James

In 2011 I decided to sell the house I owned and move from the north to the south coast. The difference in house prices were staggering. After having my house valued I realised I was in negative equity and I couldn't sell...

I rented the house out for 4 years, and finally last year I bit the bullet and sold it at a loss of £12k from when I bought it in 2006.

I've self certified my tax since 2011 as I effectively became a landlord, as well as my normal job.

When I complete my return for 2015/16 there are only a few months of income before I sold the house, so the tax owed will be minimal. I have paid about £1800 in tax from the rental over the years, but would I be able to claim any of that back having sold the house for £12k less than I paid for it?

So my street has no dormers on the front of properties, but some, ours included have velux windows at the front, and dormers at the back. On an adjacent street there's a house with a dormer front and back, and I've since seen a few more in the area.

I always assumed, unless you were an isolated property, there was no chance of putting a former to the front.

Government planning portal doesn't give much away, nor does my local councils planning pages.

Any ideas on the general rules here? Thanks

I have to choose between the below 3 Western Cape Winelands:-

- Rickety Bridge Chardonnay 2013

- Van Loveren Pinot Grigio 2014

- Christina Van Loveren Collection Chardonnay 2013

I m a novice at paring wine with foods, so I need a little help, thanks in advance!!!

I m looking to buy my wife a new coat for winter. She is 25 weeks pregnant, and I am hoping to buy this without her knowledge. I ve looked on various websites (M&S, ASOS, Debenhams, John Lewis) and I have seen some nice coats for winter, in both the normal and maternity ranges. Any women out there able to pass on some good advice? I know she will only get a few months use from it, but this isn t a problem.

Many thanks

A woman who I was in a relationship with has just contacted me to say there is 50% chance I am the father of her son. We were together for 2-3 months and I remember her telling me she was 3 months pregnant after we were together for 6 weeks, so I have therefore carried on with my life thinking nothing of it. She is no longer with the man who I assumed was the father (they got back together after we split up) and has recently split up from her current boyfriend, which leads me to believe there are financial motives behind her claim, as opposed to the child's best interests. I don't know if this other guy is on the birth certificate or not, so I don't know what to do with regards to disputing the facts. I'm also about to leave the country with work for a few months so not sure how that would complicate things.

Clearly if I am the father then I will make arrangements to support the child, but will I have to pay arrears for the last 8/9 years? That will have a huge impact on my family.

Any info greatly recieved

Basically, I am due to leave the country in a few weeks, but would like to get the ball rolling to sell a property I own. I have sole ownership, with the mortgage in my name. I'm guessing this will not be possible, and that I will have to wait until I return, however if it is possible, i'd like my wife to be able to sell the house with an estate agent etc, deal with my mortgage company, and any solicitors etc on my behalf. We will be in regular email contact, and possibly phone contact on a weekly basis, so i have faith, and trust that she will make the right decisions, however I won't be there to sign anything. Is it possible for this to go ahead without my presence, or am I being too optomistic?

I'm going to use simple figures for ease of explaining my position.

I bought a house for £95k in 2006, with a mortgage loan of £87k and a deposit of £8k. At present I have around £64k remaining on the mortgage, but I believe (I haven't had an official valuation) the property is worth around £85-90k.

If I was to sell the house for more than £95k I will have obviously made a profit, the proceeds of which I intend to put down on as a deposit on a future house.

My question is, what if I was to sell the house for the same or lower than I paid for it?

Do I still pocket the difference between the £64k remaining and the £95 I paid, i.e. what I have paid off, minus the loss in negative equity, or do I owe this difference to the mortgage lender?

The way I understand it is if I sell the house for more than £64k then I don't owe any money to any lender.

Furthermore, what happens to the money betwween me selling, and me using it as a deposit on another house, does it go to my bank account, or is it held by a solicitor?

Many thanks

We are a family of performers and earn a good living entertaining the good people of this world. What I want know is at what age will my son have a full grasp of lyrics and verse so that he too can perform on stage to the satisfaction of the paying customer? He has just had his 2nd birthday. God bless all ye who answer...

Basically at home I have a smart tv, an Internet enabled amp, a wireless enabled laptop and an internet enabled blu-ray player, these are all DLNA devices and are all hooked up (some wireless, some Ethernet) to my wireless router provided by my Internet service provider. I can stream media from the Internet to these devices, and can also access media stored on hard drives via the wireless router through the DLNA service.

My question is,can I set up a similar network at my workplace (on a ship, 3 decks down, with no Internet access)?

We have a smart tv, a western digital media streamer, a laptop and a few hard drives and an amp which is DLNA enabled. To make it possible to stream from laptop and hard drives (movies) to the tv, or (music) to the amp, do I need a wireless router, if so which sort to be able to stream hd quality? Also, does it need to have access to the Internet, I.e. a monthly subscription with one of the companies? This is a non started due to security, and practicality.

So literally can I set up a router and connect all these devices wirelessly or with Ethernet, and they will do the same as at home, minus the Internet streaming?

Thanks in advance

I've ditched my Sky subscription, plugged a coax aerial cable into my tv and tuned it in. Channels like BBC and ITV that have hd still seem to be in standard def. But I can't see any other hd option in the tv guide etc... Like I said the tv has built in hd tuner, the coax is brand new gold plated, could it be my rooftop aerial, or is it something with the settings?

A guy is coming round in a few weeks to install a new satellite dish, should I get a new aerial too?

Is this true?

I have plenty of movies and tv series that I have transferred to an external hard drive. I intend to play them via usb2.0 connected to a bluray player which is connected to an av receiver via hdmi, which in turn is connected to my tv also by hdmi. I'm happy that the 3d and hd quality video will be streamed to my tv, but I'm curious about the audio, will it have been copied in the same format and thus leave my hard drive in DD/DTS 5:1, or will it be in a simpler format and be down to my av receiver to decipher and kick out surround sound?

A friend mentioned selecting bit streaming audio on my bluray player but nothing in the audio settings mentions this, would this ensure all my vids came out in surround sound if I found and selected it?

Thanks

I currently use cat5 Ethernet cables to connect my tv, blu ray player, av receiver, wii and sky hd box to my internet router. I will soon be changing from 2mb broadband to 100mb fibre optic. I'm no expert, so I know I may never achieve 100mb downloading speeds, however I am curious, should I upgrade all my cables to cat5e or cat6 Ethernet? Or should I remain with the cat5? As well as general downloading, I will be streaming hd quality video.

Likewise I have 2 hard drives connected to the blu ray player using usb2.0, is there any point in upgrading these to usb3.0 for watching hd quality video? For transferring from my laptop to the hard drives would 3.0 mean faster transfers?

Thank you in advance...

So I'm off to various parts of the Eurozone this summer, namely France, Belgium, Luxumberg, Germany and Austria.

Although I haven't followed it extensively, it's well documented in the media that the Euro is in a bit of a state, so I'm wondering, is this going to make my holiday cheaper (petrol, eating out, souvenirs, hotels, etc..?)

And also would it make a difference whether I obtained my Euros here in the UK, or waited until getting to the Eurozone? Are significant savings to be achieved by buying Euros either at home or abroad? This may seem a daft question, however I normally don't bother but recently my bank has started to charge on foreign transactions, if I can avoid these extra charges, I will.

Thanks for your time...

I'm doing a bit of driving through the above named countries soon, and I'm just wondering on the price of fuel from personal experience. Should I top up prior to getting on the Eurotunnel, or would it be prudent to wait and get a better price on the continent. Or are there no significant differences at all? Many thanks for your input...

Basically a married couple that lived on the ground floor have a cat which is always sat outside their porch or roaming around the communal garden. I saw the cat just this evening sat meowing outside their door. Nothing out the ordinary I thought until my wife later mentioned that a removal lorry had been in attendance and they'd actually moved out yesterday! We live in MOD housing and the original standard issue curtains are up in the kitchen, so they've definitely shifted. Normal MOD policy is no pets in properties with no garden. As they have no children they will only be entitled to a 1 bed flat, so my guess is that they have moved area for a new posting, and they aren't allowed a pet so they've just left it. You just confirm in writing that the owt has been re-housed.

Sorry but I'm not interested to hear if this is the right thing to do or, whether you like cats or not. I would really appreciate some advice in who I should contact to get help for the now homeless cat. Local council, RSPCA..?

Many Thanks

Basically We've got family coming to stay with us in a few months and whilst they're here it is Ligo, which is a solstice themed cultural event, and is the highlight of the Latvian calendar. Traditionally there are bonfires, singing, music and homemade food and drink, starting when the sun goes down and ending when the sun comes up.

We have no garden and live 5 mins walk from the beach, so I'm planning to have a bbq on the beach for around 10 members of our family. This isn't an issue as once the sun is out there are bbq'd galore on the beach every summer. My concern lies with our plan to play music and be there until the sun comes up. There are no homes within earshot and we aren't getting drunk, there will be small children in our party.

So I'm wondering does anyone know of any laws that would prohibit us from having our bbq, and is it possible that I need to request permission from the local council?

Many Thanks in advance.

May 2009 Car Passed MOT (I have receipt). I drive car from the garage, 1.5 miles to my work accommodation.

2 days later I begin to drive it to my home address, however 10 minutes after getting on the motorway the bonnet flew up and crushed the windscreen and the entire front of the car.

The car was written off by my insurer and they eventually paid out £2000, I informed them about the MOT and that I didn't think the garage returned the car to me in the same state that I had handed it over, i.e. with the bonnet secured. In the meantime I went out and bought a new car on finance, and my insurance policy was resumed, at a slightly more premium due to the different car. After the insurance investigator had concluded his findings I was informed the conclusion was that it had occurred due to a rusted bonnet latch. Nearly a full year later when my policy was renewed in April 2010, my premium sky-rocketed as I had no 'no-claims' and I had a claim against me as 'Driver Hit Third Party & At Fault'. I was informed that this is the standard definition for the accident I had, and at this point I realised that my insurers had not chased the garage to recover the cost of writing the car off, instead they just put it against me. The way I see it, either they didn't return the car to me in the state it had been handed over, or they passed my car's MOT when it shouldn't have, either way they're in the wrong, and the insurers had this proof. Last year I questioned my insurance company and all they did was forward me a grainy photo of the bonnet latch.

So my question is do you think I have a case to complain to my insurers to reinstate my no claims bonus and remove the fault from me, and paying back any premiums that i've overpaid since?

Or, should I chase the garage for compensation for the added premiums i've suffered because of their incompetency in either handing the car back in an un-roadworthy state, or passing an MOT when it shouldn't have.

Or should I give up?

Regards