The Sunday Times May 29, 2022 15
MONEY
Our Airbnb
was 100 miles
from where
it said it was
W
e booked a house for
the weekend through
Airbnb for an
upcoming trip to the
Austrian Grand Prix in
Spielberg. The map
shown on Airbnb’s
website indicated the
house was located
about 40 minutes from
the circuit, which was perfect as we
could quickly drive to the track for each
day of the grand prix weekend. But
when we asked for the address after
booking, it turns out the house is more
than 100 miles west of where it is
supposed to be and now almost all the
other accommodation is booked up.
Obviously driving so far to the track
each day isn’t an option, and anything
that is still available nearby costs way
more money than we can afford.
We raised the issue with Airbnb and
asked if it could help find a property in
that area for the money we had already
paid. It said it could give us a refund and
that’s it. That’s not much solace given
that under its cancellation policy we
could have cancelled it for free anyway.
Now we will have to drive 134 miles
each way each day, using a lot of extra
petrol, because it’s the closest place that
has any availability and isn’t insane
money.
Airbnb has basically told us to go away
and now we’re pretty screwed because
of its error. Is there anything we can do
to get a solution or compensation? Any
help would be appreciated.Jill replies
You booked on March 3 but didn’t get
the address until May 9, when you asked
for details to plan your route to get
there. Luckily you took a screenshot of
the map on Airbnb when you booked
and this shows the property as being
near Trieben, about 45 minutes’ drive
from where the grand prix takes place.But the property is actually in Zell Am
See, great for skiing but not if you are
keen on Formula One, as it is nearly
three hours away by car.
I asked Airbnb either to find you
alternative accommodation for the same
price of £210 a night, for four nights
much closer to Spielberg, or to make up
the difference in cost if you could only
find a more expensive place to rent.
It told me the host had mistakenly not
included his property’s address clearly
in the website listing, and he had
uploaded a map that was very
misleading. Airbnb has now helped him
to correct his listing so it shouldn’t
confuse other prospective customers.
It contacted you the next day and
offered a £2,000 voucher for the trouble
you have encountered.
You said: “There was one place left in
a nearby village about a 15-minute train
ride from the track, which we have
booked at a cost of £401 a night, so the
voucher covered it. Hopefully we are
now all set to see George Russell and
Lewis Hamilton cruise to victory!
“I really cannot thank you enough —
you have saved us a lot of money, a lot of
driving and a lot of stress.”I’m being charged
double council tax
My wife and I own a small apartment in
Liverpool city centre. It was rented to
tenants until 2019 to help to pay off the
mortgage we took out to buy it, but since
July 2019 we have used it as a second
home. The apartment is fully furnished
and, lockdowns aside, we and other
members of our family stay there on a
regular basis.
Since July 2021 Liverpool city council
has charged a “long-term vacant
premium” of 100 per cent on our
council tax for the apartment. As a result
the bill for our modest apartment of less
than 600 sq ft (council tax band C) is
£3,902 a year.
On receipt of our latest council tax bill
in March we wrote to Liverpool city
council pointing out that in our view it is
wrong to charge a long-term vacant
premium on our property. We have
written on three further occasions since
then. Aside from automatically
generated emails acknowledging
receipt, we have not received aQUESTION
OF MONEY
JILL INSLEY
ON
EY
LEY
response. By my calculations since July
2021 we have overpaid a total of £1,664.
The next monthly payment of £325 is
due on May 21.
The government guidance seems
clear that the premium should only be
applied to properties that have been
“unoccupied” and “substantially
unfurnished” for two years or more.
Accordingly it should not be applied to
ours, which is both fully furnished and
in regular use. So far as we are aware
councils in England do not have the
power to charge a long-term vacant
premium simply because a property is a
second home, though this seems to be
the approach that Liverpool city council
is taking.
Is our understanding of the position
correct? If so, as the council does not
respond to my emails, what should we
do to resolve this?Jill replies
Your understanding is correct, and while
councils may want to limit the number of
properties that stand empty — even as
second homes — I see no reason why you
should pay extra council tax if the rules
do not demand this.
Government guidance for councils on
applying the premium says: “Where a
property is said to be occupied it will be
reasonable for the local authority to
cross-check with the electoral roll, or ask
for evidence, such as utility bills showing
usage of services, driving licence as
proof of address, or receipts or other
proof of moving costs.”
You are registered as living at your
main residence for voting purposes,
likewise your driving licence, and
although you have utility bills for the
apartment since 2019, they are small
because you understood and abided by
lockdown rules and did not visit the
apartment when not permitted. I
forwarded these plus photos of the
apartment showing that it was fullyCAN WE HELP YOU?
Email Jill Insley at
questionofmoney@
sunday-times.co.uk or
write to Question of Money,
The Sunday Times, 1 London
Bridge Street, London
SE1 9GF. Please send copies of
original documents.
Letters should be exclusive
to The Sunday Times. Advice is
offered without legal
responsibility. We regret that
Jill cannot reply to everyone.furnished and receipts for furniture that
you bought for the apartment after the
tenants moved out in 2019 to the
council, and asked it to reconsider your
council tax bill
Three days later it responded, saying
that given the information provided it
will remove the premium and will
refund the £1,664 extra council tax you
have paid since July 2021.Chase bank is giving me
the runaround
I am having problems using my Chase
bank account. I opened the account
several years ago when I was working in
New York and retained it when I
returned to the UK because I still have
family in America and, until now, found
it convenient to use when visiting or
sending money to my relatives.
I recently tried to send two payments
to my daughter-in-law. The first, for $75,
went through fine. But the second
payment for $725 was blocked. I spent
50 minutes on the phone trying to sort
this out, but couldn’t get through
security — I was offered five addresses to
verify a connection with, but I have
never been connected to any of them.
I have about $3,500 in the account,
and would like at the very least to be able
to transfer this to my UK account if I am
going to have problems accessing my
money. My wife is currently seriously ill
in hospital with listeria, so I really don’t
want to be worrying about this.She is in severe pain and suffering
from poor mental health, and during a
period in hospital she signed up with an
online gambling company called
PlayFrank. She gambled away more than
£10,000.
She said: “It was a week when I was
extremely stressed, sad and had lost all
hope. I have now finished my course of
chemotherapy and radiotherapy and
have come to the realisation of how
much I have spent. I have never gambled
before, but it was a coping mechanism at
the lowest point in my life. I have lost
significant sums that could help my
family members with providing
support.”
This woman appealed to PlayFrank
for a refund of her money but was
refused. PlayFrank told her it had tried,
unsuccessfully, to contact her through
this and other related accounts about
her online activity, and that it had no
way of knowing about her situation.
“Different people have different levels
of affordability when gambling and it is
ultimately the consumer’s decision,” it
said.
Maybe — but gambling companies do
have a duty of care towards vulnerable
customers. I would very much like to
discuss this woman’s case with Aspire
Global and AG Communications, the
companies that operate the games on
PlayFrank, but I have struggled to get
a response so far. Please could a
representative of either company
contact me by email to
[email protected].Jill replies
I asked Chase to help. A few days later
you told me it had contacted you,
transferred the $3,500 to your UK
account and you have now decided to
close the account. Chase did not tell me
why your second payment was blocked,
but I suspect that it may have been
flagged as a potentially fraudulent
transaction, even though you have made
payments to your daughter-in-law
before.
My best wishes to your wife — I hope
she feels better very soon.Jill’s plea for help
contacting Aspire
A few weeks ago I was contacted by a
34-year-old mother who has been
diagnosed with terminal cancer.had since we now had three
children. She refused the
offer of money to leave, but
eventually agreed to move
into a new ground floor flat
with her own bathroom and
central heating, which she
never had in our house, on
the condition that her rent
stayed the same and she
could stay till she left or died.
The first flat I looked at was
in Kentish Town, NW5. She
turned her nose up at it. She
wanted to be in N6, which is
Highgate, cheeky thing. I paid
£7,000 for her flat — almost
50 per cent more than I did
for our house. Did I moan.
Yet it turned out to be an
excellent investment — and at
last we had the whole of our
own house to ourselves.
Over the years we had so
many parties. For any excuse
really. I remember one to
celebrate 11 years at No 11 —
the number of our house.
I had three parties when
I turned 80, each with live
music. Paco Peña, the
flamenco guitarist, who lived
opposite us at the time, and
Wally Fawkes, the cartoonist
and clarinettist, played at
one. At another I hired the
Quarrymen to play — the
real ones who played with
John, Paul and George back
in the Fifties.
At my coming garden party
I am having a jazz guitarist
called John Etheridge, who
has done lots of records and
concerts. I have told him to
play quietly. Most of my
neighbours are a certain age.
We don’t like too much noise.
I have also invited the
Queen. She invited me and
my wife to a Buckingham
Palace garden party once.
I just realised I have never
invited her back to any of
my garden parties. How
rude. I wonder if she will
come to help celebrate
60 years here.
Note that I have not
revealed what houses now
sell for in our street. Even I,
an endless boaster, cannot
write it down.Come to my
jubilee bash –
but do mind
the tortoise
I am always going on about
how much I paid for my
house, which makes the
locals sick, as it is meant to,
and, yes, it always sounds
an awful boast, which is
true, but I am going to make
amends. I am treating all
my neighbours to a slap-up
garden party. Top wine,
New Zealand Marlborough
sauvignon blanc, no less; fab
barbecue, which my French
son-in-law is going to do; a
neighbourhood quiz, with
excellent prizes; and real live
music from a top guitarist.
I am also going to show a
Super 8 film I made in 1977
for the local Silver Jubilee
street party. Now that is
social history
I know, of course, that
my tortoise will be the top
attraction at the party, she
always is — aged 55 and still
going strong, although sheHunter Davies recently had a nasty escape. I
was walking round my garden
first thing and found her on
her back, poor lass, her little
legs flapping in the air. Some
nasty fox had turned her
over and tried to eat her,
not realising tortoises have
a shell underneath as well.
The party is to celebrate
60 years in this house. We
bought it in 1962. I have found
the original details from the
estate agent, Jennings and
Samson, now long gone.
It’s just a duplicated sheet,
badly typed, no photo, nohard sell, just basic details of
six local houses.
Our house had a sitting
tenant, as everybody did in
our street back in the Sixties.
She had the whole top floor,
consisting of three rooms,
and paid rent of 32 shillings
and 6 pence a week. That
would not even buy you
two postage stamps today.
The asking price was
£5,500, which seemed
enormous to us. We were
living in a Hampstead flat,
rent £6 a week. We had no
capital because neither of
our parents had owned a
house, but we saved like
billy-oh. My wife was a supply
teacher on about £500 a year
and I, a journalist on this very
paper, on £1,000. In two
years, we had saved £1,500,
enough we reckoned for
roughly a third deposit.
Today, a comparable
couple of our age, 24 and
22, in similar jobs, would
have to save till they were
about 100 to have enough
for a third deposit on any
London house.
At the time we thought
we were slumming, buying
a house on what was
considered the wrong side of
the Heath. If we ever made
any money, so we told
ourselves, We Would Return.
We eventually had the
money, but never moved
back to Hampstead. Our area
came up, which I like to
believe was thanks to our
exquisite presence, but of
course it was all to do with
the enormous and obscene
increase in all London houses
prices over the past 60 years.
We got the price down to
£5,000, thanks to the sitting
tenant having so much space.
The estate agent did not know
her age, but suggested she
might never come back
because she was staying with
a daughter in the US, which
turned out to be bollocks.
She came and stayed for
another 12 years, by which
time, pro rata, she had more
space in our house than weWe’ve had so
many parties,
for any excuse