Liphook Community Magazine Spring 2018

O N E O F A S E R I E S O F A R T I C L E S F R O M C I T I Z E N S A D V I C E
Is Your House a Castle?
According to a recent report by Knight Frank, an
estate Agency, almost one in four households in
Britain will be renting privately by the end of
2021 as increasing house prices and stagnant
wages put home ownership out of the reach of
growing numbers of people.
Around 5 million households, or 21% of the total, are in private
rented accommodation, a quarter of whom are families with children.
This is set to rise to 5.79m (or 24%) over the next five years,
alongside 14.3 million owner occupiers and 4.3 million social
tenants. Therefore, the residents of Liphook may have to face issues
with renting their home and Citizens Advice at their Liphook
advice centre have helped many residents who rent their home
whether they are in social housing or rent from a private landlord.
One of the many issues we deal with concerns the status of your
tenancy. This will be made clear in your Tenancy Agreement
which you may have signed when taking up your tenancy. If you
are having problems with your landlord, the type of tenancy you
have would be a good starting point.
Most private tenants will be assured shorthold tenants. All tenancies
that started from 28 February 1997 will automatically be
assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs), even if there is no written
tenancy agreement. An AST can be granted for a fixed term, or
periodic (rolling contract month to month). If a replacement fixed
term is not agreed when one fixed term expires, the tenancy will
continue as a periodic tenancy by law.
As an assured shorthold tenant you have the right to stay in the
accommodation until the fixed term ends unless your landlord
can convince the court there are reasons for eviction, for example,
rent arrears, damage to property, or that one of the other terms of
the agreement has been broken. You can stay on after the end of
the fixed term, even if the agreement is not renewed, until your
landlord gives you notice.
At Citizens Advice Liphook we have seen a wide range of housing
issues. Whether you are concerned about your deposit being
returned at the end of your agreement or have problems with
your landlord we are able to help.
Housing issues can get very complicated and if you do have problems
with renting your home you can go to the Citizens Advice
website (www.citizensadvice.org.uk) or pop into our Tuesday
Citizens Advice session between 10:00 and 13:00 at the
Millennium Hall, Ontario Way, Liphook, Hampshire GU30 7LD.
We look forward to helping you.
Cathey, Terence, Alan and Andrew
Citizens Advice, Liphook
L I P H O O K U 3 A
Building a Model Railway Group
This small friendly group is reaching the end of its first year of
existence, meeting in the Committee Room of the Milland Valley
Memorial Hall, Iping Road Milland, Liphook GU30 7NA on the 3rd
Wednesday of most months. Later in the year we are hoping to
increase our sessions from 2 to 3 hours each and increase the
number of sessions per year from 9 to 10.
Tram travelling in a Liphook setting.
In March we will be at the Liphook U3A Open Day with our first
model railway layout, East Hants Link - which shows how a
modern light rail line (tram) might form a link between Liphook,
Whitehill, Bordon and Bentley, giving the local villages and towns
easy access to main line railways and to leisure activities and
shops. The model is in N scale (1:150).
Please come along, see all that Liphook U3A has to
offer, including our layout with our group of older
boys - “playing trains”.
We currently number five regular members, so we
would welcome a modest increase in numbers.
You can be an experienced modeller, or a complete
beginner, lady or gent - all are welcome. The cost, in
addition to being a U3A member, is between £20 and
£30 per year subject to numbers, which covers the
hire cost of the room and consumables like printing
costs, but not items related to layout construction.
(The more members the lower the membership
cost.)
If you would like more information please contact
me at: model.railways1@liphooku3a.org.co.uk or
see my website: www.millandvalleyrailway.co.uk
Happy Modelling
Tony Bettger
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