Author: admin

Land Registry – Protect your Land and Property from Fraud

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More than 97pc of homeowners are at risk of their properties being sold fraudulently without their knowledge.

The number of people signing up for property alerts with the Land Registry tripled between 2020 and 2021 in response to rising levels of “title fraud”, according to a Freedom of Information request by Thirdfort, a risk management website. Title fraud occurs when a criminal steals the homeowner’s identity and changes the property title into another name.

You can take steps to protect your property from being fraudulently sold or mortgaged.

Homeowners can sign up to the Land Registry title alert service, which sends email notifications as and when activity searches and applications are made using the monitored address. You can get alerts for up to 10 properties – there’s no fee.

Users do not need to own the property themselves to set up alerts. The same property can be monitored by different people.

Property Alert is a free property monitoring service for anyone who feels a registered property could be at risk from fraud.

You can sign up to get email alerts when certain activity occurs on your monitored properties, so you can take action if needed.

Intergenerational Summer Day – 24 August 2022

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MHA Communities South London and Croydon BME Forum are inviting the young people of Croydon to join us for an intergenerational summer day on Wednesday 24th August at the Wilderness garden.

The concept of our intergenerational workshop is to connect the old and young through activities, to build a bridge among the generations and also share their experience as well as recognizing and learning about the skills and insights of younger people.

Are your children aged between 6 to 13 years old?

Are they interested in getting involved in a fun learning day at the Wilderness garden?

We have an exciting programme of activities to take part in!

Join our Tales of two Tails; Games at the Outdoor Classroom; Wellbeing walks exploring the senses followed by a storytelling session.

Young and Old people will come together and join our exciting programme of activities, learn from each other and share and listen to each other experiences.

Details of our intergenerational summer day:
Cost: £2 per children; £5 per adult age 55 or over
Capacity: 20 children and 20 old people (MHA Communities South
London & Croydon BME Forum)
Time: 10am – 12.30pm
Location: The Wilderness garden, 17 Shirley Church Road,
Croydon CR9 5AL

To reserve your place by Wednesday 17th August, contact us by phone on: 07597135220 or email: southlondon@mha.org.uk .

MHA Communities South London – Kitchen Garden Project

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At the beginning of May, MHA Communities South London volunteers got together to create a kitchen garden.

They started with nothing but some compost and a pack of seeds. Since then, they worked very hard to support MHA Communities South London’s aim at
becoming more sustainable and to provide a space for the community to engage with nature whilst getting involved in gardening activities.

As of today, we are growing different varieties of vegetable and herbs: squash, southern kale, trail of tears beans, spring onion, chard and more but also fennel, parsley, coriander and more.

The development of the kitchen garden led to the creation of the Gardening for Wellbeing club where we help people living with Dementia, health and mental health conditions, and stroke survivors to access the benefit of gardening. What we grow gets used to prepare a healthy lunch for our members.

We would like to expand our kitchen garden and grow more vegetables to provide a weekly affordable lunch to elderly people living in the community.

Can you help us to help our local community?

We are looking for wood, containers, a glass house, polytunnel, anything that can help us develop our kitchen garden, and generate more activities for those in need and provide support to our local community.

Contact us at: MHA Communities South London at the Wilderness, 17 Shirley Church Road, Croydon CR9 5AL
Phone: 07597135220 – Email: southlondon@mha.org.uk

Planning Report – August 2022

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To find out the latest news on what is being planned in your local area, check out our latest Planning Report with up-to-date information on Planning Applications including developments in:

  • Addiscombe Road
  • The Glade
  • Gladeside
  • Land S/O Firsby Ave, E/O Verdayne Ave
  • Orchard Avenue
  • Orchard Rise
  • Shirley Avenue
  • Shirley Road
  • St. George’s Church
  • Woodmere Avenue and Woodmere Gardens.

With the all the latest information on the Local Planning Authority’s Residents’ Association Meeting, the Planning Advisory Peer Review that MORA has contributed towards and the latest news on the Draft Revised Croydon Local Plan.

Also, take a look at the MORA Planning App, which gives you an easy way to track all the current and recent planning applications within the MORA area. It’s simple to use and free for you to access

Trading Standards Bulletin – Spot the Signs of Holiday Fraud

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In May 2022, Action Fraud launched a national awareness campaign to urge the public to think twice before handing over money and personal information when booking holidays.

As travel restrictions became more relaxed, Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber-crime is warning the public to remain vigilant against holiday fraud when booking flights and accommodation online.

In the financial year of 2021/22, Action Fraud received 4,244 reports of holiday and travel related fraud – a substantial increase of over 120% when compared to the previous year.

Victims reported losing a total of £7,388,353 – an average loss of £1,868 per victim.

Whilst many accommodation providers who make use of online booking platforms are legitimate, some criminals will use these platforms to defraud victims by advertising counterfeit accommodation.

Over 7% of victims reported falling victim to suspects impersonating legitimate travel companies, including clone comparison sites, airline websites and holiday accommodation websites.

In some cases, victims have searched for flight tickets online and have found a website they believed to be the company’s genuine website. In other cases, victims reported responding to an approach or advertisement on social media or using what they believed to be legitimate flight comparison websites to search for flights.

The fraudster may completely end contact after receiving payment or provide the victim with fake booking information.

Sadly, some victims have only become aware that they have been the victim of fraud when they arrive at the airport and are unable to check-in.

Top tips to avoid falling victim to holiday fraud

Stay safe online – check the website address is legitimate and has not been altered by slight changes to a domain name – such as going from .co.uk to .org.uk

Do your research: don’t just rely on one review – do a thorough online search to ensure the company is credible. If a company is defrauding people, there is a good chance that consumers will post details of their experiences, and warnings about the company.

Look for the logo: check whether the company is an ABTA Member. Look for the ABTA logo on the company’s website at https://www.abta.com/abta-member-search. If you have any doubts, you can verify membership of ABTA online on their If you’re booking a flight and want more information about ATOL protection, or would like to check whether a company is an ATOL holder, visit the CAA website at https://www.caa.co.uk/atol-protection/consumers/checking-for-atol-protection/.

Pay safe: wherever possible, pay by credit card and be wary about paying directly into a private individual’s bank account.

Check the paperwork: you should study receipts, invoices and terms and conditions, and be very wary of any companies that don’t provide any at all. When booking through a Holiday Club or Timeshare, get the contract thoroughly vetted by a solicitor before signing up.

Use your instincts: if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Get free expert advice: for further advice on how to stay safe when booking or researching travel online, go to Get Safe Online.

For a full list of tips to avoid becoming a victim of fraud, please visit https://www.abta.com/tips-and-advice/planning-and-booking-a-holiday/how-avoid-travel-related-fraud.

If you think you’ve been a victim of fraud, contact your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud online at actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040.

Flight Compensation

Flight delays and cancellations have been in the news recently for the past couple of years and have recently increased due to the return of people travelling post-covid and the airports and airlines seemingly being ill-prepared.

There are rules and laws in place to protect consumers and Martin Lewis of Money Saving Expert has put together a comprehensive guide as to what you are entitled to if you experience delays or cancellations.

Please visit his website www.moneysavingexpert.com or use the link below to read his recent article following the highly publicised issues faced by consumers in recent weeks: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/05/easyjet-british-airways-cancellations-compensation/.