Nov/094
Miners urged to have the VWF settlements reasssed
Are you one of the estimated 50,000+ claimants who were mis-advised or “short-changed” in relation to a claim for coal health compensation?
Following analysis of the administration of the compensation schemes for vibration white finger, a number of potential areas have been identified where solicitors have not properly advised claimants, or have undersettled claims.
You will probably not know the answers to these.
Let us assess this for you FREE OF CHARGE, you may be entitled to more compensation.
Aug/090
Claim back 3 times your tenancy deposit from your landlord
Calling all tenants! If your are letting a property from a landlord and are concerned that your deposit has not been placed into a tenancy deposit scheme you can now make a claim to the County Court to receive your deposit back in full. On top of this your landlord will owe you 3 times your tenancy deposit as compensation.
If your deposit is not in a safe and recognised tenancy deposit scheme within 14 days of you giving it to the landlord your assured shorthold tenancy agreement becomes unenforceable, which mean it is more difficult for a landlord to evict you. The usual 2 month rule will not apply and the landlord will need to revert back to the 17 grounds for eviction/posession (such as if the mortgage on the property was granted before the tenancy and dictates the date on which posession should be taken back by the landlord).
Your landlord has a duty and responsibility to follow the correct procedure. If he/she does not do this then you, as a tenant, are not being treated in a way which has been clarified by law. YOU ARE ENTITLED TO COMPENSATION!
Tell us a little about yourself by filling out the form below and our partnering firm of solicitors will contact you to discuss in more detail. THIS IS A FREE SERVICE AND THEY WORK ON A NO WIN NO FEE BASIS.
Update (24/08/09): We have recently learned that if your tenancy agreement has memorandums attached to the back of it you may be able to make numerous claims. The largest claim we have received so far is for a tenant who had lived in a property for 3 years and had renewed his 6 month teneancy 5 times. He is now in line to receive compensation totalling around £16,000 as a payout from his previous landlord.
Aug/0927
Miner’s Knee claims - New advice on making a claim
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Yvette Cooper, today said that coal miners suffering from miner’s knee should be able to claim the newly available Industrial Disablement Benefit. As the condition is compounded by repetition of a period of time, the criteria for claiming is that the miner has worked as a miner for 10 or more years.
As of 13th July miners who now have osteoarthritis of the knee can now also claim.
However, unlike with Vibration White Finger (VWF) - a common cause for claim and complaint in the 90’s, the DWP are now recommending that claimants contact Jobcentre Plus website directly to find out if they can claim. Consumer Help has reservations over the effectiveness of going through a Government body to make a claim that will ultimately be coming out of the Government kitty.
Would it be wise to trust another Government body? Will they act on your behalf in the same stubborn way as a solicitor would? Will your claim be settled as quickly and efficiently as with a solicitor? These are all the questions we have been asking ourselves since the story broke earlier this month.
At the same time, we can also appreciate why the DWP are recommending going through the Jobcentre Plus. “In 2008 Jim Beresford and Douglas Smith, of Doncaster-based Beresfords Solicitors, were struck off for taking millions of pounds of compensation payouts given to sick miners.” Source: BBC News
Jul/091
Estate Agents Pay Buy to Let Landlord Compensation
Large capital-based solicitors, Foxtons, were told by High Court Judge Mr. Justice Mann that many of the charges they imposed on their landlords were unfair. This, after the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) had decided that the charges broke some of the consumer regulations back in 2008. The OFT then asked the High Court to uphold their decision on the basis that the Foxtons small print included clauses which could be considered a “trap”.
The three main clauses that Mr. Justice Mann said were unfair were:
that Foxtons should be paid full commission for selling the property to the tenant, regardless of whether or not it was them who placed the tenant in the property
that Foxtons estate agents could continue to demand “renewal” commission from a landlord if a tenant stayed on past the initial tenancy period whether they were involved in the extended stay or not
that, even when Foxtons had sold a property on behalf of the buy-to-let landlord, they continued to request commission payments from the landlord for the remainder of the agreed period
The Office of Fair Trading, obviously delighted with the decision, exclaimed: “This ruling sends out a clear and unambiguous message that businesses offering services need to ensure unexpected or surprising terms are not hidden away in small print. Contracts need to be written in clear and straightforward language with important provisions, particularly those which may disadvantage consumers as in this case, given prominence and actively brought to people’s attention.”
The complaint made against Foxtons were largely down to a general protest from landlords about the way in which they were being treated by their agents. They recognised that the OFT had powers to act under the 1999 Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract regulations and Foxtons were disciplined.
When ruling, the judge said landlords would be “astonished” to find they had to pay Foxtons commission for the sale of a property, even if the agency had played no part in the deal. It is believed this problem could be a lot more widespread than initially though and could effect hundreds of thousands of buy to let landlords throughout the UK.
If you are reading this and you have any buy to let properties and feel you have been misled or had unfair charges brought to you, you may want to contact Buy to Let Compensation who can help you make a claim.
Jun/090
Claim Unemployment Benefits
Though more people are expected to lose their jobs, the amount of people claiming has fallen.
This has settled fears that unemployment was set to rise to 3.3million. It is now predicted that it will only reach 3million because even though the economy is improving and average earnings rose to 0.8%, there wont be that much of an improvement to lead to “a net creation of jobs” says IHS Global Insight economist Howard Archer.
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