THE Consumer Crew are here to solve your problems.
Mel Hunter will take on readers’ consumer issues, Jane Hamilton will give you the best advice for buying your dream home, and Judge Rinder will tackle your legal woes.
Jane Hamilton, property expert
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Get pet-ready
THREE million households got a new pet during the pandemic – making 17million in total, according to the Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association.
Get your home pet-ready with these tips from home renovation platform houzz.co.uk.
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1) Buy a hair remover. A purpose-made silicone brush, specialist vacuum cleaner or even a basic pair of rubber gloves will remove pet hair from soft furnishings.
2) Stock up on washable throws. These can stop fur accumulating on your furniture – and protect it from drool, smells and scratches. Choose soft textiles that dogs and cats will be drawn to.
3) Rethink your rugs. Little accident? Try a washable cotton rug or stain-resistant wool. Patterned rugs hide stains you can’t remove.
4) Designate a doggie spot in the garden. Save your lawn and plants by creating a dedicated dog loo. YouTube has some good videos on how to set one up.
5) Create a pet washing station. If you have space, set up a hose or sink to deal with the aftermath of muddy walks. Factor in room to store old towels and pet shampoo.
6) Clean your washing machine. Pet beds and rugs absorb scent and need to be hot-washed to kill bacteria. After the cycle, use your vacuum cleaner with its brush attachment to suck out stray hairs, then run your washing machine on a hot wash with drum cleaner.
Buy of the week
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AFTER something stellar? This smart four-bed townhouse in Leeds has a space in the attic for star-gazing.
It could be yours with an offer above £260,000.
Take a closer look at zoopla.co.uk/ for-sale/details/58274827/.
Sale frenzy
MORE than 700,000 homes are marked “Sold subject to contract” and going through the sales process – the highest number in a decade.
Buyers are rushing to beat the stamp duty holiday deadline of June 30.
Tim Bannister of Rightmove, which crunched the data, said: “The easing of restrictions, extended stamp duty holiday, better mortgage availability for first-time buyers, race for space and relocation plans have combined to create the biggest conveyancing logjam we’ve recorded over the past ten years.”
Deal of the week
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HERE is a bathroom bargain that lets you store handwash in style.
This gorgeous tinted blue glass soap dispenser with silver pump is just £1 at poundland.co.uk.
SAVE: £6 on similar styles elsewhere
Judge Rinder, legal expert
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‘There’s rain leaking into my flat. It’s affecting my health but the housing association does nothing to fix it’
Q) I AM a woman of 74, living in sheltered accommodation. Over the past five years I have made multiple complaints about rain coming in from the loft and into my bedroom due to the defective roof.
Most of my neighbours have the same problem. Engineers and roofers have come to deal with the problem, only for the roof to be patched over and over again.
Scaffolding erected in January was dismantled just three weeks ago, so they have no intention of renewing the roof.
I have a large plastic sheet screwed on to the ceiling over my bed, with a plastic tube attached by a chain, running into a bucket.
Three times I’ve been to hospital with breathing problems. The situation with the roof is affecting my physical and mental health. What can we do to get the housing association to act?
Rosie, London
A) This is an absolute disgrace. Your housing association has a clear legal obligation to ensure that your home is safe. By failing to fix your roof, it is in serious breach of a number of laws designed to protect you. It has broken the contract you have with them too.
There are a number of things you have to do in this case. Firstly, you must write directly to the head of the association stating clearly that unless repairs are made, you will be taking legal action against it.
At the same time, try to form a legal group with the other tenants and get the help of your local council ward representative, who should be able to put some pressure on the association to sort this out.
There are a number of organisations who might be able to assist you. Reach out to the Shelter legal team or Citizens Advice.
Q) I AM a 77-year-old widow recently diagnosed with treatable but not curable cancer. I have now started a course of chemotherapy.
I hold a voucher from easyJet for £401.23, which expires in August.
I have asked the airline if I could have a refund, as there is no way I will be able to travel this year.
The airline told me it is a “non-refunding company” and does not have a medical policy.
I can offer the voucher to relatives or friends but no one wants it in view of the uncertainty in the travel world. Do I have to accept this?
Marion, Swansea
A) You need to check the terms and conditions of this voucher but most of them have a clear expiry date.
While your health is a significant reason to ask for the dates to be changed, it seems to me you also have a case to demand an extension of the voucher on the basis that you cannot currently travel because of Covid regulations.
If this is the situation, the date of the voucher should be automatically extended.
I would email the head of easyJet customer services. Whatever the law says, the company does have a discretion to assist you.
I would hope, given your current health, it would do all it could to help you.
Please do let me know what happens.
Bad neighbours
Q) MY partner and I bought a property in 2019. We’ve had issues with the people next door ever since.
We have witnesses to say the seller knew they were a problem but did not disclose it. Have we got a case against him? We wouldn’t have bought the house if we’d known what trouble they would be.
Aimee, Leeds
A) By law, the seller of your home was only under an obligation to disclose issues with problem neighbours if any dispute resulted in a report to an official body such as the council or the police.
If reports of their behaviour were raised with the authorities (the views of other neighbours are not enough), you may have a case against this seller.
Ask the solicitor who did your conveyancing to assist. If official complaints were made by the seller, you will need to make a legal application to obtain them.
Mel Hunter, reader’s champion
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Debt stress as I grieved
Q) IN June 2019 my dad, who had dementia, moved into a one-bed flat near me. I called E.On to get his energy set up and was told it would be more practical to put Dad’s account in my name.
E.On asked for a monthly payment of £70 but after Dad died in January, I was told there was an £800 debt. I wasn’t told the account was in arrears and E.On never said his payments needed increasing. It is now saying I must pay his arrears – and with extra charges, it is now more than £1,000. E.On says it will send debt collectors.
In the past 14 months I’ve lost my mum and dad, with two funerals to pay for. I work just nine hours a week, as I had to care for them. I can’t pay this.
Sharon, Dudley
A) Your story touched me. You’d been through so much and now faced the stress of this debt.
Even aside from your personal struggles, you were wronged here. This bill should not have been allowed to build without anyone telling you.
I also felt you were wrongly advised to put the account in your name. If this had not been the case, you should not have been personally responsible for any debt. Once I got on to E.On, the energy firm agreed and your debt was wiped.
An E.On spokesperson said: “We have made mistakes with regards to our handling of this account and are sorry. We incorrectly advised Mrs Evans-Powis to move her father’s account into her name and we then failed to complete a payment review over the following months.
“We have closed the account and have spoken to Mrs Evans-Powis to apologise for the distress caused at this particularly difficult time.”
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Q) I BOOKED six return flights to Phuket, Thailand, with Opodo in July 2019, to fly in April 2020. These were cancelled by the airline and, in September, I received a refund for five of us. But I am still waiting for £528 for the sixth.
I was told it should arrive in the new year but then there was a “technical issue”.
The next month, I was told the finance department was still processing the refund. I then heard it would be ten to 15 days until I got the money. That was two months ago.
Nick, Herts
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A) Opodo gave you all the chat, so every time you contacted it you were hopeful the money would finally arrive. You had given your bank details five times already but even after I contacted the company, it asked for those details twice more. Finally, Opodo promised the money was on its way, so we both held our breath.
The refund landed a couple of weeks later – 14 months after your booking was cancelled.
Opodo said the sixth ticket was separated from the others due to an earlier name change on the booking.
A spokesperson said: “We apologise for the delay our customer encountered while waiting for his final ticket to be refunded. This has now been processed.”
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