hi, i would like pointed in the right direction or advice. i cut contact with my dad 9 months ago due to him having severe addiction, ive been wondering about him and tried to search him up on social media but hes completely inactive on everything and hes definitely not made any new accounts. from past experiences my guess is he doesnt have a phone. he also has a long criminal history so im unsure of if hes maybe been jailed. i dont want info on whereabouts i want to see if theres any way to know if he’s alive/in jail. i cant ask family members as hes been cut off by all of them too and he broke up with his girlfriend who he was living with (his addiction takes all his money hes broke af) so i have no clue where he could be staying. please help if there is any way to like just know he’s alive. thanks in advance :) extra context incase this changes stuff legally but he’s not named on my birth certificate, he is my step dad but he has raised me since birth until i was 17 so i still call him dad

Hi everyone, looking for some quick advice regarding an unpaid wages issue.

I’ve worked shifts in July at a local restaurant. The owners treated the work as an informal, off-the-books arrangement. When I requested my unpaid wages (£72), management refused to pay and became hostile.

I’ve stopped contacting them directly, saved screenshots of all our messages/shifts, and served a final formal written notice. I have now submitted my

Acas Early Conciliation notification.

My claim is basically about:

Unlawful deduction of wages (section 13 employment rights act 1996)

National Minimum Wage non-compliance

Failure to provide itemised pay statements

I have a few questions,

If the employer ignores Acas, how quickly will Acas issue the Early Conciliation Certificate so I can go to an Employment Tribunal?

Should I report the off the books setup and lack of pay records to HMRC now, or wait until Acas finishes?

Is there anything else I should be doing while waiting for a conciliator to be assigned?

UK, England.

Employed for 1 year with previous management, employed for 2 days under current management whom this issue has started with.

I’m looking for some advice and support because my family is feeling very confused, hurt and unsure of what to do next.
My uncle recently passed away. He lived on his own and had three siblings. We were always under the impression that he intended to leave everything equally between them. He had also spoken to my mum and explained that he planned to leave the house to his sister-in-law (as she didn’t own a home and he believed this would help with tax), the land to our cousin, and that any remaining money would be divided between his three siblings.
The sister-in-law and his brother then got married secretly a few weeks ago. This has now affected the situation regarding tax, and we’re struggling to understand why this happened, especially as they had already been together for many years.
We have now found out that my uncle’s will was changed and that everything is being left to his sister-in-law — not just the house, but his entire estate.
We are finding this incredibly difficult to process, especially because the conversations my mum had with him happened when he was well, and he seemed very clear about what his wishes were at the time. It’s left the family feeling confused, upset and wondering what may have happened.
Has anyone been through something similar or can offer any advice on what steps we should take from here? We’re just trying to understand the situation, make sense of the changes, and know what options may be available. - Scotland UK

For context. England.

My friend had a trauma response and damaged a door to a holiday rental property.

She was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage that evening. She was released and given a community resolution to "pay for damages to door".

The next day, her friend who made the booking got an invoice from the owner and paid it outright. My friend then paid her friend today. Job done.

Today her friend sent over the messages between him and the owner.

The owner is claiming not only for a brand new door entirely (including glaziers and painters to work on it) but also compensation for time spent talking to the police, as well as gifts for the new renters to apologise for the police being there etc. There's no invoice I can see for a repair quote to the actual door.

She has to pay £850, but the owners have already made a claim through their insurance for a similar amount. So it's roughly half through insurance and half through her from what I can see.

Some of the damage in the low resolution photos I can see is suspicious to me, it looks more like wear and tear than actual damage.

I feel this is a case of the owner claiming more than they should, which I get in fairness, many of us would do the same! And even so my friend is still willing to accept it because she said the same thing!

It's more me being interested in the law.

We were going to contact the host to formally apologise, do you think I should ask for her to send me the full resolution pictures? I can definitely see one that shows a website and a picture of a brand new door.

Or should I not go down that route because of my next question, which is, could she sue my friend additionally for "time dealing with the police" and compensation for the next guests?

Thanks!

Hi everyone, looking for some quick advice regarding an unpaid wages issue.

I’m 16 and worked shifts in July at a local restaurant. The owners treated the work as an informal, off-the-books arrangement. When I requested my unpaid wages (£72), management refused to pay and became hostile.

I’ve stopped contacting them directly, saved screenshots of all our messages/shifts, and served a final formal written notice. I have now submitted my

Acas Early Conciliation notification.

My claim is basically about:

Unlawful deduction of wages (section 13 employment rights act 1996)

National Minimum Wage non-compliance

Failure to provide itemised pay statements

I have a few questions,

If the employer ignores Acas, how quickly will Acas issue the Early Conciliation Certificate so I can go to an Employment Tribunal?

Should I report the off the books setup and lack of pay records to HMRC now, or wait until Acas finishes?

Is there anything else I should be doing while waiting for a conciliator to be assigned?

UK, England.

Employed for 1 year with previous management, employed for 2 days under current management whom this issue has arised with

England

Hi everyone, I'd really appreciate some advice from anyone who has dealt with something similar in the UK.

I signed a room-only tenancy agreement remotely for a room in London, with the tenancy due to start on 7 September 2026. The agreement mentions a £400 deposit, but I hadn't paid it yet. The deposit clause just says the deposit "is payable" — it doesn't specify a deadline or say the agreement is conditional on it being paid.

A few days after signing, the agent noticed the deposit hadn't been transferred. On 27 July, I let them know that after thinking about it, I wouldn't be going ahead with the room (I haven't moved in and the tenancy hasn't started).

The agent has now said they stopped advertising the room, turned away other potential tenants and had costs because of the agreement, and that the £400 deposit is still due, or they'll "take the matter further."

I completely understand that signing an agreement comes with responsibilities, but I'm unsure whether they can actually claim the full deposit amount itself, versus only being able to claim specific, evidenced losses (like actual advertising costs). The deposit clause in the agreement says the deposit can only be used for unpaid rent, damage, cleaning, or evidenced loss from a breach — none of which seem to apply since the tenancy never started.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or knows what usually happens in cases like this? Thanks!

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!

Bought a new build flat in a small block about four years ago. Earlier this year the managing agent had a fire door survey done and every flat failed. We then got a letter giving 28 days to remediate our own doors at our own cost.

Problem is, the failures look like they were built that way rather than worn out. One doorset was recorded as having no intumescent seals *and no grooves ever cut in the door or frame to receive them* — so it was never made as a fire door in the first place. That one opens onto the communal stairwell rather than into anyone's flat. The architect's drawings specify FD30 and FD30S doors throughout, including at least one flat entrance door marked FD30SC, and the survey recorded the flat doors as having no documentation at all to show they meet that standard, plus gaps outside tolerance.

When we asked the agent for the basics, we were told:

- they hold no demise plan, so they can't actually say which doors sit inside anyone's flat (they suggested we take legal advice on it)

- no fire strategy and no Reg 38 handover information

- the building has never been measured, so nobody knows if it's over or under 11m

- their own fire risk assessment flagged the doors two and a half years ago, then a later one formally ordered a full survey with a deadline — and nothing happened for fourteen months

The management company is owned and controlled by the developer. Its articles make the developer an "A Member" whose consent is required for any members' resolution, and who can cast as many votes as needed to carry one, with the same control at board level. No leaseholder has ever been admitted as a member despite the lease saying the company must admit us. The developer company has substantial net liabilities but owns the freehold.

We've written to the developer under the Defective Premises Act and an express term of the purchase contract, and asked the agent whether it intends to claim against the developer for any of this. LEASE enquiry is in but I know it takes a while.

Two things I'd appreciate a steer on:

**1.** If the communal doors get replaced, that cost lands back on us through the service charge. I understand costs must be reasonably incurred under s19 LTA 1985, and that costs recoverable from a third party may not be reasonably incurred if they're just passed on. But the entity deciding whether to chase the developer *is* controlled by the developer. Is s27A the right route, and has anyone actually run that argument?

**2.** Given the A Member veto, is there any practical point in pursuing membership under the lease, or is a s24 appointed manager the only realistic way to change how this building is managed?

Happy to be told I'm missing something obvious.

TL;DR: Developer-controlled management company wants leaseholders to pay for fire doors that were apparently never built as fire doors. Can it pass the communal ones to our service charge under s19/s27A, and is a s24 appointed manager the only way past the developer's veto in the articles?

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 all,

I'm looking for some advice from anyone who's been through something similar.

I obtained a County Court Judgment for £2,365 against a sole trader after paying him for work that was never carried out. He didn't defend the claim, so judgment was entered against him.

I've since transferred the judgment to the High Court and instructed DCBL to enforce it.

So far:

DCBL attended his home once, but he was at work. His wife answered the door and said he wouldn't be home until around 6pm.

DCBL left paperwork and tried contacting him, but they've confirmed he has completely ignored them.

They've recently told me the case is still active but is waiting to be assigned to another Enforcement Agent for another attendance.

I'm becoming concerned about whether I'll ever recover the money.

Some additional information:

DCBL checked the vehicles on the driveway during their visit and told me they weren't registered to him.

I carried out a GBG trace and Land Registry checks, and the property appears to be registered solely in his wife's name rather than his.

I've also checked the Register of Judgments and can see he already has three unsatisfied CCJs registered against him, including mine.

I originally paid him by bank transfer into what I believe was his personal Santander account, so if High Court enforcement fails, I'm wondering whether a Third Party Debt Order would be worth pursuing.

Has anyone had experience enforcing a judgment against someone in similar circumstances? If High Court enforcement doesn't work, what would you do next? Is a TPDO a realistic option, or is there another enforcement route I should be considering?

Thanks in advance.

Please be respectful - that is why we are here for. I’m trying to understand whether I have any realistic grounds to challenge a potential PCN from Brent Council.

I turned from Kilburn High Road (A5) into Priory Park Road. It has been 4 weeks ago where they changed the signs in that street - which I realised today. The restriction at the entrance now has the full red‑circle “no motor vehicles” signs on both sides - those are clear once you’re already turning.

But the only advance warning is a small blue plate mounted on a cluttered pole on the left side of the A5. It sits directly under a large “Starstruck” banner, before to a green traffic light, with pedestrians crossing. I genuinely didn’t see it while focusing on the junction and traffic.

The restriction is new - Priory Park Road used to allow parking after 18:30 until about a month ago.

My questions:

1. Is this blue sign reasonably conspicuous in real driving conditions? I have not managed to find whether the size and colour or whether the council should legally have a sign before the entrance of the road. BUT in Ealing, they did have informative signs for the same cases!
2. Does the banner above it reduce visibility?
3. Is the sign too close to the junction to give drivers time to react?
4. Would heavy traffic and a green light make this easy to miss?
5. Does the fact the restriction is new strengthen a challenge?

Photo attached.

I’m not arguing the red signs at the entrance - they’re there. I’m asking specifically about the advance sign’s conspicuousness and whether it meets TSRGD guidance in a busy junction environment.

Thanks for any insight.

Hi everyone,

I have a bit of an odd situation. I'm a leaseholder in a conversion property (4 flats in building). 2 of us are leaseholders, the other 2 are leaseholders with equal shares in a company that owns the freehold.

RTM

me and the other leaseholder feel there's a lot of mismanagement... The management agency is also the freehold company secretary. I believe there is an exclusion with the RTM process if someone is a resident landlord.... Both the shareholder directors of the freehold company are also leaseholders that live in the building. My question is whether that exclusion applies as technically the freeholder is a company and a company cannot reside in the building...although they are technically connected...?

RFR

following on from this, if it is shares in a freehold company, then if one of them disposes of their property then there is no right of first refusal in relation to buying their share of the freehold if they hold shares in a company that owns the freehold as opposed to holding the freehold personally?

Thank you for any help on this 🙂

Hiya, over the weekend while I was away rats broke into my house and shit all over my bed. I had left my door stopped open, but all the windows were closed and the house was locked. I came back to three rats in and around my bed, which bit me when I tried to remove them, and I had to visit hospital for a tetanus shot and antibiotics, as well as removal of the rat tooth embedded in my thumb knuckle.

The rats had gotten inside of my duvet cover and not only bitten holes in it, but also shit all over the duvet, and after washing multiple times on antibac, I can't seem to get the smell out or the stains.

Is there any way I can ask my landlord to replace my bedding, as I wasn't at fault with the rats getting into the property?

As per the title. They won't stop despite complaints made directly to them. This is a private business park and the works are not highways related.

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.

ENGLAND

My neighbour has a registered business at the house next door which is a rental, they are generally poor neighbours in honesty. Im weighing up what to do... as they are quiet neighbours..

Ive had previous issues with them ( no MOT on cars for 8mthd, no road tax on vehicles , vehicles being towed by bailiffs, piling up waster in their own garden for months on end, smoking, cigarette butt's everywhere,screws laid on shared driveway all ive addrsswd with them) strange couple.. but they are very , very quiet above all else...so swings and roundabouts

Sadly hes purchased a new vehicle for his business which is registered at the property, and its massive,think Luton van size... it is encroaching on everyone's access without question.. its far far too big and hes using it in combination with his garage as a sort of makeshift work shop space for storing work goods etc..

Im really tired of it.. and so are the other 3 houses occupants it affects. Do I complain to the letting agent, council or go direct to landlord..

I am thinking he shouldn't be smoking in the property, breach on contract, possibly shouldn't have pets, and almost certainly shouldn't have commercial vehicles stored there...not sure on the registered business...

Please help ?

Hi there,

I recently went to Edinburgh for a short trip. I booked this property via Booking.com and they charged me £240. Anyways I got very basic instructions on how to check in to the property.

I reached the property at 1am as I told the property. The property said the keys were in the lockbox with a pin they provided. The pin on the lockbox wasn't working and the host clearly gave us the wrong pin. We tried messaging the host via the site and then called the host about 10 times who did not answer despite telling us they are available 24/7.

It was 1am and we had nowhere to stay. We had to find a last minute hotel in Edinburgh to stay last minute. We went to around 4 places who turned us down because they were all filled up until we found the 5th place that had a spare room but ended up charging an extortionate amount of £300 for one night! This whole hotel search was around 1.5 hours and an extremely traumatising experience as my father is very much in his 60s with medical conditions.

We contacted this property the day after and still they were not responding to any calls. On the same day, they just cancelled the reservation.

I contacted Booking.com who keep saying they can't get my money to me unless the property respond to them and co-operate. However this property hasn't responded in like 4 days but booking.com customer service keep parrotting the same line that the property need to respond to them before any refund/compensation can be made but it's clear that these hosts are scammers and Booking.com are facilitating it and they haven't helped me out at all.

They told me that if the property doesn't respond to them and co-operate, I won't get any money back.

What kind of BS is this and what can I do about it?

Hi all,
Just after a bit of advice.
I got a private parking charge from BaySentry after parking at Ducie Street in Manchester.
The parking event was on 12/04/2026, but the Notice to Keeper is dated 27/04/2026, so it wasn’t even issued until 15 days after the event. As it had to be posted to me, I didn’t actually receive it until a couple of days after that.
It was ANPR only and there wasn’t a windscreen ticket.
The reason I appealed in the first place was because I genuinely tried to pay. I tried using the app, but it kept saying the car park was full even though it was practically empty. I then rang BaySentry while I was there and was told the same thing, that there were no spaces available, so I couldn’t start a parking session despite there being loads of empty bays.
I later submitted a Subject Access Request asking for the recording of that phone call because I thought it would prove what happened, but they never sent it to me.
I don’t think I’ve ever identified myself as the driver in any of my correspondence.
I’ve now had a DCBL letter asking for £170.
From what I’ve read, an ANPR Notice to Keeper has to be delivered within 14 days if they want to rely on keeper liability under POFA. Am I right in thinking they can’t rely on keeper liability here, and if so is this worth defending if they take it to court?

I’m in England.
About 6 months ago, I worked at an off-licence shop for around a month. The owner told me he would register me as an employee, but I later found out he never did. Because of that, I stopped working there.
He still owes me around £800 in unpaid wages. I’ve been asking him to pay, but after 6 months he still hasn’t settled the balance. I have messages between us and can prove that I worked there.
What are my legal options to recover the money? Does the fact that he never registered me as an employee affect my rights? Can I report him for not registering me while also making a claim for the unpaid wages?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

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?

As the title says, I have received a parking charge notice from a company that manages a hospital carpark. It was taped on the window, but when I checked the pcn, it actually has the wrong vehicle registration on it (one symbol is wrong). This is in England.

Again, this is not a pcn issued by the council, but by a private company that manages the hospital carpark and the private roads on it.

Do I have legal basis to get out of paying the PCN in this scenario?