We have been asked to recommend books to help residential leaseholders understand their rights. Here is a link to our selected books from a variety of authors, each of whom are experts in their field. They cover everything from service charges, lease-extensions, buying out a landlord’s interest. How to deal with a difficult ground-landlord.
https://shepherd.com/best-books/laws-on-residential-leaseholders-rights-in-the-uk
Why have UK businesses become so energy dependent that their entire existence can be held to ransom by recent price-hikes. Of course, energy is required for most industrial processes including refrigeration and food preparation. But why this obsession with artificial lighting and air-conditioning?
 I have worked in offices all my adult life. I have never asked to sit behind tinted glass in artificial lighting and freezing air conditioning. It has been imposed on me. I’m sure that it hasn’t always been like that.  I would much rather enjoy natural light and the ability to open a window if I feel stuffy. It means that I won’t have to take a pullover to work because of the air-conditioning, when the temperature is a sunny 100° outside. Think about the energy cost of creating this unnecessary artificially controlled environment? Think about the climate. It’s the same with shops. Why do shops always have to have the lights blazing to prove that they are open?
A couple of weeks back, I visited my local pet shop to pick up some cat litter. They had recently moved premises and had not yet had the electricity connected. But the natural light coming in through the window was good enough for me to find my cat litter and complete my purchase.
Three months ago, there was a power cut at my local Tesco supermarket. Again, there was enough natural light for me to complete my shopping. It was just as I could not get it through the till. Today I went to the local Internet cafe at the end of our road to print out some documents. I was pleased to see the staff sitting in natural light and only using electricity to power their computers and printer. At least they are saving some money.Â
Going forward, the construction of commercial buildings has to change, with windows that open and which maximize the amount of natural light coming in during daylight hours. Â Also, a change of mindset. Â Is that so difficult?
If you think you’ve been scammed. If you have received debt letters from a mobile phone company you’ve never even heard of. Don’t spend hours of your time breaking your head trying to convince someone in an off-shore call centre. They are not equipped to deal with it. Its off-script. Forget about e-mail. Instead write a FORMAL LETTER to their complaints department and post it recorded delivery. Yes-I know it’s a pain, standing in line in a post office with only one person serving. But is the only way to prove delivery. If you don’t get a reply or can’t find the complaints address, write a personal letter to their chief executive. Make it their problem. It’s all about creating a paper-trail. About covering yourself. About creating the evidence you need to take your complaint to the financial ombudsman if you can’t get a satisfactory response. They can’t ignore that. Just one other thing. Buy a copy of my book, ‘Get Paid’. It contains essential information for anyone being hassled by an unfair claim. It’ll show you what creditors can – and can’t do. Here is the link.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Get-Paid-small-business-getting/dp/1727210204
More than 90% of contested cases settle before they get to trial. But the impossible cases to settle are the neighbour disputes where the parties hate each other so much that they can’t even speak. In 2012 John Edwards and Mary Kendrick had to pay out tens of thousands of pounds to cover the costs of neighbours Stephen and Barbara Evans after they wrongly took down the Evans’ new fence, which they said was sited in the wrong place. But the prize goes to Belgravia residents Hameed and Imran Faidi whom in 2009 incurred a £140,000 legal bill after pursuing to the Court of Appeal their complaint that they were disturbed by the sound of high heels tap tap tapping on the £100,000 oak floor of the upstairs flat …..
Extracted from Legal Profession Is it for you? (V. Charles Ward)
BRUCE AND HOLLY 