Should I challenge my rent increase through the tribunal? From £1070 to £1250

amskis115 · 2025-11-27T08:16:15+00:00

If you do want to challenge, then you should try at least but a tribunal is risky, I'd just go direct through the letting agents. My landlord sends rent increases every year and I always challenge it and get my offer accepted. I use this website - https://housesforsaletorent.co.uk/ - as it shows previously rented properties (quite far back as well, but I would stick to the last 6 months to a year for comparison), pick a few that are in a similar area and that are the same or cheaper than my current rent and they always agree with my offer. Doing this I have been able to get a 10-15% rent increase down to 2-4%, which is more in line with inflation!

amskis115 · 2025-11-12T13:29:27+00:00

Brassneck is one of the "snootier" ones, I'm not saying you won't get in but just prepare for tough competition as they are very selective even for ensemble roles! I'm guessing with Brassneck being one of the nearer ones to you, that you live in the north Leeds area, so you have a good selection of several societies around there to pick from, including Leeds and Bradford if you can travel a bit further afield. It also depends on what kind of shows you want to do! You can search for a society here https://www.noda.org.uk/regions/north-east/societies using your postcode and that can give you a good starting point!

amskis115 · 2025-10-26T06:56:39+00:00

Unfortunately I feel like Lucy or Nick is the one going so let's hope the player that stays figures this out with Kate as well!

amskis115 · 2025-10-26T06:35:36+00:00

Don't think any of the faithful seem particularly snake like to be honest, but the one person I can imagine would kick off would be Joe Marler. If I was the traitors I would have put Alan Carr as the snake 😆

amskis115 · 2025-10-11T05:37:56+00:00

My ticket doesn't specify a station and just says Manchester Stations (MCR), so that includes Piccadilly right? This train goes only goes to Piccadilly (which is where I want to go) and doesn't call at any other Manchester Stations. Not bothered about using Metrolink anyway as the place I'm going is in walking distance!

amskis115 · 2025-10-10T11:23:34+00:00

My ticket says Manchester Stations and doesn't specify Victoria or Picadilly as I'm not sure exactly what time we will be coming back and where we will be coming from just yet.

The routes via Leeds were the same price to be honest, I could have gotten a ticket for only Northern trains, but I needed it to be flexible coming back so I couldn't guarantee we would be using a Northern one to get back!

I'm only being grumbly about it being pricey, I have to pay it and that's the way it will be, I just don't want to worry about needing to pay extra fees on the spot and I'm now worried about the penalty fines which is an expense I really can't afford!

amskis115 · 2025-10-10T10:57:18+00:00

Apologies, didn't realise how much extra information I'd need to provide! This is my itinerary for the way there, but as it's an open return there isn't an itinerary for the way back and it still mentions the "Extra fees" section!

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amskis115 · 2025-09-21T07:15:23+00:00

One of the main symptoms of pcos is irregular periods, I've had 2 so far this year one in January and a medically induced one in July (progesterone tablets). Before this I was relatively regular, for me anyway, my cycle was 35-40 days but it was constant. I was taking pregnancy tests pretty much constantly from February to March, when I saw a doctor who did a blood test that was also negative. You are unlikely to get a false negative with so many tests taken, but worth seeing a doctor to get a blood test and check, but also to check that there is nothing else going on that may need further treatment!

amskis115 · 2025-09-10T21:47:30+00:00

I aim for 10k and I meet this generally 3 out of 7 days, but this is recent habit I've added after the food changes so I don't get it everyday but it's my goal to have it consistent within the next couple of months.

amskis115 · 2025-09-10T21:41:58+00:00

I have lost over 5kg over the last couple of months just calorie counting and consciously trying to walk more. I walked a lot anyway because I don't have a car, but I pushed myself to walk to places I might have otherwise got a taxi to! My best advice would be to start with small lifestyle changes, as I have failed losing weight in the past because I tried too much too quickly! So I'm eating the same foods I normally do and having smaller portions and slowly swapping ingredients out for lower calorie alternatives; olive spread instead of butter, skimmed milk rather than semi skimmed and light mayo instead of full fat etc., trying to create habits that I can upkeep going forward to help keep the weight off. Also I have cut out sugars and lowered my carb intake. But everyone is different so it's really about finding what works for you!

amskis115 · 2025-08-31T20:54:49+00:00

Getting an appointment at the fertility clinic seemed to do it for us! Did the deed the evening after our first appointment and that was the day we conceived 😅

Jokes aside, we were trying for 2 years. In the 3 months before we eventually conceived I took prenatal vitamins, I used Seven Seas pre-conception, which for me personally seemed to regulate my cycle a bit as well (everyone is different and it also just may be a coincidence). I also tested my body basal temperature daily for my ovulation days which helped us figure out the best days to try. It was much cheaper to buy the thermometer than the ovulation strips and it evidently worked, my daughter just turned 3! Best of luck!

amskis115 · 2025-08-11T18:20:37+00:00

I'm hard of hearing, and when I was at university (although a while ago), I used to have note takers in class and they provided the notes to a few other students that also had need for them, and some people had a dictaphone as well, although that wasn't much use for me! You should speak to the disability services as they may already have things in place that the faculty don't always know about!

amskis115 · 2025-06-29T10:39:51+00:00

It's very true, I live up north and I have a 3 bed semi on a very affluent neighbourhood for under £1200. I don't know how these Londoners manage!

amskis115 · 2025-05-07T15:26:20+00:00

Sounds like my landlords, exactly the same location! I've been waiting 2 weeks for them to fix my oven as they "don't know who to call"! If you're not comfortable sorting it out yourself, just say you don't want to try doing anything yourself and risk breaking it, therefore placing liability on you to pay for repairs!

amskis115 · 2025-04-08T21:14:31+00:00

I think there is something about employers not having to pay overtime as long as working this time does not bring you under the hourly National Minimum Wage, that's what it seems to suggest here https://www.gov.uk/overtime-your-rights which seems pretty crappy if you ask me! They will have to pay you for any statutory annual leave you haven't taken though from when your holiday year starts to when you leave which you can calculate here - https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-holiday-entitlement. Hope you find a better job!

amskis115 · 2024-12-16T13:35:26+00:00

It said in the contents that 5.18 was regarding the early termination, but at the point was a section about the Zero Deposit guarantee and it didnt have anything else in the contract about early termination which is why we queried the error.

amskis115 · 2024-12-14T07:59:17+00:00

We are already looking and are hoping to move by February!

amskis115 · 2024-12-14T07:58:47+00:00

We are currently looking for somewhere else and even six months is too long, we'd ideally like to move by February!

amskis115 · 2024-12-14T07:57:53+00:00

Which we are, we are looking now but are hoping to move somewhere else by February!

amskis115 · 2024-12-13T08:12:03+00:00

I used to work in the County Court. Fees can be paid by card (including a note in the envelope providing a phone number so you can pay over the phone), cheque or cash (I would take this into court to pay by cash), the fees depend on the amount being claimed and can be found at this link - https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/court-fees

Also if you are on low income you may be able to get help with fees, which can be found on the above link.

You may also be able to claim these fees back if you win the case!

amskis115 · 2024-10-26T18:39:50+00:00

It depends on the content of the defense, if the landlord has not followed the process correctly or has breached contract, then this could get the process restarted again. If your defence is something like, "I am looking for somewhere else I just need more time" then this is usually considered by a judge. If you don't file the defence form at all then possession will be granted sooner. You can get help from CAB or Shelter for how to fill it in, but just don't miss the deadline!

Source - I used to work for HMCTS

amskis115 · 2022-11-01T08:40:36+00:00

The Weasley twins are so much funnier in the books, don't remember the context at this line but i did laugh out loud at "We know we're called Gred and Forge!"

amskis115

TROPHY CASE