For some years I have had a Gold Star maintenance contract with British Gas. Each year the annual service was pushed back by two to three months. Over a six-year period from September 2000 I lost almost an entire year. What does British Gas say about this? J.R., Eastbourne, East Sussex

British Gas says that it aims to carry out one service in each year of a contract. If you started a contract in September 2000 and had a service right at the start, that would fulfil the company’s obligations for the year to September 2001. The next service would then be due some time between September 2001 and September 2002.

A British Gas spokeswoman says: “For the sake of continuity it makes sense to do the service at about the same time each year, but that is not always possible.”

In 1997 my mother set up a discretionary trust on her house, with my sister and myself as trustees. On my mother’s death the trust would cease and the capital be divided between me and my two sisters. The trust was not set up to avoid inheritance tax (IHT), as my mother’s estate was below the prevailing IHT threshold. My mother still lives in the house and is in good health. Its value has risen by about £150,000. Will we have to pay capital gains tax (CGT) on my mother’s death? If so, are we worse or better off under the new CGT regime announced by the Chancellor? J.J., Tamworth, Staffordshire

Mike Warburton, of Grant Thornton, the accountant, says that you and your sisters will probably not have to pay CGT on the £150,000 gain.

Mr Warburton says that the key question is whether your mother is entitled by the terms of the trust to live in the house. It seems highly likely that she is and, if so, the trustees (you and your sister) are entitled to claim the principal private residence exemption.

If it turned out that you were liable for CGT, which is unlikely, you would probably be better off under the new regime, where you would face tax of 18 per cent, compared with a likely minimum of 24 per cent under the existing regime.

My husband and I had six Isas with Portman Building Society, all maturing at different times. The Portman suggested that we amalgamate them into one bond. We followed this advice and when the merger with Nationwide took place we were amazed to find that we did not qualify for the merger bonus. Could you tell the Portman that we are very unhappy about the way we were treated? C.A., Poole, Dorset

A spokeswoman for Nationwide says that the Portman made clear in its literature that the investments administered by Keydata Investment Services did not give membership rights. However, it appears that while Nationwide thinks that the position was made clear, many former Portman customers did not receive that message and believed that they were still members.