麻豆社

A young couple from Bridgend hoping to rent a house together for the first time have been conned by a rogue landlord trying to sublet the property. Lucy goes to meet the couple and other victims who have been left out of pocket by the same man.

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And with house prices on the rise, more of us are renting - but how can we check if a landlord is genuine?

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Jennie Bibbings from Shelter Cymru explains what to watch out for and how a new Welsh Government scheme could help to crack down on fake freeholders.

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Advice

Lucy spoke to Jennie Bibbings from Shelter Cymru to find out how potential tenants can avoid falling foul of rogue landlords.

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Who are you dealing with?

A simple check of the land registry online, which costs 拢4, will reveal who the owner of the property is - you can double check with photo ID of the person offering to rent the property to you, to verify whether your potential landlord is who they claim to be.

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Check your potential landlord comes up to scratch.

There are a lot of good landlords out there but unfortunately there are still a small number of rogues who give the whole sector a bad name.

From 23rd November Rent Smart Wales is coming on line and this is a real game changer, for the first time all landlords have to be a fit and proper person and undergo training to get a licence too.

Check out that landlord and if you find they're not licenced don't rent from them!

And if you find that your existing landlord isn't on the list, you might want to let Rent Smart Wales know about that.

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Keep good records

There are simple things you can do to protect yourself and your cash before you move in to a rental property too.听 Read the entire tenancy agreement thoroughly before signing anything.听

Be careful when looking at 鈥渁ll inclusive鈥� rates where bills are included, check what services and utilities you will be liable for, and ensure your deposit is protected by an authorised scheme.听

Double check everything listed on inventory lists to protect you from being charged for missing items which may never have been supplied.听

Take photos on arriving and when leaving a property to guard against deposit disputes for damage and cleaning bills, record meter readings similarly and ensure you have a copy of the letting agents' complaints policy

There鈥檚 more information about Rent Smart Wales here:

Omar鈥檚 been finding out how we can save money on funeral fees.

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In Wales the cost of dying is rising faster than the cost of living.听 The average price for a basic funeral here is 拢3,461 and one in ten of us struggle to meet those costs.听

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Heather Kennedy from the Fair Funerals campaign says we should treat funerals like any other consumer issue.听 鈥淚t鈥檚 the fourth most expensive thing that we鈥檙e going to buy after a house, car and wedding.鈥澨� Her advice is to shop around for the best deal as we don鈥檛 always have to pay as much as we think.

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There are now websites that list the different prices charged by funeral directors in your area, a useful tool since not all funeral firms list those costs on their own websites. Choosing a wicker coffin over a wooden one could save you hundreds of pounds, while some crematoria offer a cheaper rate for early morning slots.听听听听

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A recent trend is for bereaved families to raise money on crowdfunding websites.听 In Wales, more than 拢100,000 has been raised this way in 2016.听

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At the end of the day, it鈥檚 worth remembering that the size of the bill has nothing to do with how much you love the person who鈥檚 died.

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A car park in Ebbw Vale has been causing problems for a local taxi driver.

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Steven O鈥機onnell regularly takes his passengers to a car park drop off zone next to some shops. He says he only stops for a few seconds and leaves the car park, but has automatically been issued with charges. This is despite the terms and conditions allowing ten minutes for free.

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Rachel goes to meet Steven and get to the bottom of this taxing issue.

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One subject that fills the X-Ray inbox is cowboy builders, so this week Lucy learns how to avoid them. She meets Shahida Khan from Cardiff, who spent 拢3,000 on a conservatory which has been left in a mess.

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Also joining Lucy is Chartered Surveyor Tim Davies to tell us about what we should do before the building work even starts, and what to do if things go wrong鈥�

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Advice

Chartered Surveyor Tim Davies offered Lucy his advice on how to avoid the Cowboy Builders

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BE A SCEPTIC

A common mistake is trusting somebody, taking them at their word.

The best thing to do is get a personal recommendation from a friend, a colleague who knows the history and has had a good experience of a builder like that in the past.

I'm not a great fan of [online reviews] if I'm honest with you, mainly because you can write your own review and you can give yourself a glowing reference.

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GET A QUOTE IN WRITING

Get something in writing, preferably a quotation - because a quotation is a fixed price, an estimate can vary.听

With a quotation the builder is bound to do the work for the price he's quoted, unless you instruct him to do extra work.

Contracts are ideal.听

You can download them from the internet - standard contract for domestic building work, both parties sign them and you've got a written agreement what will be done for how much and what sort of timescale, so they are really good.

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GET EVIDENCE IN CASE THINGS GO WRONG

Photographs are really, really good - take them on a daily basis, a good diary, written notes - times, dates, you know when they're asking for more money - what are they asking it for, what work have they carried out, you've got all this written and photographic evidence that you can keep then.

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NEXT STEPS

You鈥檝e got the option of taking it to Trading Standards, and the other option is county court.

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