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Signatures on a contract for the sale of a registered vehicle are certified by a notary, and the notary draws up the contract on a form of their own — this text does not replace it. Its use is beforehand: to settle the price, the date and exactly what is handed over, and to see what the seller is declaring, before you sit down in front of the notary.

The record made when a car changes hands — on a sale, at the start of a rental, or on collection after a repair. The odometer reading and the description of the visible damage at that moment are the only things that later tell existing damage apart from damage caused since. The record also lists what was handed over: keys, registration document, insurance policies, tyres, jack, first-aid kit.

For a private sale of equipment, furniture, tools, instruments — anything handed over by hand. The contract describes the item, the price in words and in figures, and the seller's declaration that the item is theirs and is not pledged. Note that it will not do for a motor vehicle: there the law requires the signatures to be notarised.

Written evidence that a sum has been paid and received — on a private sale, a deposit, rent or a loan. It is completed by the person receiving the money and signed as the money changes hands.

The contract for letting out a passenger car between private individuals. The terms that are usually missing, and that later cause the argument, are separate clauses here: who is allowed to drive the car, how far it may be taken, whose account the fuel is on, and who pays the fines for offences committed during the term — including the ones that arrive months later.

For when you lend out a thing free of charge — a tool, a piece of equipment, a car, a room. It differs from a lease in that nothing is paid, and from a money loan in that the same thing comes back rather than its value. So the description of the item and its condition at handover carry the whole weight of the contract: without them there is no way to show that what came back is not what went out.

For street lighting that does not work, potholes, an abandoned vehicle, illegal dumping, noise, a dangerous tree, a missing manhole cover. A report goes further than a phone call, because it is logged with a reference number and has to be answered. Describe the location as precisely as you can and say whether anyone is in danger — that is what determines how quickly it is dealt with.

Written, dated notification of a loss. Insurers work with claim forms of their own, but filing those often drags — with this notice the date of notification is on record from the day you gave it. It describes the event and the property damaged, lists the documents drawn up, and says when an inspection can be carried out.

For when the settlement offered falls short of what the repair actually costs. The objection identifies the claim, the figure you are objecting to, and the ground — a garage quotation, an independent valuation, items left out of the schedule. It also asks for a copy of the expert assessment the insurer relied on, since without it there is no way to contest a particular item.

In the admissions ranking for a nursery or kindergarten, working parents prove their employment with a certificate from the employer. It is most often sent back not over its content but over a missing formality. So this request spells out what the certificate must carry: the employer's company number, an outgoing reference number, a date, a signature and a stamp. File it early — the rankings have deadlines, the payroll office does not.

Exemption is granted by the head teacher and almost always rests on a medical document — an application with no certificate attached is usually sent back. Mark whether you are asking for a full exemption or only from particular activities, because a partial one is granted more readily. The pupil still has to attend the lesson unless the decision says otherwise.

A place in after-school provision is at the parent's request and is applied for in writing, usually before the school year starts, because whether a group is formed at all depends on how many applications come in. The application states from which date, until what time, and who will be collecting the child — the last matters, because a teacher will not release a child to anyone not on the list.

You are leaving a phone, a laptop, an appliance or a machine at a repair shop. The record describes the item, the visible damage at the point of handover and the fault reported — and fixes whether a deadline and an estimated price were given. It is also the document a later complaint about a poor repair rests on, because it shows the condition the item was in when it went in.

A patient is entitled to a copy of the records of their own treatment: discharge summaries, test results, imaging, outpatient notes. You need it for a second opinion, when changing doctor, for an insurance claim, or before a medical board. State the period and the kind of documents, because a general request is usually met with a single discharge summary.

Decisions of a general meeting can only be proved by the minutes, and minutes with no quorum, no announced agenda or no recorded votes are successfully challenged. So each of those is a separate field here. The Condominium Management Act sets requirements for both the calling of the meeting and the content of the minutes — check them before the meeting, because afterwards they cannot be put right.

Sitting a resit is applied for in advance and within the deadline — being entered on the examination record follows from an application, not from turning up in the hall. Give the subject, the examiner and the session exactly as they appear in the curriculum, because a mismatch is the commonest reason an application comes back. Check too whether a fee is payable.

Where a diploma is lost, destroyed or damaged, a duplicate is issued from the register held by the school or university. The application identifies exactly which diploma is wanted — year of completion, course, registration number if known — because the issuer searches an archive rather than a name. A fee is usually payable and a declaration of the circumstances required.

Interrupting studies is granted on particular grounds — health, family, work abroad, maternity — and almost always requires a document. What the application asks expressly is which examinations remain outstanding and how they are to be made up, because on returning a student is reinstated into a specific year, not where they remember being.

The step to take when a controller has not answered your request or has refused it without good reason. The order is the same as in consumer disputes: first a request to the organisation, then a complaint to the commission with a copy of the correspondence attached. A complaint with no prior request is usually sent back, because there is no refusal to examine.

Marketing calls, messages and letters stop on an objection under Article 21 of the General Data Protection Regulation. Unlike the other rights, there is no balancing here and no exceptions: on an objection to direct marketing, processing for that purpose ends. The document lists the channels separately, because unsubscribing from the newsletter does not stop the phone calls.

You need it when applying for a loan, in a dispute about a post or about pay, or simply because your own copy is lost. The employer keeps the personnel file and issues certified copies of what is in it. The request lists the documents you are after by name, because a generally worded one usually comes back with a single sheet.

Unpaid leave is not an entitlement — it is granted by the employer, so the application has to be in writing and has to carry a decision on it. State the exact period and the reason, because whether the time counts towards length of service and insurance depends on how long it is. File it early enough for someone to be able to cover your work.