Ombudsman News Issue 91 - Financial Ombudsman Service

case studiesShe also told us that she had suspectedMr B of having an affair with Ms Y,so she had asked the au pair to leave.We concluded that Mrs B had probablyagreed that Ms Y should have accessto the account, in order to make iteasier for her to pay for the family’sshopping. We suggested to Mrs Bthat she might simply have forgottensigning the bank’s authorisation form– after becoming concerned about thepossibility of an affair.We said there was no evidence thatthe bank had acted incorrectly. It hadproperly insisted on obtaining thesignatures of both her and her husbandbefore allowing Ms Y to have the debitcard. We did not uphold the complaint. nn 91/12insurer declines claim for damage andtheft relating to rented propertyMrs W inherited a house in a townsome distance from where she and herhusband lived. The town had a largestudent population and she thoughtthat instead of selling the house,she might instead obtain an incomeby letting it. She was still weighingup the options when her nephewasked if he could rent the house,as he had just obtained a place atthe university nearby.Mrs W later told us her husband hadsaid she should ‘do things properly andformally ’ even though she was ‘dealingwith family ’. She therefore arranged forher nephew, Mr T, and two of his friendsto sign a one-year assured shortholdtenancy agreement. She insisted ontheir paying her a deposit of £2,500against the cost of any damage to theproperty. She also took out a landlords’insurance policy.For some months, everything appearedto be working out well – and the rentwas always paid on time and in full.But then the student daughter of one ofMrs W’s friends, who was at the sameuniversity as Mr T, said she had heard‘disturbing rumours ’ about the rentedproperty. All the downstairs windowsof the house were boarded up andthere were stories of ‘unusual activity’and of ‘much coming and going atunreasonable hours ’.After trying without success to contacther nephew, Mrs W and her husbandvisited the house. They were unableto gain access to the property as thelocks had been changed. Mrs W thencontacted the police.In due course the police entered thehouse and found it had been turnedinto a cannabis factory. The interior wassubstantially damaged and most of thefurniture and fittings had disappeared.There was no indication that anyonehad recently been living there.December 2010/January 2011 – page 16