Brexiteers have seen house price rises outstrip Remainer areas with London no longer driving property growth
Areas of the UK which voted for Brexit are seeing house prices rise faster compared to areas which voted to remain in the EU
Every Saturday, The Consumer Crew are here to solve your problems.
Mel Hunter will take on readers’ consumer issues, Coupon Queen Maddy Tooke helps out, Judge Rinder will tackle your legal woes, and property expert Amanda Cable will weigh in with her tips
Amanda Cable, Property expert
BREXITEERS have seen house price rises outstrip those of Remainers.
A year on from the referendum and it’s good news for many regions that voted Leave – and especially the Isle of Anglesey, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge lived.
Judge Rinder, Sun legal expert
WHEN the Queen described the mood of the nation as sombre, she was entirely right.
The past few weeks have been pretty dark to say the very least.
For pessimists, recent events have only confirmed everything they already knew: that our Government is woefully inept, our society is getting even more unequal and, worst of all, nothing is ever going to change.
The problem with incurable pessimists is their brains only take in bad news and treat anything good they hear as white noise.
As an eternal optimist (I consider my attitude to life to be somewhere between Anne of Green Gables and Pollyanna), I have a thoroughly effective bad news filter. In fact, I can find good news everywhere I look.
This week, for example, saw the Government promise to ban letting agents’ fees in England and Wales.
These absurd and extortionate sums of money — which are charged by agents for taking references, getting credit checks or investigating the immigration status of a prospective tenant — are already unlawful in Scotland.
The housing charity Shelter found that one in seven renters pays more than £500, and tenants in London are charged fees of up to £2,000.
These fees have hit the poorest among us.
Research by Citizens Advice found 42 per cent of people paying letting agents’ fees had to borrow money to cover them.
I grant you this is not life-affirming, ground-breaking news. But it is worth remembering this legal change was included in every party manifesto.
In other words, politicians of every stripe acknowledged there was a problem that needed fixing and agreed unanimously to change the law.
That is fantastic news. I am hoping this small legal change serves as a powerful example of what can happen when politicians put aside party divisions and work together to make the law better.
I suspect, however, I am being a little bit too optimistic.
Summing Up
Q) OUR son recently broke up with his wife and moved back into our home while he sorts himself out, both mentally and financially.
The marriage had become a very bad relationship and when they split up, they had incurred quite a lot of debt with maxed out overdrafts on two current accounts every month.
They had a credit card account, which is in our son’s name, with his wife being a second card holder.
His solicitor has established it is without doubt matrimonial debt and stands at around £4,000.
His wife is saying she will not pay anything towards the credit card debt, claiming she is trying to “keep a roof over her and the two children’s heads”.
Our son is paying the proper maintenance to her for the children.
He is also paying the minimum payment on the credit card every month but most of this is eaten up by the monthly interest charges.
My wife and I are willing to lend him the money interest-free to pay off the credit card but how can he/we get his wife to pay her half?
RICHARD, Milton Keynes
A) This is a tough one, I am afraid. Any loan you agree with your son will be entirely between you and him.
There is nothing you can do, in my view, to force your ex-daughter-in-law to pay any of it.
The problem here is this £4,000 is part of the joint matrimonial debt, which will have to be divvied up once the court gets round to dealing with the financial issues in the divorce.
Just to be clear, because these debts accrued during your son’s marriage, there is no way you can force his ex-wife to pay anything.
I repeat, any loan you extend to your son will be between you and him. Be careful and get everything in writing.
- Mr Rinder regrets that he cannot answer questions personally. Answers are intended as general guidance – they do not constitute legal advice and are not a substitute for getting independent legal advice.
Got a question for Judge Rinder? E-mail judgerinder@the-sun.co.uk
Mel Hunter, Reader's Champion
Q) MY mother-in-law took on a new shop in March. The gas is supplied by Scottish Power but there is no meter.
We asked Scottish Power to put the meter back but the engineer who came out was not qualified to carry out the work and since then we have got nowhere, despite calling every day.
The shop was supposed to open in April but because of the lack of meter we have lost a huge amount of money on stock that has had to be thrown away.
Mohammed Ahmed, Sunderland
A) Scottish Power insisted the delay was due to it not realising that your business needed an industrial-size meter, which meant there had to be a site check by the National Grid.
The meter was finally installed a week after I contacted Scottish Power and the firm agreed to pay you £5,500 compensation within ten days.
Unfortunately you are still waiting nearly a month later, although Scottish Power insists the payment is now going through and that it has stayed in touch with you about the delay.
Q) MY dad booked a holiday through Hotels.com as a present for my nan and grandad.
He paid £607 by card and was assured the payment had been processed and would not be due on arrival at the hotel.
Despite taking an email with them confirming this, my 80-year-old grandparents were refused check-in until they paid again.
My dad had to phone the hotel in Spain to get a refund.
He eventually got his money back, but not the extra £20 both he and my nan were charged for paying by card.
Also, because of the exchange rate, my dad lost £10. It’s not a lot but it’s been really stressful to sort this out.
Erinna Coxon, Wigan
A) Despite your refund, you were left out of pocket because of the card charges, exchange rate and cost of calling Spain.
Hotels.com said the hotel had mistakenly charged twice due to an admin error.
The company reimbursed your family to the tune of £140 to cover your expenses. Hotels.com has also apologised to you and offered a discount voucher for your next booking.
Q) I BOUGHT a flight simulator experience for £150, through the firm Totally Gifts.
The voucher arrived from Buyagift with an expiry date of May 26, 2017 – ten months later.
My husband decided to use it in February, 2017, but fell ill.
I tried to extend the expiry date on Buyagift’s website but saw the voucher had been cancelled.
After many phone calls and emails I concluded that Buyagift hadn’t been paid for all vouchers passed via Totally Gifts.
This isn’t my fault and I argued that they should let the voucher stand, but to no avail.
Glenys Heelas, Lowestoft, Suffolk
A) Buyagift had to cancel around 13 vouchers due to not receiving payment from Totally Gifts and trusted the firm “would inform its customers”.
As a goodwill gesture, Buyagift agreed to provide the flight simulator experience free of charge.