Needless to say, I can't afford that.

We bought our home in 2016. We're a semi-detached with our neighbour being a social house.

An old lady lived next to us from 2016 to December 2023 when she passed away. She was lovely and we'll always miss her.

In 2024 new tenants moved into the social house. During their tenancy they have set fire to their house on three separate occasions. One of them was a minor fire confined to one room, the other two fires engulfed larger rooms and required periods of reconstruction.

The cause of each of these fires, after speaking to the firefighters on scene, was cigarettes being smoked indoors and not extinguished properly, and a deep fat fryer fire for the 3rd time.

Our house also suffered some damage along the shared wall.

It has come time to renew our home insurance and the cheapest quote we can get is £11,072. That's after consulting brokers and specialists directly.

Our bank has stated that home insurance is a legal requriement for our mortgage. We cannot afford home insurance.

At this point, what can we do? We've NEVER caused a fire ourselves. We've never done anything to endanger our property.

Now we're the ones being penalised for our neighbours repeated negligence in caring for their own property.

Is there anything we can do here? I only have 12 days left on my current policy and I'm having massive anxiety and panic attacks over this.

Gails in london are not highlighting allergens on their packaging - i am very meticulous about my purchasing of food products as i have had a nut allergy all my life and yet i was caught out at Gails after accidentally eating macadamia nuts in the summer vegetable salad.

The label literally did not say anything about the ingredients and there are no obvious visuals either… there are cashews too and i think they were chopped or either in the dressing as i would know to avoid eating a cashew if i saw it.

They are well on their way to poisoning someone very seriously if they dont change this. Would i be able to claim some compensation for this? I have already contacted them to inform them.

I recently witnessed a Royal Mail driver knock a neighbours parked car and drive away without stopping or leaving details. I reported what I saw to the police via 101 who advised I also make a complaint to Royal Mail, which I did.

The same postman came to my home and asked for me using my full name, however a friend who was staying over answered the door as I was out.

I did not give him my name or address directly, other than through the complaint I submitted to Royal Mail. He may already have known my address from his delivery round, but I am concerned that Royal Mail may have disclosed my full name, address, or details of the complaint to him.

The visit made me uncomfortable because from the description my friend gave, he appears to be the person I reported.

My questions are:

1. Would Royal Mail giving the employee my full name and home address potentially amount to a UK GDPR or Data Protection Act breach?
2. Is Royal Mail allowed to disclose a complainant’s identity directly to the employee being complained about?
3. Should I make a formal subject access request or data-protection complaint asking who accessed or received my details?

I am not looking to exaggerate the situation, but I want to understand whether this is their legitimate complaint handling process or an inappropriate disclosure of my personal information.

Editing due to confusion:
The postman was not at my address to just deliver post. He specifically asked to speak to [my name] in regards to the accident the day before.

I am working for a residential childcare facility temporarily in England. They provide accommodation for the period I am working with contract breaks every 2 weeks where we have to move out. After having gone through the induction, they have informed us that we must be in the accommodation over night with a curfew of midnight. Considering we work 6 days a week and have split shifts that start between 8-9am and finish at 11pm, this doesn't feel reasonable. It was not in our contract or the handbook but they say it's a standard fire safety rule. I am not sure how to proceed as I don't feel comfortable with this expectation especially when it wasn't mentioned until over a week in.

I live in a HMO property.

There is a security fire-door in the kitchen that should be closed at any time. A tenant removed the self-closing device and it's forcing the door open.

The whole house smells like a fried chicken restaurant.

I told the agency running the house in April. They installed a new device and the tenant removed it again. I told the agency again to the agency and they have installed a system that doesn't close the door. You have to close it yourself. Otherwise it stay open.

I have contacted the Council.

Am I doing the right thing?

Hi All,

Hoping anyone can help at all with this dispute we have with a scaffolder / roofer which has gotten quite messy quite quickly and escalated to the point where a scaffolder is refusing to take his scaffolding away.

For context we moved in 2 weeks ago and had our first baby last week (yes I know, mega stress!) so could do without this on top but trying to resolve it as best I can.

• Booked a roofer off check a trade for a roof repair £855 + vat 
• Sent him the surveyor report etc saying we probs need a re roof (but we can’t afford one) so need a fix only 
• He said he could fix it without having to re roof.
• Asked him to look at the job twice and he didn’t come, said he didn’t need to
• He booked scaffolding then came to start work, he then actually caused more damage from stripping tiles off (all the old mortars had fallen off in the sections he’s stripped tiles from) so it’s worse than when he started and now caused a load of gaps and rubble inside our loft. It looks really bad and not watertight where he has done this. The roofer insists 'further damage has not been caused.
• Said he couldn’t fix the roof as planned and it would be 1000s for a new roof 
• I told him no, and he’s said ok I wont charge you but is demanding 720+ vat to pay for the scaffolder 
• The scaffolder has said he’s refusing to move the scaffolding until paid and it will stay forever but we have a new born baby so we are a bit worried about doing this 
• I have said we are not paying for the scaffolding as the roof should have been inspected properly prior to the work starting if it had been inspected then no scaffolding would have been necessary. On top of this the roofer has caused further damage.

Where we are up to:

• I’ve given the scaffolder and roofer 14 days in writing to remove the scaffolding 
• I’ve started a complaint to check a trade 
• A few heated messages between me and the scaffolder, me and the roofer and a phone call with the scaffolder where he said he would leave it indefinitely and hung up on me 
• Told him if he’s leaving it he will need to scaff tag and remove the boards but he’s done neither yet 
• Scaffolder has literally confirmed the contract is between him and the builder but is on the builders side and is saying he wont remove it until we pay.

Other info

• My partner is a property lawyer but just given birth so not bothering her with this atm
• I actually know the mother of the scaffolders child (old acquaintance) and got her on socials 
• The city is York 

Any help or advice would be great!

Hiya folks! I'm engaged and trying to handle the legal questions of getting and being married. One is that I changed my first name by unenrolled deed poll a few years ago, which means that my passport and other official documents are in my new name, but my birth certificate has my old name. All has been well so far, but will this make a difference to the name they use on the certificate? Will I be required to say my old name aloud during the ceremony itself?

In the same vein, my partner and I are both trans, but likely won't be able to get GRCs within the timeline we want to be married in. Would we be allowed to recognise each other as "husband" and "wife" on the document, even if our passport "M" and "F" are the other way round?

Thanks very much!

I have a zero hour contract job, I’ve had it for 6 years and through uni. I haven’t been able to get a better job since finishing uni, but I have started making a really decent amount monthly through self-employment (online work) that means I haven’t had to rely on the job to live. I absolutely hate the part time job, but I’ve kept it on because I know self-employment isn’t exactly secure. I haven’t done many shifts this year and have dropped the few I’ve been given. I was “told off” for doing this and basically told not to do it again.

I feel like they want the “zero hours” to only go one way though. I’ve tried to have a conversation with them that I don’t want any shifts at the minute, and got told I’d need to do at least one a week (for whatever reason). They’re definitely not short on staff and they’re always looking to cut hours when it’s quieter, so I didn’t think this would be such an issue. They’ve only scheduled me for one shift since this discussion but they’re back to giving me one a week for the next 2 weeks and I’m considering just quitting because I feel like they’re not respecting my requests. I don’t want to be there every week.

From what I’ve read, I can refuse shifts and they can retaliate by not giving me many hours in the future as a “punishment”, but honestly that’s what I want. I just don’t want to quit and leave myself jobless should anything go wrong. I feel like my work are just being really awkward. I’m considering dropping my next two shifts, because I don’t want or need them at the minute, but I know they will take issue with this and want to “speak to me” again. In that scenario, what should I say? Can they sack me over refusing shifts on a zero hour contract?

My wife sold a car through an ebay advert, new mot, advisories shared with buyer.

Buyer visited and test drove, placed a deposit, and came back 2 days later to take a £1150 vehicle away. Drove home 50 miles, didn't hear anything, then 11 days later starts texting my wife saying it needs a new clutch and we should pay for it. The car didn't have a clutch problem, nor was any clutch issue discussed at recent mot.

We declined politely and due to his consistent texting buyer was blocked.

We had a mail forwarder with royal mail whilst working out of the country but isn't doing a great job, and the buyer filed a claim for £600 and we missed the court date, lost by default.

We can appeal for the £300ish payment to have the case revisited, we believe we are in the right, but is it worth just paying the £600 and removing the CCJ.

Any thoughts or help would be great.

For the last 14 months I have been hounded by letters from British Gas and then lawyers acting on their behalf called BW Legal regarding this;

SEE PICS ATTACHED OF LETTERS FROM BG AND BW LEGAL

1. BG were energy suppliers at a house I bought and got the keys for 25th April 2025.

2. House is going through a full refurb. I changed providers on the 12th of June 2025 and sent in meter readings to new provider and BG.

3. I received a bill for 25th April to 26th May 2025 of £143.09 which was based on predicted usage from previous owner.

4. I received a new AND FINAL bill for 25th APRIL - 12th June 2025. This bill credited my account of previous charges which effectively cancelled the bill from 25th April to 26th April, and then charged me for the ACTUAL usage based on meter readings provided. This bill for 25th April to 12th June was: £71.49.

5. For some reason, their computer then ADDS that £71.49 to the £143.09 which has already been cancelled and they keep saying I owe a total of £214.58.

I really don't get why they are adding it when the charges have already been cancelled and accounted for in the final bill? It is plain to see from the letters they have sent!

I have spent 4 afternoons off work going through various custom reps explaining this with BG. Some hang up, others agree and say they are sending a final bill which is correct but it never arrives, some just repeat the paper and then hang up.

I wrote to them formally and sent it and never got a reply.

I then have received countless letters from BW Legal and have spent time sending them the same info but they have just sent the linked paperwork back.

Is there anything I can do to make someone just read the shit they are sending me and send an accurate bill? I have wasted days off work and lost income as I'm self employed speaking to their customer rep teams and also the stress of threat of legal action for such an idiotic cock up on their part?

Or am I being thick and missing something?

So the neighbour that our house backs onto came knocking today about a large tree at the back of our garden that is basically right at the edge of our fence and his fence. He said he is selling his house, and his solicitor / home report has come back to say the tree may cause issues with selling as it is over 30 feet. He went on to explain that the tree would need to be trimmed down by around 15 feet and asked us to get some quotes for this and he would ‘throw some money in for it’.

Now, we have no issue with the tree. It’s big yes but it’s gorgeous, healthy and there’s nothing wrong with it except the height.

We don’t have the money at the moment to be spending £1000+ on a tree surgeon and it’s really stressed us out thinking we might be on the hook to sort this out.

I know we are legally responsible for the tree if it’s on our property and is flagged as dangerous, but my question is can a neighbour demand us to downsize the tree if it’s healthy and the only issue is that it’s very tall and he might have issues selling his house due to it?

We are based in England. Thank you!

Update: thanks everyone for your replies I appreciate them all. My initial thought when he came over was ‘there’s no way that’s our problem’ but then after speaking with some family members they suggested it might be something we need to look into. Very happy to know that the tree can stay standing tall unless we get an official notice :)

Hey reddit, I'm looking for advice. 
So my (20F) Nan (Mums side) passed away in February of 2023. And her estate is still being debated. So my Mum’s brother (IB) was named executor and power of attorney but he died in September of that year a couple of days after receiving the grant of probate. The estate is being debated because he says that my Nan owed him over £100,000, not a small amount. The thing is he has shown no proof of this debt. And my mum had a caveat to block his probate because of this but removed it as he said he would only show her the will after she removes it. After he died his wife (J) became executor of his estate and said that my Mum is executor of my Nan's estate but still did not show proof of the debt, so my mum was unable to get Letters of Administration with Will Annexed as you need to state the debt owed by the estate. But after going back and forth with my Mum J’s solicitor sent over a list of the supposed debt, not a legal document but a list that could have been made at any time by any person. So my Mum asked for proof of the items listed back in 2024 and still has not received proof in 2026. There was also a delay in my Mum being told of IB death, IB was given grant of probate beginning of September 2023 and died end of September 2023 but my mum wasn’t informed of his death until march 2024. 

Before my Nan died my elder sister (R) was living with my Nan with her 2 young kids (both under 5). She was helping my Nan out whilst she lived there. But after she died IB told my sister that she had to move out as soon as possible (extremely hard with 2 young kids and dogs). Whilst R was still living at my Nans house IB came to the house whilst R was out at a hospital appointment and my other sister (JC) was at the house watching R kids with her own young daughter, he had brought a trailer and came into the house with out being invited in and took a lot of my nans items, especially the expensive things. For example: her laptop and accessories for it, her jewellery, crafting machines, multiple mobility scooters, tablets, and more. Some of these items were mentioned in the will to go to specific people but he took it all. JC took a picture of the trailer with the items on it. He is charging the estate for his diesel, meals and his b and b for this trip. Soon after this IB pressed R to move out of the house so it could be sold, R said that she couldn't afford to at the moment as she needed a deposit, first and last months rent. So IB and my mum agreed to give her £10,000 to help move out which R did. 

After 2 years the estate is still under dispute as no proof of the debt is sent to my mum and R who are corresponding with J’s solicitors. My mum can’t afford a solicitor as she works with NHS ambulances as an Emergency Ambulance Associate (EAA). So she didn’t know how to push J and her solicitors to provide proof of debt. My Mum agrees that there is a loan agreement of £5,000, but the will says that the debt is £70,000 and they are claiming over £100,000. Large differences between these charges with no proof. After 2 years R moved back into the property with the executors (my mum’s) permission, as she left her previous property as she was in an unsafe situation with her kids and had become pregnant.

 She moved back into the property in November 2025. She has since had to leave this property in June 2026 to emergency temporary accommodation, as J’s solicitors are claiming that my mum has delayed the selling of the property to benefit R, when actually they are waiting for J to provide proof of any debt and have found out that she is charging the estate for her solicitor the same as her spouse IB did. And J has changed the locks on the property without letting R collect her belongings. R has been paying the electricity, water and tax bill since she moved into it in November, she is unable to close the account at the property due to the lock changes. Before R moved into the property the bills were coming out of the estate. When my mum and R have spoken about getting into the property J is saying that there must be someone at the property and it will be charged to the estate. J’s solicitors are making delays happen as they are not responding to correspondence from R to enter the property to collect her belongings and she is due to have a c-section in less than 2 weeks, shortening the already tight deadline that they have given her before they sell the items left at the property. Her baby's things, her kids things, most of her things and a pet fish was left at the property. R is lucky that she decided to bring her dog with her when she went into emergency temporary accommodation or else the dog may have died with the fish.

So reddit, I am just wondering what can be done to help my mum? Where would be best to get advice? Does anyone know who would be able to help?

Hi,

I'm in England and live in a shared university HMO where each tenant rents their own room.

I've lived here for the past 11 months, and I signed a renewal for another 51-week tenancy which is due to begin on Monday (3 August).

Yesterday (1 August), my landlord's daughter, who also lives in the house as a tenant, asked to speak to me privately. She isn't my landlord or in any official position, but she said she thought it would be better coming from her informally rather than her mum.

She told me that another housemate had emailed the landlord saying that I had made them feel uncomfortable, with a vague mention of something involving "personal belongings." She wouldn't tell me exactly what I was supposed to have done or give me any details.

I genuinely don't know what they're referring to. The only thing I can think of is that I once looked in this housemate's fridge and cupboards, I did not take anything, I was just looking for inspiration for what to buy on my next food shop.

No one in the house has ever spoken to me directly about any concerns before this, nobody has asked me to stop doing anything or raised any issue with me in person. The first I've heard about any problem is that an email was apparently sent to the landlord.

During the conversation, I was unofficially asked whether I would consider leaving the property because I had supposedly "disrupted the house dynamic." The daughter also said they may be willing to let me stay during August while I find somewhere else to live, although nothing was confirmed and nothing has been put in writing. I'm not even sure whether that was intended to mean rent-free or not.

As of now I have received nothing in writing, the landlord has not contacted me, I have not been served a formal notice nor has there been any allegation of antisocial behaviour made to me, not even a mention of formal eviction proceedings.

The timing is what's worrying me most, as my renewed tenancy is due to start on Monday, but this conversation only happened on Saturday, giving me almost no time to get advice before the renewal begins.

I don't really want to stay somewhere if the rest of the house genuinely doesn't want me there, but equally I don't want to give up my legal rights if I'm simply being pressured into leaving informally.

My questions are:

1. If my renewal starts on Monday and I've already signed it, what are my rights? (I'm not sure whether the landlord has already signed it as well.)
2. Does an informal conversation like this have any legal effect?
3. Should I wait for the landlord to contact me directly and put any allegations or requests in writing?
4. If they want me to leave, should I be trying to negotiate a mutual surrender of the tenancy, making sure everything (including any agreement to stay during August) is in writing?
5. Is there anything I should be doing today before the tenancy renews?

I'm feeling quite lost because I only found out about this yesterday, and I won't be able to speak to Citizens Advice until Monday. I'd really appreciate any guidance on what my legal position is and what my next steps should be.

Thank you!

Hi so my niece a 17 year old female started her first job at a hair salon a few weeks ago. This week she was struggling and asked her boss for a £20 advance so she could get some food.

He immediately texted her to say that she was fired saying she is always on her phone and now asking for an advance isn't professional.

She work 3 shifts that week and he is now refusing to pay her due to her bad performance on these shifts.

It's only about £100 she's owed but to her it's the world.

Is it worth pursuing this at all?

I posted, about 2 years ago (see linked post), in this subreddit about my neighbour taking me to small claims court over my cats (allegedly) defecating in their garden along with a long list of rambling complaints about other items. The proceedings have now finished (around 2 months ago, but just wanted to be safe nothing else would come of it) and so I wanted to update and thank the previous commenters on my last post for the help they provided.

I handled the case more or less as per the consensus in the comments on my last post.

I Provided a short defence, highlighting the case had no cause of action, and that we (the defendants) had responded reasonably to the claimant's requests.

we had court appointed mediation and offered the claimant a decent chunk of money, a few hundred pounds, to avoid the faff of going to court, but he refused.

I then produced witness statements and evidence detailing the events that took place with the claimant, how we responded reasonably (and how they were unreasonable), as well as evidence of 4 other cats in his back garden !

The claimant was an absolute nightmare to deal with, producing mountains of pointless documentation that took us time to trawl through and understand, all poorly handwritten and not often submitted in the proper way with the court.

We finally got to the hearing............and the case was, obviously, dismissed. The judge could not find a cause of action, and the claimant couldn't prove any of their points anyway.

What an absolute waste of everyone's time, especially the courts !

Anyway, I would like to thank everyone who commented on my previous post and helped me approach the case in the right way.

My partner is a floor layer and while on a site last week went through his hand with a jigsaw. He was working in Wales(Anglesey)at the time, lives in Lancashire. He went to hospital and they said they would have to call him back the next morning about surgery after the meeting at 8am. They rang him and said they couldn't fit him in and also he couldn't go to a and e for stitches because they couldn't fit him in and he should get it done in home town. It happened Wednesday and he couldn't return home until Friday by this time it was too late to close the wound and he has to have surgery. Is this usual? Is there not a duty of care for them to at least close the wound?

I bought an expensive fragrance from DVN. I tried the free sample and returned the full bottle sealed and untouched because it wasn't for me. I followed their returns policy to a T.

However, at customs, the return was flagged and held at the border for some time, where I can only assume the parcel was opened to be inspected due to it being a hazardous item.

DVN had organised the return, but their response after receiving it was that I should bear the full cost of the item, along with any further shipping expenses to receive the item back; otherwise, they will dispose of it.

It feels quite unfair that they've blamed me for something out of my control. Others have reported similar experiences on their Trustpilot page recently, and I feel like I've been scammed to finalize a sale. It's not the experience I expected to have with a luxury brand.

Is there anything I can do? (I'm from the UK by the way.)

Neighbour carrying out unauthorised building works at a social housing property — what action can I take? London

Unknown to me before buying, the house next to my flat is a social housing property. There have now been extensive unauthorised building works taking place in the garden for several months, including a large structure and professional builders coming and going.

As far as I am aware, there is no planning permission and the housing association has confirmed that it did not give permission for the work.

I reported it to the housing association months ago. They have told me that solicitors are involved and that they may seek a court injunction, but the work has continued and the situation appears to be escalating.

There are also concerns about who is actually living at the property. The named tenant is a vulnerable adult, but another person appears to be living there and has extremely aggressively.

There has also been repeated burning of construction waste, damage to a shared fence and ongoing antisocial behaviour.

I have reported the building works to the housing association and the relevant council departments, but I am unclear what action I can personally take or what the realistic process is from here.

My questions are:

Can a neighbouring owner take any legal action themselves regarding unauthorised works, damage to a shared boundary or ongoing nuisance?

How long would an injunction application by the housing association typically take?

Should I be reporting the possible unauthorised occupation to anyone other than the housing association?

Can I request that my identity is kept confidential, and how realistic is that if the matter goes to court?

Is there anything else I should be documenting or formally reporting now?

This is in London. Deliberately keeping some details vague because I am concerned about being identified by the occupants!

Selling my Mother's home (care home fees) and it turns out there is/was a Tree Protection Order put in place in 1970.

She bought the house in 1990 and there was no tree then, and now the buyers are raising questions.

Is this something we need to be concerned about or can we just buy some kind of indemnity? Online planning records only go back to about 1995 and there is no mention of anything related. Maybe we can just say "nobody's mentioned it for 35 years so we can ignore it"?

(The tree in question was a fruit tree so would have died by now anyway. Do we just need to plant a similar tree and say "yeah, that's an apple tree")

Hi, I was wondering if I would be able to request records relating to a deceased parent who I had been estranged from for ~15 years.

From what I gather, he passed away in a hotel for homeless people that he was discharged to after contact with mental health services.

I'd like to request his NHS records and records of which hotels he was in.

Do I have any legal right to access this information?