AG百家乐在线官网

We love hearing from our readers and a lot of you have been in touch to share tales of woe after reading our weekend feature about the realities of living on a freehold estate.

Some of you got in touch to share similar experiences... 

I live on a freehold estate - it's the worst decision I have ever made. They can charge me whatever amount they want and do absolutely no work. I have no rights to challenge them or take them to court as I will lose and they can take my property. It's the biggest scam ever.

Dan

Management companies are ripping off freehold estates. I currently live in one in Amersham. We have zero street lighting and they say it's too expensive to put them. It's dangerous for pedestrians to walk at night. No one cares. No EV charging facility in shared car park area.

user01 

We live in a freehold estate and it's an absolute nightmare. Avoid!!! We have been hit with so many fees for work that hasn't been done and they keep trying to charge us for parts of the estate that isn't owned by them. The company even changed their name in recent years.

JessieR94

These companies are ripping people off - bills have increased year on year since 2008. 70% of the costs are admin charges. They wanted to charge over 拢1,500 to paint a 12ft iron fence, would be done with two tins of paint! And charge us for terrorism insurance in Andover!

Qalvince

Freehold estate - spent 10 years living in a property paying yearly increasing service charges for management of the estate, being forced to pay fees or else threatened with legal action for work that I could find no evidence had been done. Unregulated licence to print money.

546

I used to be a block property manager and even I wouldn't live in a freehold property! You are paying for things in the communal areas and if you have any major issues you will probably be asked to pay more money and some issues might not be improving your property.

Jtlover007

This reader felt so strongly about the estates that they called for them to be made illegal...

These kinds of estates should be outlawed. It's bad enough we're forced to pay council tax at extortionate rates, but then to be hit with extra fees and held to ransom just to get permission to make changes to our own property? It's disgraceful.

Mozzis1

One reader said their management company did a "reasonable" job, while another called for government intervention... 

A point about freehold estates. On ours the management company do a reasonable job but when the bills arrive a number of people complain. There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding as to who does what. This is exacerbated as residents have to maintain an off estate public footpath.

Rasbo

It's more common in my experience that developers simply stand to make more money from the private management option whereas they have to pay the council for maintenance otherwise - the government should give councils better planning controls rather than constantly weakening them.

RW78

Instead of keeping your unwanted tech stuffed inside a junk drawer, why not recycle it for a discount at Currys? 

The retailer is offering shoppers 拢10 off any purchase that costs 拢50 or more for bringing in an unwanted device that has a plug or battery.

At the moment, the store gives customers 拢5 off a 拢25 minimum spend - but this will double from 8 July. 

Customers with higher-value items can also access trade-in deals and receive the trade-in value instead.

Laptops, tablets, mobile phones, gaming consoles and smart watches can be traded in. You can check if your tech qualifies . 

Having risen in early trading this morning, the oil price has now fallen back by more than 3.5% today.

A barrel of Brent crude will now set you back just over $71 as concerns eased among investors that the conflict between Israel and Iran would escalate as was feared at the end of last week.

A third of children's sunglasses bought online are unsafe to wear and are illegal to sell in the UK, a Which? investigation has found. 

The consumer group bought 20 pairs of sunglasses from six online retailer: Amazon, AliExpress, eBay, TikTok, Temu and Shein.

It found UV protection levels were "dangerously low" for two pairs, despite claims they offered full protection, making them illegal to sell. 

Some offered significantly different protection from one lens to the other.

Several models - including Cute Cat Kids' Sunglasses UV Protection (拢1.59 from Amazon), Classic Vintage Holiday Sunglasses UV400 (拢3.99 on eBay), Kids' Aviators (拢1.16 from AliExpress), Kids 拢1 Sunglasses (from Temu) and red heart-shaped sunglasses (拢5.28 from eBay) - all made either misleading claims about their ability to block UV rays or had inconsistent UV filtering.

All the sunglasses tested were found to be missing key information, labels and markings, such as CE or UK Conformity Assessed markings (UKCA), which are required for them to be sold in the UK legally.

As a result, none of the 20 pairs of sunglasses bought from online marketplaces could be sold legally in the UK, Which? said.

What did the websites say? 

All the websites have removed the products flagged by the investigation. 

"Safety is a top priority, and we require all products offered in our store to comply with applicable laws, regulations and Amazon policies," Amazon said. 

AliExpress said it takes product safety "very seriously" and has "strict rules and policies in place to ensure a safe online shopping environment."

eBay said: "If we find an unsafe product, we remove it immediately and alert buyers, which is the exact approach we took on April 4 2025, before Which? contacted us."

Temu said: "We take product safety very seriously. All three flagged listings have been removed from the platform pending further review."

TikTok said: "The safety of our customers is of our utmost priority, and we have strict measures in place to ensure that our sellers comply with regulations and safety standards.

Shein said: "We take product safety very seriously and are committed to offering safe and reliable products to its customers." 

The parent company for two of Heston Blumenthal's restaurants has reported further losses due to "tough economic conditions". 

SL6, which looks after the three Michelin-starred Fat Duck and Michelin-starred Hinds Head pub, filed its latest accounts which showed turnover dropped to 拢8.9m in the year to 26 May 2024, from 拢9.5m in the previous year. 

Its post tax losses increased from 拢1.4m to 拢2.1m. 

"The business has endured a year of tough economic conditions with inflation in all elements of the supply chain and recruitment challenges and particularly wage inflation," director Ronald Lowenthal said . 

"We invested in our customers by not passing the entire inflation burden on to them, whilst understanding that this would affect our profitability." 

But he warned that operating conditions will remain "difficult", with changes to the national minimum wage expected to be "especially challenging". 

Minimum wage increased to 拢12.21 an hour for those aged 21 and over in April, 拢10 for 18 to 20-year-olds and 拢7.55 for under 18s. 

Airbnb has hit back at "overtourism" protesters, saying it is "totally unfair" to pin the blame on the short-term rental firm. 

Theo YedinAG百家乐在线官网, vice-president for public policy at Airbnb, accused local authorities of "scapegoating" the app in an interview with the Financial Times on Friday. 

"We end up getting a lot of the blame, especially in city centres [but] the reality is overtourism is really driven by the hotels," he said. "It is totally unfair." 

Protests have been taking place in major European holiday hotspots over complaints that tourism is causing a shortage of properties and pushing up rents. 

Watch: Anti-tourism protests in Barcelona 

In Barcelona, officials have ordered nearly 66,000 Airbnb listings to be removed. 

"I think the mayor of Barcelona needs to look at the construction of hotels, he needs to look at hotels in general...鈥塧nd they need to build more housing," YedinAG百家乐在线官网 said. 

"They are scapegoating Airbnb. They are attacking a fraction of the problem and then wondering why it's not getting better." 

Over the weekend, demonstrations broke out in Spain, Italy and Portugal, with people in Barcelona shooting tourists with water pistols.

Our culture and entertainment reporter Gemma Peplow has investigated the problems tourism has caused Ibiza, with staff living in makeshift camps without electricity or water. 

By James Sillars, business and economics reporter

The UK's cost of living crisis hangover is facing fresh pressure from the Israel-Iran conflict and growing tensions across the Middle East.

Whenever the region, particularly a major oil-producing country, is embroiled in some kind of fracas, the potential consequences are first seen in global oil prices.

The Middle East accounts for a third of world output.

Iran's share of the total is only about 3%, but it is the second-largest supplier of natural gas.

Add to that its control of the key Strait of Hormuz shipping route, and you can understand why any military action involving Iran has huge implications for the global economy at a time when a US-inspired global trade war is already playing out.

What's happened to oil prices?

Global oil prices jumped by up to 13% on Friday as the Israel-Iran conflict ramped up.

It was the biggest one-day leap seen since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, which gave birth to the energy-driven cost-of-living crisis.

From lows of $64 (拢47) a barrel for Brent crude, the international benchmark, earlier this month, the cost is currently 15% higher.

Iran ships all its oil to China because of Western sanctions, so the world's second-largest economy would have the most to lose in the event of disruption.

Should that happen, China would need to replace that oil by buying elsewhere on the international market, threatening higher prices.

How are natural gas prices holding up?

UK day-ahead prices are 15% up over the past week alone.

Europe is more dependent on Middle East liquefied natural gas (LNG) these days because of sanctions against Russia.

The UK is particularly exposed due to the fact that we have low storage capacity and rely so much on gas-fired power to keep the lights on and for heating...

Council tax bills are set to rise at their fastest rate for two decades due to the government's spending review, a leading economist has warned. 

Paul Johnson, the head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said local governments in England did "a little better than it might have expected" in the chancellor's review last week. 

But he said the "sting in the tail" was the assumption that council tax bills will rise by 5% a year as part of the fresh funding plans. 

"If English councils do choose 5% increases - and most almost certainly will - council tax bills look set to rise at their fastest rate over any parliament since 2001-05," he said. 

Rachel Reeves told Sky News last week that everything announced in the spending review was "fully costed and fully funded". 

Our political editor Beth Rigby explains why we should keep an eye on council tax... 

House prices took an "unusual" dip in June after reaching record highs in April and May, according to Rightmove. 

Across Britain, the average price tag on a home coming to market has fallen by 拢1,277 month-on-month to 拢378,240, the property website found. 

"This is an unusual dip for June, as new sellers lower their price expectations amid decade-high competition to secure buyers," it said in its latest House Price Index. 

It said that it compares with an average increase in June of 0.4% over the past decade.

But the decrease follows stronger-than-expected price growth in April and May and appears to be in part a delayed response to increased stamp duty costs for some buyers from April, the report added. 

"Agents have been telling us that sellers need to set a competitive price to have a better chance of finding a buyer in the current market, and it looks like many are listening and responding to that message," said Colleen Babcock, a property expert at Rightmove.

"Underneath the headline figures, we can see regional variations in price changes this month, which appear closely linked to buyer affordability and supply levels."

Here's a look at what average property prices are around the country....

The Israel-Iran conflict is pushing up oil prices and drivers have been warned that prices at the pump could go up in days. Here's one way you can keep costs down while still looking after your car...

When filling up your car, you'll usually have a choice between standard and premium fuel - and the costs can be vastly different. 

Premium fuel typically costs around 10p to 12p more a litre, meaning that for an average-sized 55-litre car, you could spend almost 拢10 more each time you pay for a full tank. 

So is the more expensive fuel ever worth buying? Here's what you need to know...

Petrol

First, it's worth looking at what the varying petrol grades mean and how you can decipher what sort of product you are buying. 

In 2021, E10 became the standard choice at forecourts in a bid to reduce carbon emissions. 

It is made up 90% regular unleaded and 10% ethanol (hence the E10 grade) and has a 95 octane rating. 

Octane is found in all unleaded fuels and the rating, measured by a Research Octane Number (RON), indicates how the fuels burn. 

Those with a higher RON burn at a slightly higher temperature, allowing the vehicle's engine to get more power, and are considered to be worse for the environment. 

Premium unleaded and super unleaded, which you will have spotted at the pumps, have a higher RON. The typical options offered by petrol stations have a 97 or 98 RON. These have an ethanol content of 5% or less. 

The previous standard petrol, E5, now falls into this category.

Greg Carter, technical specialist at the AA, told Money that ethanol was more corrosive than petrol and some engines don't run well on it, particularly older or high performance cars.

"Premium fuel only has up to 5% ethanol, which is fine in all petrol engines. It also contains more additives, such as octane boosters and engine cleaners, which could improve performance and fuel economy," he said. 

Diesel

Similarly to petrol, you can buy regular or premium diesel but they are not categorised by their octane rating. 

Premium diesel doesn't usually have a higher octane ratings because engines that use the fuel don't ignite to create power. 

Instead, it features additives or chemicals in its mixture to help prevent any build up around the engine's fuel system. 

"Premium diesel contains additives that might improve performance, fuel economy and increase engine longevity, but these benefits are largely dependent on the age and condition of the vehicle's engine," Carter explained. 

So should you be opting for premium fuel? 

For those who drive an older or classic petrol car, buying standard E10 fuel might not be an option - some are only compatible with E5 and other premium grades. 

Carter said for owners of a performance car or motorcycle premium fuel might be beneficial - but that's not the case for the typical driver. 

"For the average motorist to see noticeable mileage improvement from using premium fuel, they would need to combine the use of the fuel with careful eco driving techniques," he said. 

"Apart from having slightly less money than they otherwise would, people might notice a slight uplift in performance from using a premium fuel, but this would be dependent on the vehicle. 

"I ride a motorcycle, and on that I can tell the difference between premium and standard unleaded petrol, but it's negligible."

He advised filling up with regular fuel most of the time and premium fuel every fourth or fifth tank. This is sufficient to give some of the benefits of the engine cleaning additives without denting your finances. 

Readers of our new Money newsletter got an exclusive early look at this piece in Friday's edition - subscribe here to avoid missing out....