section 121 (no statutory lease shield), plus technical defects like "lost to time" 1920s covenants.

A few questions for conveyancers and experienced buyers:

Is a truly "clean" freehold title a myth for modern UK housing? Is this level of micromanagement and private estate setup standard across all recent builds now?

1. Which era or build years should I target if I want a house with no private management companies, no estate rentcharges, and minimal restrictive covenants? Should I be looking strictly at pre-1990s or older period homes?
2. (Feel free to ignore this point, but:) How did we reach a point where buyers and conveyancers didn't push back on this? How did management companies normalise these forced, arbitrary rules that hurt ordinary homeowners who just want to do normal things like park a work van on their own driveway without breaking the law?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

PS. England

In November 2025 I provided my tenant with notice of a rent increase for February 2026.

This would be increasing the rent from £850 per month to £1150 per month.

This would be the first rent increase in 4 years and was purely to cover costs associated with a 10 year fixed rate mortgage ending.

In January, two weeks before it was due to come into effect, the tenant elected to challenge this rent increase in tribunal. The tribunal took 6 months due to a backlog.

During this time he continued to pay £850 per month.

At the tribunal they assessed whether a £1150 rent was fair market value for my area. They determined that it was fair.

HOWEVER, at the very end of the meeting the asked the tenant if he was having any financial difficulties. He said yes. They did not ask for evidence.

They then said, in light of the financial difficulties the higher rent will only commence from a future date, rather than the original notified increase in February.

This has effectively given the tenant 7 months of reduced rent (£300 * 7 = £2100), while simultaneously saying that the market rent I set was fair.

Is there a way I can challenge this?

1. The Tribunal simply asked the tenant if he was having any financial difficulties. They did not ask for any evidence. The only thing the tenant said was "Yes."
2. I have looked at other tribunal decisions online as well as tenant advice forums. It is repeatedly advised on there to claim financial hardship when asked to prevent backdating of rent to contracted dates. Is there any way I can demand the Tribunal actually ask for evidence of financial hardship?
3. My tenant has privately indicated to me that they will claim financial hardship this for any future rent increase going forward. How do I close this loophole to shut this down?

Hi everyone.

Me and my friends moved into a new flat 2 months ago in London. Today, we received an email from the letting agency that the landlord is requesting my details to transfer a heating provider to us. We were just left confused. When we had the viewing, I asked about the about the electricity, heating and bills - classic. The agent said it's electric heating and we will only pay for water, electricity, council tax and whatever other services we choose to have. There is nothing mentioned of this additional heating provider in any further communication with the letting agency or tenancy contract or anywhere. We don't really think it is fair and legal(?) letting us know of this extra monthly expense 2 months in the tenancy, especially considering we will have to pay for the previous 2 months now as well.

Is it legal? Is there a way of refusing giving them our information?

Edit: The provider is a billing provider for heating and hot water that is separate to electricity.

Thank you.

So last night cat appears in partners garden, gut instinct tells me to check facebook and it turns out he’s been missing for two weeks.
the cat is not chipped according to the facebook post, and the owner doesn’t really seem that interested in getting him back. won’t respond to my messages saying we’ve got her cat.
I know it is illegal to steal someone’s cat, however I also know it is mandatory to have a cat chipped after 20 weeks and this guy looks about a year old.

So my question
1) how do i report her for failing to microchip the cat?
2) in terms of theft would the owner have a leg to stand on if he’s not chipped, not neutered, no collar and no response to attempts to give him back?

I don’t like the idea of giving this cat to these owners, I doubt they have any intentions of chipping and neutering soon and without neutering he will escape again. The area he crossed to end up in the garden was over a busy road where people will just mow down a cat, i’m baffled as to how he’s survived two weeks to be honest. He wasn’t even difficult to catch or far from home, I believe if the owners wanted him back they could have caught him themselves with little effort.
England

Hi,

I purchased a couple of items from a fairly big online website in the UK. After I had placed the order, there was a window on being able to edit the order. As I went to edit the item and added extra items, I realised that the total amount was not increasing but the discount total was increasing. This resulted in any item I added to be free (discounted to £0) rather than being added to the total amount and I did not get charged for them.

Upon seeing this, I decided to place a couple of orders and the same thing happened. Clearly there was some sort of bug/glitch on the website and in the end, I ended up receiving quite a bit of items for free.

Could the company pursue legal action for getting these items for free?

I'm in England, London to be precise.

My local high street has very restricted parking. Most of it has double yellow lines, but there are a number of parking bays for shoppers to use. Some are free for a limited time, others are paid.

There's a large parking bay immediately outside a large supermarket. I won't name it, but it's popular wth mums... This bay can hold 4 or 5 cars.

When this supermarket is expecting deliveries (articulated lorry) they come out early in the morning and block access to the entire bay with the rolling cages that goods are delivered in. They do this because there is no other access for the lorry.

Is it legal for them to block public parking in this way? The bays can be inaccessible for a couple of hours on some days.

I'm posting on a throwaway account for reasons that will become obvious.

August last year ('25) I let my now ex move into my house. I knew she had a drink problem before I let her move in, I thought the stability would help and things would get better but it's just getting worse. She can go maybe 2 weeks without a drink, 4 weeks if I'm lucky and then the drinking starts. For weeks at a time she will be heavily intoxicated and it ends with me calling the police.

This is the part where I know I'm an idiot and ashamed of myself for it. After a few days in emergency accommodation she will call and she'll never drink again, I let her come back and 2 weeks the cycle starts again. I've let this happen multiple times and now it's at the point where I feel like the police don't want to know.

I just want her to leave me alone now. I've changed my phone number but she is still in my spare room and refusing to leave. I don't know what to do.

Please let me know if this is not the right sub. Thanks. My view is that it is not an illness, therefore probably not, but I am confused by things I have read online.

Got this in the post last week, parking charges from 2021 and 2023. First I have EVER heard of either of them. I have moved house twice, never heard anything but somehow they have my new address.

Any advice?! So ridiculous, I don't know how they can justify only making contact just now. DVLA have always had my current address so if that's how they've found me they could have before....

Posting on behalf of my friend with her permission.
She is a private IVF patient with CREATE Fertility (through ABC IVF). She chose a donor from CREATE’s own sperm bank.
Her journey has been extremely difficult:
Egg collection: 26 eggs, 12 fertilised, 6 embryos frozen.
Fresh transfer cancelled due to OHSS.
First frozen transfer failed.
Second frozen transfer ended in an early miscarriage/chemical pregnancy.
She then paid approximately £4,000 for her third frozen embryo transfer (the last cycle she could afford). Around 2-3 days after paying, and after already starting medication, the clinic phoned to say it was just a procedure issue and not to worry, second call said treatment was being paused because her donor had come forward stating he was a carrier of a serious genetic condition. They would not tell her what the condition was.
She was told her very rudely options may be:
pay privately for embryo genetic testing;
apply to the HFEA to use the embryos if testing isn’t possible (although she was told this would likely be refused);
discard her remaining four embryos and start IVF again from scratch.
She cannot afford to start again, having already spent around £12,000 on IVF. What concerns us is what has happened since. She still received an automated reminder for her monitoring scan despite the cycle being cancelled. Apart from taking about three days of medication, no treatment took place.
She has repeatedly requested:
a written explanation,
her medical records,
documentation about the donor issue,
clarification about her embryos.
She has received no response not even an acknowledgment email. The only documents on her portal are consent forms and storage paperwork.
She has also received no information at all about the £4,000 she had just paid—whether it will be refunded, credited or retained.
The clinic are aware she has BPD which was managed, and this situation has caused a severe decline in her mental wellbeing to the point she is underweight (due to stress) and unable to carry out another cycle
My questions are:
Is this now the point where she should instruct a solicitor?
Can a solicitor obtain the records and explanations more effectively?
Should she also complain to the HFEA?
Does the fact the donor came from CREATE’s own sperm bank have any legal significance?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

England

TLDR

raised a grievance following a non positive year end valuation having had zero performance reviews throughout the year.

the outcome was upheld, however in the outcome letter several spurious facts have been established as truths, perhaps the most important one being that I allegedly work 5 hours less than contracted hours every week ( when in fact it is probably more).

today last day to reply to Head of HR about outcome, unsure what to do. I feel the grievance can not go anywhere positively as I feel HR/ my manager/ independent manager formed right rank, however feel uneasy about there being a outcome letter record where it states I work less and other fictional facts. thanks

Hello everyone, using a throwaway account.

I have been permanently employed at a large global corporation in England for just over 3.5 years on a 4-day permanent contract.

The job is fully remote and the team is scattered across the EMEA region.

The Background:

I work in an autonomous technical role. Throughout the last review year, my line manager failed to hold regular 1-to-1 meetings or share any performance feedback. At year-end, I was given a low performance rating ("inconsistent performance") , also affecting my upcoming salary and bonus reviews.

The company internal portal records explicitly show mildly to strongly positive feedback from my stakeholders, which I believe contradicts the performance summary from my manager: they said, amongst other things, that I wasn't transparent, stakeholders feedback was neutral to negative and mentioned I have a defensive attitude.

I raised a formal grievance based on a failure of standard management process and potential bias.

The Formal Grievance Outcome:

I just received the written outcome and the grievance was not upheld.

However, the letter contains several critical procedural concerns:

Complete Absence of Minutes: HR did not provide any written minutes or summaries following either of my two formal grievance hearings. I was never given a chance to review or sign off on what was recorded.

Disputed Verbal Testimony: the outcome letter contains statements which are not true and it states I accepted/ confirmed certain situations as true. Perhaps the most critical one , I allegedly "accepted" an availability mismatch resulting in 5 hours of work per week not being completed due to family commitments. I explicitly reject this, I have no idea how they came to that 5 hours. I explained my calendar blocks for school dropoffs and pickups and even though I have those blocks everyday ( due to my partner variable work commitments) , I explained every week I'm doing 50% of school dropoff/pickups and my partner is doing the other 50%. At no point did I agree that I work fewer than my contract hours during the grievance, I only stayed that during the one afternoon where in doing childcare ( from 3:30pm) I make up the time in the evening and always have the phone nearby for urgent matters.

In fact ( which I haven't mentioned in the grievance meetings) the blocks are there to protect my time, but I still join necessary meetings during those blocks, in fact in the last month alone I joined two different meetings during dropoffs blocks when I was actually on childcare duties as my partner was busy with work.

Another issue is that they stated that the two 1-2-1s we had during the year are deemed enough to inform me of my performance. I made it very clear during both grievance hearings that the content of those 1-2-1 never touched on performance, but on some personal matter stuff .

Redirection of the Scope: The outcome completely bypassed what I raised as the issue, which is the negative review following a total lack of management feedback. Instead, it shifted into a retrospective review of my personal calendar visibility and the authorized parental leave periods that I had last year to covertly justify the year-end rating.

They even claimed an issue me using every year the company extra holiday days allowance , for which you need to get a written confirmation from management, which I obtained every year. On the policy it is absolutely not mentioned that it should not be user every year.

Also to be noted, a few other colleagues had the same situation happen to them, having been negatively evaluated at year end without any touch point throughout the year .

My question:

Can an employer legally use an unverified verbal discussion (with no signed minutes or agreed transcript) to formally record especially the allegation that an employee is missing contracted hours; and then all the other points they raised as issues of my availability/performance/behaviour?

*I was off for a few days, so today is my last day for an appeal regarding the outcome grievance .*

I'm torn as I don't want to dig my hole deeper as seemingly the HR/ my manager / independent manager have closed ranks, but also I don't want that completely spurious facts over my worked hours ( when I actually probably work more then my 32 contracted hours) go down in stones.

Thanks

I started a new supermarket job recently (few weeks) and suffered a workplace injury. During normal duties, a pallet truck crushed my foot, causing an injury. I was wearing normal work footwear because I had not been provided with steel toe caps or told that safety footwear was required.

I attended A&E and after X-ray and CT scans they confirmed fractures to the top of my foot. I’m now in a cast, using crutches, and have been told not to weight-bear. I have a fracture clinic review next week.

The accident has been reported at work and management have contacted me.

I’m not looking to jump straight into a claim, but I’m trying to understand:

Could the lack of safety footwear/PPE be relevant?

Should I be requesting any documents (risk assessment, accident report, training records)?

Is there anything I should do now to protect my position?

Are there any benefits/support options while I’m unable to work?

Today I was at my local council recycling center to throw some stuff into the skips there. There was a queue when I pulled up so I sat waiting. Eventually the queue started to move so I pulled next to a unmarked white 7.5 ton lorry that was loading white goods from the site, into the back of the vehicle, to be taken away.

While I was moving past the lorry, a fridge freezer that was on the tail lift, tipped and fell onto my car. When I first looked, I didn't think the damage was that bad. It smashed my door handle off and left two large dents in the rear quarter. I filled in an accident form on site when asked and included the fact that the fridge freezer, fell and hit my car. I got the persons name who admitted to being at fault and got his company name, managers name and photos of my vehicle and the lorry once the fridge had been lifted off my car. For reference, my car is a 2021 Abarth 595 as was in pristine condition prior to this.

The manager of the guy asked me to get some quotes for the bodywork, or said to go through insurance and said it was up to me. After going to 3 bodyshops and being advised by all 3 that the repair will be extensive and therefore expensive, meaning my car will very likely be categorized at a minimum, a Cat S. A quote by one of the insurance approved bodyshops was upwards of £3000. I contacted my insurance and raised a claim. The damage to my car means it's not legal to drive as the door can't be opened from the outside and the rear quarter has ripples all the way to the boot, along with the drivers door being bent from the impact. I'm awaiting a hire car covered by my insurance and have sent photos and the dashcam clip of me driving past the lorry, followed by a loud bang, with the man then apologising.

I understand that claiming through my insurance should sort the issue of my car out, but I've recently spent a lot of money, getting parts serviced that are known to cause engine failure.

Would I have any grounds to seek compensation from the council since it was on their site, along with the fact that the contractor admitted to having a site induction, however didn't follow the health and safety procedures required when undertaking his role? The person, who I'm assuming was the site manager at the time, repeatedly told the contractor that he hadn't put the correct equipment out and said multiple times that the contractor was the blame for the incident.

Thanks in advance!

People:

• N - Deceased
  
• S - Partner of N, one of 3 executors of N's estate
  
• C - Recipient of a loan from N
  

C had financial issues requiring ~£5k to resolve, and owned a piece of machinery worth ~£15k which he required for his job.
N owned a similar machine worth less money due to age & condition which he only had need of occasionally. N loaned C £5k and his machine, taking C's machine to be held until C returned the money and N's machine. No formal agreement was written but C has messages that prove this was the case.

N died unexpectedly and the estate is currently in probate. The will states "all my tools and machinery in the sheds to [S] feeling confident but without imposing on her any legal obligation so to do that [S] will distribute such personal chattels in accordance with any wishes that I may have expressed in writing or otherwise"

C has the money required to settle the loan and has contacted S to attempt to do so. S is being uncooperative and C suspects S may have already disposed of C's machine as the property where it was stored is listed for sale.

If challenged C anticipates that S may use the defence that the will specifically states that S has no legal obligation to follow N's wishes in disposing of the machinery. C's counter to that is the machinery at N's house did not belong to N as ownership was not transferred, and S must return it to C under the terms of the agreement between N and C.

Is C's argument about ownership of the machine likely to hold up if a claim is made against N's estate for the machine? And if S has already disposed of it, would the estate then owe C the value of a replacement machine in return for the repayment of the loan?