Election Housing and Energy Debt Complaint

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 804 Ratings

🗓️ 20 July 2024

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There's less than a fortnight to go before the polls open in the General Election. The deadline's passed to register to vote, but there's still plenty of time to work out where you'll put that cross on the ballot paper. This week Money Box is talking about housing - focusing on your questions and comments.

Imagine being told you owe more than £7,000 for your gas. You spend months trying to explain there's no way you could possibly owe anywhere near that amount, only to be told one day that because you still haven't paid it your details are being passed onto a debt collection agency. We investigate one listener's story.

And new research shared exclusively with Money Box suggests almost a third of people are struggling to afford their car insurance. In a survey of more than 4,000 people the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, a charity who carry out research to help improve living standards across the UK, found almost 1 in 3 people described their car insurance premiums as ‘unaffordable’. What can you do about it?

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Catherine Lund Researcher: Jo Krasner Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast at 12pm Saturday 22nd June 2024)

Transcript

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0:00.0	On a winter's night in 1974, a crime took place that would obsess the nation.
0:07.0	It was an extraordinary news story.
0:09.0	The story of an aristocrat, Lord Lucan, who's said to have killed the family Nanny,
0:14.0	mistaking her for his wife, then somehow just disappeared.
0:18.0	One of the great mysteries in English criminal history. We're still looking for
0:21.7	Lucan. It's honestly one of the most powerful stories of my lifetime. I'm Alex Fontunzelman. This is
0:27.8	the Lucan Obsession. Listen on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast,
0:39.4	the listener being chased for a £7,000 gas bill he didn't owe,
0:43.2	and could the growing cost of ensuring a car
0:45.4	price some people out of owning one at all.
0:48.6	But first, it's not long now, though it might have seemed forever,
0:52.2	before we convert all our hopes and fears about
0:55.5	politicians into putting that single cross on a ballot paper. So what will help you decide
1:01.0	where to put your cross in your constituency? Housing is very much on your mind in the messages
1:06.3	you've sent us. Hi, Moneybox. My name is John and I live near St. Albans with my wife and two children in
1:13.0	their 30s. I work for the NHS. What I want to know is how the next government can help dampen house
1:19.6	prices and rents by their actions. My name is Michelle. I live in the south of England. I've owned my
1:25.8	house for 35 years now. What is important to me is whether
1:31.2	the various parties are considering altering or increasing inheritance and property taxes.
1:39.1	I'm Judy. I live in social housing in West London. In the election, I'd like to see a commitment to increase social housing, of course, and better protection for private renters,
1:48.7	but also importantly to protect existing social housing tenants, an issue rarely highlighted by any party.
1:56.1	My name is Paul. I live in Gloucestershire. I rent my flat from the local council. And what I'm
	...

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