How to help your mental health by creating a home that’s a safe haven
EVERY Saturday, 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 selling your home and Judge Rinder will tackle your legal woes.
Jane Hamilton, property expert
HOME is where the heart is – but could it also be crucial to mental health?
One in four of us experiences mental health issues and a study from HomeOwners Alliance and has identified key traits for happiness at home, with almost two-thirds of us saying the place they live impacts on their mood.
Paula Higgins, Homeowners Alliance chief, says: “Home and garden are crucial to our wellbeing – we need them to be a safe haven.”
Here are eight key ways to to stop you from climbing the walls at home . . .
- Great outdoors. Create a well-maintained outside space. Even a small balcony or patio will help. (Important to 58 per cent of people quizzed).
- Be secure. Add good locks to windows and doors to feel safe (57 per cent).
- Good neighbours. Join to build a community with yours (55 per cent).
- Natural light and large windows. Clean glass inside and out, and open blinds and curtains fully in the day (53 per cent).
- Quality kip. If your home is on a busy road or in the middle of town, invest in earplugs and blackout blinds (52 per cent).
- Keep organised and tidy. Declutter rooms one by one so it is not overwhelming, and ask a pal to help (44 per cent).
- Cut out noise pollution. Invest in screening shrubs or sound-reducing fences, or soundproofed floors and ceilings if in a flat (38 per cent).
- Plenty of storage. Wilko and Ikea have low-cost storage options to keep your possessions in check (37 per cent).
Buy of the week
CRICKET fans will be bowled over by this gorgeous three-bed semi in Weobley, near Hereford.
The back garden is 85ft long and 40ft wide, big enough to fit a cricket pitch. It is on sale for £230,000.
- You can find out more at .
Drive up your savings
DRIVE up your savings by renting out your driveway.
The average spot makes £1,000 a year, research from Online parking portal shows.
Its managing director, Harrison Woods, says: “Households across the country are earning significant sums renting out their empty drive-ways – and you can earn even more if your drive-way is in a busy area such as near a train station or music arena.”
Deal of the week
ADD a tropical touch to your home with this watermelon mat, £11, at , around half the price of other big stores.
SAVE: £11.
Judge Rinder
Q) I WAS scammed out of £1,000 by a local kitchen renovation company. I paid the firm a deposit to have work done which didn’t happen, so I asked for my cash back.
This didn’t happen, so I got a county court judgement (CCJ) against it and I also paid for court bailiffs to retrieve my money.
But at the end of this, all I have got back is £147. We have had no communication with the bailiffs since and are unable to contact them. How can I get the rest of my money?
Danny, Essex
A) You won your case in court so assumed that you would get the full £1,000 owed to you by the kitchen renovation company.
The difficulty is that, in many cases, court-appointed bailiffs are unable to get anything close to the value of the court’s judgement from property that they seize.
Bailiffs are under an obligation to do their professional best to get the money owed but are governed by laws and regulations setting out what property they can and can not take.
In this case, I am afraid that there is very little that you can do. This situation occurs far too often, which is why it’s always worth thinking seriously about whether a person has any assets before taking them to court.
The problem in this case is that the bailiff has failed to communicate with you properly. You should not have had to chase them.
Get in touch with the bailiffs asking for an explanation as to why they were only able to recover roughly ten per cent of the debt.
If they continue to ignore you then take the matter to their professional body, usually the Civil Enforcement Association.
No communication
Q) I HAVE just returned from a two-week holiday in Portugal. I run a small business in the UK but, unfortunately, while away I could not make any calls back to the UK.
The phone company did an investigation and has admitted in an email that one of its advisers had incorrectly blocked outgoing calls while I was abroad.
It says it is sorry for that mistake and that it has rectified it for future use. But I believe I have lost up to £2,000 by being unable to communicate during that time.
Am I eligible for compensation?
Keith, Yorkshire
A) You might be able to get something from the phone company but it is highly unlikely you can sue them for your loss of business.
When lines go down, phone companies are not usually responsible for financial loss.
In this case, it would be tough to prove that you lost out on business because your phone was on the blink and you appear to have been prevented from making outgoing calls only, so could have easily solved your problem by purchasing a handset locally, which the phone company might have been responsible for.
It is worth writing to the company in any event, making clear what has happened and providing them with any evidence you have showing that you lost business because of its mistake.
I doubt it will do any more than credit your account with a discretionary payment but you may be lucky.
Q) I PUT my dog in to daycare three days a week. Recently, he was bitten by one of the other pooches looked after by the dogsitter.
She says it is not her responsibility and is refusing to pay the vet bills. The sitter claims it is down to the other owner as she is clear in her terms that aggressive dogs are unacceptable.
Meanwhile, the other owner claims her dog has never been aggressive before and it is ultimately the dogsitter’s reponsibility to keep them apart. Who is in the right?
Karen, Birmingham
A) Your day carer accepts animals into her house for commercial purposes and, in doing so, accepts responsibility for what happens.
This is the case unless the dogs’ owners have signed a disclaimer making clear this carer is not liable for injuries caused to the dogs in her care.
In all likelihood, the carer is responsible for what happened to your pet as this attack happened on her property, in the course of her business.
You need to check whether you signed any paperwork or if there’s anything else on this woman’s website making clear injuries to dogs are not her responsibility.
Whatever the case, she should be insured. If she isn’t, I would advise you not to use her services ever again.
Contact
- Got a question for Judge Rinder? Email [email protected]
- DO you have a consumer issue? Email [email protected]
Maddy Tooke, Coupon Queen
My top five freebies this week
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Top 10 deals
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Mel Hunter, Reader's champion
Q) A FEW weeks after buying a Toshiba TV from John Lewis, I noticed there was a ‘flicker’ on the left-hand side of the screen.
A member of John Lewis’ technical support team talked me through how to conduct a factory reset, but this didn’t resolve the issue.
John Lewis informed me that as the TV was still within its first year after purchase, the responsibility of repair fell to Toshiba and that it would provide a replacement.
Toshiba told me this was not correct.
When my TV set was returned it still had the same fault, although John Lewis insisted no problem was found.
I recorded the flicker and sent the video to John Lewis and the TV was sent off again – leaving me without a set for four weeks. When it came back it still wasn’t fixed.
I knew I was entitled to a repair or replacement as the TV was purchased less than six months ago, but the TV needed to be tested twice to show a fault. It has now been sent off yet again.
Liam, Romford, Essex
A) John Lewis, famed for its fair refund policy, had given you the run-around. Not only was the TV new, but it also came with a five-year warranty, so your faulty set should have quickly been sorted.
What’s more, the law only requires you to give one opportunity to repair a fault. If the fix is unsuccessful, the customer can claim a refund.
I pointed this out to John Lewis and it did replace the TV and gave you £75 in vouchers, too.
A spokesman said: “We are sorry for the inconvenience this caused. We have offered him a refund and a gesture of goodwill as a way of apology.”
Q) WE recently made a reservation with Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth, Staffs, costing £208.
Two days later, two payments of £104 were taken from our bank account.
The following day a further payment of £208 was taken under a different booking reference.
I asked for this to be refunded and, a week later, I got just £104 back.
I asked for the rest and that was paid back three days later.
However, on the same day, two more lots of £104 were taken once again – and we have not yet been refunded.
We are back to where we started and we don’t know if our original reservation still stands.
Nicholas Charlton South Tyneside
A) The hotel got in a pickle here, charging your twice then making a further mistake, re-charging the booking that had previously been refunded.
Luckily, the booking still stands – and you now get to stay there for free.
MOST READ IN MONEY
A spokesperson for Holiday Inn Express Tamworth said: “We’re sorry that there was a mix up with these booking charges.
“We have of course issued a refund for the duplicate charges and as a gesture of goodwill we have additionally refunded their booking.
“We hope the Charlton family enjoy their stay with us.”