Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday’s ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.
Ms E.M. writes: In 2016 I leased a house to the London Borough of Havering under its scheme to provide temporary accommodation for families awaiting council housing.
I was assured I would get my house back after giving three months’ notice to the council, as the council is legally my tenant rather than the actual occupant.
Last January, I gave the council three months’ notice, but now it says it cannot return my property as it still cannot house the occupant.
Tony Hetherington replies: In effect, Havering Council has become a squatter in your house. Unlike actual squatters, the council does pay you rent. But that is just £1,150 a month, which is not even enough to cover your mortgage payments, maintenance and taxes. Meanwhile, identical houses in the same road are being advertised at £1,800 a month.
Delay: Havering Council is accused of ‘havering’ over a rented property
When you gave notice, the council set a date in April to hand back the house. With interest rates rising faster and faster, you would at least have stood a chance of selling the property before your own mortgage rate was due to rise this month. But, of course, Havering Council failed to stick to its plan.
When you explained that this would leave you in a really bad way financially, the council manager came up with a remarkable wheeze. You were told that Havering was in a partnership with a company that bought properties and rented them back to the council, just as you had done. Why not sell the house to them. A great idea, you thought. Except that the council’s favourite property dealer offered you just £230,000 for your £350,000 house.
Why such a low price? Well, you would not be selling with vacant possession. And the reason there was no vacant possession was that Havering Council refused to hand over the house – the same council that gave you the name of the property dealer that would carry on renting the house to the council. As deals go, this was a real stinker. The dealer would get a cut-price house. The council would keep the tenancy. And you would be the loser.
I asked Havering Council to comment. One day later, the council contacted you, offering to raise the rent by £150 a month unconditionally. The council also said it would cover higher mortgage costs.
However, the council had already offered the extra £150 six months ago, but on condition it was a three-year lease. In short, you would be locked into making a loss, while Havering got a house on the cheap.
The council told me: ‘To date, we have not been able to place the tenant at Ms M’s property in alternative accommodation’. It added that while the council recommended that you sell your house to its property dealer pal, it was not aware of the details of any offer. In what looked like a breakthrough, Havering then said it would pay you the extra £150 a month, backdated to January, plus £1,999 towards mortgage switching fees.
But there was a sting in the tail. From this month on, the extra monthly payment would only be handed to you when the property itself was handed over. And that could be this year, next year – or Havering only knows when. The council admits it has a backlog of properties like yours, which it has failed to hand back.
I pressed the council on this, and it backed down. The extra £150 will be paid monthly, nor rolled up until the occupant is rehoused.
But this still leaves you on the nasty end of a nasty deal. You could go to court for the return of your property, but the council has millions of pounds in its coffers and lawyers on its staff. You have neither. The current financial settlement papers over the cracks, but nothing more.
Let this be a warning to anyone tempted to sign up to the same deal. Ironically, the word ‘havering’ means hesitant, indecisive or time wasting. How true.
Virgin’s claim is just hot air
Hot air: Virgin did a complete u-turn
Mrs M.M. writes: My husband received Virgin Balloon flight vouchers for his 70th birthday.
He will be 77 this year and every one of the five flights we booked has been cancelled due to the weather or Covid.
Virgin says the vouchers are not refundable and are now null and void.
Tony Hetherington replies: When you explained that your husband’s health had deteriorated in recent years and he now feels unable to go on a balloon trip, Virgin refused a refund.
When you said you would contact the media, Virgin told you: ‘Should you wish to escalate to an outside source, that is your prerogative, however that will have no bearing on the outcome.’
I invited Virgin to comment, and 24 hours later you were told that ‘given the unique circumstances surrounding your request, we have agreed to process a full refund for you.’
Virgin then told me that it did not in fact receive any invitation from me to comment on your complaint. It is pure coincidence that it did a complete u-turn within hours. The words ‘hot air’ spring to mind.
Meter move is not so smart
Mrs M.N. writes: I had a smart meter fitted but it failed to connect to the network.
Three more meters also failed to connect and the electrician said he would come back with a new one.
Nobody came, so I spent an hour and a half on the phone to Ovo Energy and was told it would be sorted out, but nothing happened.
Failure: Ovo Energy said the smart meter problem would be sorted out, but nothing happened
Tony Hetherington replies: Expect decent customer service from any utility company these days and the chances are that you will be disappointed.
You told me you spent another hour on the phone to Ovo and sent pictures of the meter, which Ovo said would be examined in the following ten days.
Predictably, nothing happened. You were given a date for a new meter to be fitted, so your husband waited at home. Nobody turned up. Ovo later said that the engineer did arrive but found that the registration numbers on the external meter were not what he expected, so he left without knocking.
I took up all of this with Ovo. It seems that when the first failed meter was installed, Ovo’s records were never updated so estimated charges were notched up as if the original meter was still there and still working.
There were more failures to update records after this, leading to more confusion, but the bottom line is that Ovo has given you £30 as the standard compensation for a broken appointment, with the promise of a further payment in the pipeline. A new meter has been fitted, and it works. And your bills for recent months have been adjusted to show you are £125 in credit.
If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email [email protected]. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
