In claims for housing disrepair, the court does not have the power to order a landlord to move you to a new property. However, by instructing MJV Solicitors, as experts in housing disrepair, we are sometimes able to negotiate this.
Case Study
Our client was living in a property suffering from bad disrepair. The problems included:
Plaster falling away from the walls;
Cracks in the plaster on the walls and ceilings;
Mould and damp in all rooms;
Poorly maintained external brickwork;
A broken toilet; and
Broken bathroom tiles
Our client had been reporting the problems for over six months when she reached out to us for help. We were able to help her on a no win no fee basis.
The Property
The disrepair was so bad, that our client’s landlord needed to move her and her family out of their home while repairs were undertaken. She did not want this and wanted to move out for good.
It is not possible for a court to order this. All it can do is order the landlord to conform with the lease and to do the repairs required. However, we approached her landlord and asked that they compensate her and move her to another property for good.
Following some negotiations, we were able to agree that her landlord move her to a new property she was happy with. She also received a payment of compensation. She had no out of pocket expenses and her landlord paid all the costs of her moving.
Can I move?
Not all landlords will agree. It is important to make sure that an offer to move is made in a certain way and so should only be made through expert housing disrepair lawyers such as MJV Solicitors.
If you wish to talk to us about a no win no fee claim for housing disrepair against a housing association or a council, call us on 01253 858231 or e-mail info@mjvlaw.co.uk
by MJV&Co
Many people are reluctant to instruct solicitors because of concerns about costs. This is understandable as legal services have a reputation as being expensive. Many of them are.
You may have seen that, where possible, we at MJV Solicitors publish our fees on our website. We have an obligation to publish some of these, but go beyond what we are required to. Some of our competitors do not even comply with the basic requirements. What have they got to hide?
We do this because we believe in openness, transparency and honesty when it comes to pricing. Some of our fees are even advertised in our window.
It is not always possible to give a fixed price at the outset and sometimes estimates change, but we feel it is important that our clients have assurance that there will be no nasty surprises when they receive their bill.
Fixed fees are when we provide a service for a set price no matter how much work is involved. We offer these for residential conveyancing, wills, Lasting Powers of Attorneys and simple probate matters.
Capped fees are when we charge by the our, but agree a maximum price. For example, if we cap our fee at £1,500, but only £1,200 of work is necessary, that is all you pay. However, if we did £1,800 of work then you would only pay the agreed cap of £1,500. We offer these for commercial property, some litigation and more complex probate cases.
There are other areas of law where we are able to agree to a no win no fee basis, which normally includes us taking a percentage of any money we recover in addition to our costs being paid.
We offer a free initial 30 minute consultation and, following that meeting, we will provide you with our fee estimate. You will then have all the information you require in advance of making a decision about whether to proceed with us.
If you have a legal matter and are concerned about cost, please call us on 01253 858231 to discuss it arrange your free, no obligation appointment.
by MJV&Co
When the government “consulted” on reforms to whiplash claims, the only people they really listened to were insurance companies.
The number of claims is already on the way down. The last round of reforms have not yet properly taken effect and yet, rather than monitor their success, they have sought to significantly reduce the level of compensation to be paid for whiplash claims and, essentially, eliminate legal costs from the claims altogether.
Insurers have a vested interest in these claims being stamped out. They have already backtracked on the amount of saving that can be expected for the average motorist and we can safely assume there will be no genuine saving when the reforms are finally implemented.
Anyone who has suffered from whiplash following a road traffic accident will know that it has a serious and detrimental effect on your life. You have reduced sleep and the sleep that you do get is of an inferior quality. It affects your work, your social life and your general well being, which is why the Courts and the Judicial Studies Board have set compensation at the appropriate levels for decades.
A Claimant who suffered a 12 month whiplash injury, using the current scale, would receive up to £3,630 in general damages (personal injury compensation). Following the forthcoming whiplash reforms, the same injured party would receive £1,190.
During the last wave of reforms to the industry, legal costs were reduced and Claimants now normally pay 25% of their personal injury compensation to their solicitor who receives a small amount (comparatively to previous levels anyway) from the insurer of the at fault vehicle. From October 2018, they will receive nothing from the insurer and so costs will be limited to 25% of the compensation received. This will inevitably lead to the closure of dozens of specialist personal injury firms and or claims being run by unqualified staff at Claims Management Companies as happens now with claims for mis-sold PPI.
All we at MJV & Co can hope for is that the government sees sense and retreats from its position on whiplash and personally reforms to ensure that injured members of the public are adequately compensated for the pain and suffering they endure through no fault of their own. Surely this is better for the greater good than increased profits for insurers.
