Tenant Eviction Cases – Fixed fee Stage I Notice (s) - We will prepare and serve either a section 8 notice and or a section 21 notice  on your tenant. We recommend that any outstanding repairs of which you have knowledge are dealt with prior to the service of notice as soon as possible in order to reduce the tenant's chance of submitting a successful defence and/or counterclaim should the matter progress to stage II of the eviction process. If you are relying on section 8 rent arrears grounds you should ensure that the arrears of rent you are claiming are accurate and fully accounted for. Errors regarding rent arrears can lead to disputes which can lead to a defence being filed by your tenant. A defence will invariably lead to any subsequent court possession hearing being adjourned thus leading to delays and further legal fees being incurred by you for which you will remain liable. We will prepare notices only on the information that you provide us with and there is an assumption that all information which you provide us with is correct. We do not carry out an advisory review of your papers unless you specifically request us to do so and for which an extra fee will be payable and will be charged at our hourly rate. We will simply prepare whichever notice you have specifically requested us to do so and it will be prepared strictly on basis of the information which you have provided us with. Landlord Advice UK will not be held liable should the notice be deemed invalid by reason of reliance on inaccurate information provided by you. In the event that your claim becomes defended our fixed fee service will no longer apply.

Service of notices is by first class post and by first class recorded delivery (after 14.04.11).  Not applicable before the 14th of April 2011). If you require service by a process server an additional fee will be applicable. Your continuing instructions will amount to your acceptance of these terms & conditions.

Eviction Cases - Fixed fee Stage 2 Court Proceedings - We as your agent will support and assist you in preparation of your possession claim in order to commence the property possession claim in the county court strictly in accordance with your instructions. Therefore if you instruct us to support an action based on a section 8 notice we shall do so as your agent. If you instruct us to support an action based on a section 21 notice we shall do so. The fixed fee stage 2 service does not include advice in relation to which notice you should proceed under. If you instruct us to assist you and support an action under a section 8 notice we shall not make any assumptions with regard to any other notice you may or may not have already served. Likewise if you instruct us in relation to a section 21 notice. If you need advice in relation to which notice is the most appropriate upon your specific case then an extra fee will be payable in respect of that advice. We will assist and support you with the necessary witness statements and we will make a referral for your court advocate. Provided the court agrees that the landlord has grounds for possession the landlord will in most cases be entitled to a 14 day order for possession unless the judge takes the view that the tenant’s circumstances are such that possession should be delayed. Possession, if established on a mandatory ground, cannot be delayed for more than 42 days unless the ground for possession is discretionary. If your claim is successful you will only be able to claim fixed costs, court and legal fees maximum of £276.75. Regardless of the possession order we are seeking, any contribution awarded by the court is unlikely to match the total you have paid. As no solicitors are on record as acting for you, you will not be able to claim solicitors costs. Our Stage 2 fixed fee is limited to one court attendance. Should the court adjourn the hearing for any reason whatsoever and you require a subsequent attendance a further fee will be required from you. Depending on the location of the court, a travel disbursement maybe added to the fixed fee. Our fixed fee services are not an advisory service. Instructions received from you are taken on the strict understanding that you are satisfied that all paper work that you submit to us with your instruction is checked by you and in order. Landlord Advice UK will not accept responsibility or liability if a process fails on account of defective documentation and or information submitted by you. We recommend that any outstanding repairs of which you have knowledge are dealt with prior to the service of notice as soon as possible in order to reduce the tenant's chance of submitting a successful defence and/or counterclaim should the matter progress to stage 2 of the eviction process. If you are relying on rent arrears grounds you should ensure that the rent arrears you are claiming are accurate and fully accounted for. Errors regarding rent arrears can lead to disputes which can lead to a defence being filed by your tenant. A defence will lead to a court possession hearing being adjourned thus leading to delays and extra legal fees being incurred by you for which you will remain liable. In the event that a tenant defends the action or the matter is adjourned for whatever reason please see our section 'Defended claims'.

By instructing us you hereby agree and consent for us to liaise, pass, share, and divulge through us all information, correspondence and evidence in relation to your case with our lawyers and any other relevant party. You hereby authorise us to instruct solicitors or advocates to take instructions from us on your behalf in relation to all aspects of your claim. You will not be charged separately by them. Your continuing instructions will amount to your acceptance of these terms & conditions.

Fixed fee Accelerated Procedure - As your agent, on your behalf we will support you with all the necessary court papers in order for you to commence your possession claim in the county court strictly in accordance with your instructions. The accelerated procedure is only applicable to section 21 notices and cannot/does not include a claim for any outstanding rent arrears. Generally the accelerated procedure takes between 3 and 6 weeks, however depending on which court has jurisdiction the process can in some cases take longer. The accelerated procedure generally does not require a hearing. The court will ordinarily decide the case in private and without the need for a hearing. If for whatever reason and in the rare event that the court requires the necessity for a hearing Landlord Advice UK will require a further payment to support you in arranging advocacy service. In the alternative the landlord can attend the hearing in person and Landlord Advice UK will have no further involvement with your claim. In the event that the claim becomes defended please see our terms and conditions for defended claims below.

Defended Claims - a last minute surprise defence at the 1st hearing while in court will be covered by our fixed fee service, however in the event that your claim is defended by the tenant or other circumstances arise which are not covered by our fixed fee services, our charges are based upon the time we spend in supporting you in your claim and we will continue to support and assist you to defend your case. Anything that you can do to support us and our instructed solicitors in dealing with your case will minimise our potential charges. Time spent will include meetings with you (and maybe others); time spent traveling, considering, preparing and working on papers, correspondence, making and receiving telephone calls. All extra work will be charged out at £98 per hour and in units of 1/10th of an hour. In addition to time spent we may take into account any of the following factors, which could include: the complexity of the issues and the speed at which action must be taken. Your continued instruction will amount to acceptance of our terms and conditions and that you wish for us to continue to act as agents on your behalf. You can however instruct a solicitor of your choice and Landlord Advice UK will no longer be required to support you. Landlord Advice UK will advise you of the probable cost of pursuing the defended case for you. Additional court fees may be required which will be payable by you. Advocates fees for attending hearings and traveling and waiting charges will be added. Whilst every effort is taken by Landlord Advice UK to ensure a successful conclusion to your case, due to the very nature of defended claims Landlord Advice UK can not offer any guarantees as to the outcome of your claim. Instructions received from you are taken on the strict understanding that you are satisfied that all the paper work that you have submitted is correct, checked and in order. We will not accept responsibility or liability if a process fails on account of defective documentation submitted by you. When a matter becomes defended you run the risk that if the defendant wins that you will become liable to pay all or part of their legal costs as well as ours. If your opponent has Community Legal Service Funding you are unlikely to be able to recover any of your costs from them. In any event even if you win the case the legal costs which you have to pay are likely to exceed the amount recoverable from the other party. If the tenancy agreement upon which you are relying on does reserve your right to claim legal costs from your tenant we will only claim fixed costs regardless of your actual expended legal costs. Litigants in person if successful, the court can order the unsuccessful party to pay their costs provided that they can show that they have suffered financial loss in preparing for and attending the hearing. If you are unhappy with a court order for whatever reason you must inform the court immediately within 12 days of the order being made. Landlord Advice UK will not be held liable for your failure to raise such issues after this time.

Before embarking upon litigation (and this includes possession actions based on section 8 and section 21 notices), you must give careful consideration as to whether the other party might have a defence (to all or part of your claim) or a counterclaim. Your potential liability for costs is twofold. Firstly your own legal costs and secondly the other party's, if they are successful against you, whether in whole or in part. If there are aspects of the case upon which you can co-operate with the other side you should do so to prevent the court applying costs sanctions against you. A full break down of the additional costs will be provided on request. By instructing us you hereby agree and consent for us to instruct if appropriate at our discretion Solicitors and us liaising with them in respect of all matters relating to supporting you with your claim. You hereby agree, consent and authorise these solicitors to liaise, pass, share, and divulge with Landlord Advice UK all information, correspondence and evidence in relation to your claim. You hereby authorise Landlord Advice UK as your agent to instruct solicitors and hereby authorise these solicitors to take instructions from Landlord Advice UK on your behalf in relation to all aspects of your defended action. All further fees incurred by you in relation to your defended action will be payable to Landlord Advice UK. You will not be charged separately by our instructed Solicitors. You understand, accept and agree without reservation any lawyer, solicitor employed or instructed by us will in no way be personally liable for any errors mistakes. You accept and agree that Landlord Advice UK alone will remain liable for errors mistakes and that you waive any right you may have in taking action against our lawyers and or solicitors on your behalf. Your continuing instructions will amount to your acceptance of these terms & conditions.

Payment of fees - We do not accept payments in cash in any form from anyone or organisations. We accept payment by cheque or debit/credit card. Payment made by credit cards will carry an additional charge by us of 1.8%. Debit cards are free. Payment by cash or by other means may be consider as an example of money laundering which would delay us in our actions on your behalf. Payment of fees in relation to Defended actions is strictly on the basis of 7 days from date of our invoice. Your continuing instructions will amount to your acceptance of these terms & conditions. Cheque that have been returned unpaid by clients bank will incur another additional £35 to cover bank charges and or our administration fee. Situations in which clients cheque that has been returned unpaid by clients bank we and anyone we have arranged to represent you will stop doing any further work. Client will remain liable for the work done and or fees which we have paid or carried out. Where we have been instructed and or where at our discretion due a particular county being busy we will instruct an agent to submit your claim online to obtain the earliest hearing date. The cost of the agent will be offset against the reduced court fee.

TDS Tenant Deposit Scheme - It is the responsibility of all clients to ensure they have complied with the TDS. All clients are reminded section 21 & 8 notices will be deemed invalid should the client not comply with the TDS before serving eviction notices. It is not our responsibility but the clients responsibility to ensure they have complied with the requirement of the TDS.

Cancellation of instruction - Landlord Advice UK will endeavour to commence your instructions within 48 hours of receipt of your instructions. You have a right to cancel your instruction within 14 days of instructing us. However, if work has already commenced on your case you will remain liable for all costs to date. To cancel your instruction please email or fax to Landlord Advice UK at the contact details found on the ‘contact us’ page of our website or contact details as per our letterhead or invoice. if you cancel your instructions to proceed with your claim by fax or email after 48 hours of your instructions and 14 days before the court hearing you will receive a refund of your court advocate fee of £120 less 20 % administration charge. The court fee will not be refunded. if you cancel your instructions within 5 days of the initial instructions and provided the court has not issued your claim, you must contact the court to cancel your claim and request all papers to be returned to you. Provided the papers and the cheque for the court fee has been returned you will in addition to the advocate fee receive a refund of the court fee we have paid on your behalf.

Retention of documents - Original signed copies of documents created by Landlord Advice UK on behalf of a client remain the sole property of Landlord Advice UK or our solicitors. Copies are not distributed to clients. If a client requests such documents Landlord Advice UK reserves the right to refuse such a request or levy a charge of £25 per copy original signed document.

Our charges including other costs - All work where stated in this website (with the exception of defended cases and our consultancy service) is carried out on a fixed fee basis and includes disbursements. If a statement of service/certificate of service is required separately from one of our fixed fee services an additional charge of £55 will be charged.

Our Complaints Procedure - Landlord Advice UK are committed to providing you with a quality service. We ensure that our procedure is consistently followed by all of our employee’s and we are consistently looking to improve the quality of our service. If however, you have any queries or concerns about our work then it is important for you to raise them immediately in writing by E-mail or fax and in the first instance with the member of staff involved. Do not wait until the completion of a matter to raise a problem which occurred at a much earlier stage. If that does not resolve the problem or you would prefer to speak to someone else then please make this clear. Following receipt of a written complaint, we will endeavour to respond to it in writing within 28 days of receipt. We will attempt to resolve problems and or complaints in-house. It is therefore important that if at any time you feel that quality is not being maintained please raise it the moment you feel that an issue has arisen. If you have a complaint about any aspect of our services or the way in which they are being delivered to you, you must raise it the moment it arises. To continue to instruct Landlord Advice UK after you later rely on a complaint which should have been raised earlier, it will be taken as evidence that a genuine complaint has not arisen. If you raise a complaint at the end of a matter which should have been raised much earlier and you continue to instruct Landlord Advice UK putting them to expense in terms of both time and disbursements after the date the complaint should have been raised you will remain liable for our costs in their entirety. We value your instructions and would not wish you to think that you have reason to be unhappy with us. Your continuing instructions will amount to your acceptance of these terms & conditions.

Our Status - We are not solicitors, we do not purport to be solicitors, we are not regulated by the law society or the SRA. We are an organisation that assists and supports landlords that may have difficult tenants. At our sole discretion where we deem a private landlord may not be able to pay for a defended claim and has no means of obtaining justice we will fully fund a claim out of our own company funds.  Our aim as an organisation is not to make a profit but to provide a service for landlords who may not be able to obtain legal aid or have funds to pay for legal representation. In such cases we will pay for all court and Counsel fees. We will also provide full support free of charge until the matter is dealt with. Our funding is only available to and applicable for private landlords. We are not a charity nor do we draw funds from the government directly or indirectly. 

Contractual obligation - All services provided by Landlord Advice UK on this website and requested by an individual or organisations will only form a binding agreement upon confirmation by Landlord Advice UK Such confirmation will take the form of an E-mail, fax, or postal correspondence. That you understand that your continued instructions in any matter which we act on your behalf will amount to your full acceptance of these terms and conditions of business and that you fully understand that you may not be able to recover the full legal costs but nevertheless wish to instruct Landlord Advice UK to proceed in your required service and agree to compensate Landlord Advice UK against any liabilities incurred by them in acting for you.

General - Our company policy is to ensure in the public interest that the proper and efficient administration of justice is achieved. To assist with the administration of justice we will not deceive or knowingly or recklessly mislead the court. Documents, witness statements and any exhibits provided by you must be truthful and accurate.

Please ensure you have read our important check list notes which we have sent you. This reduces common fatal errors made by landlords and in turn improves your chances of a successful outcome.

The information conveyed on the Landlord Advice UK website is intended to convey general information only. The contents of the website are not aimed at any person, individual or organisations specifically and nothing contained within it constitutes an offer to contract. Landlord Advice UK reserve the right to cancel, withdraw or change its services at any time. If you terminate your instructions or we stop proving support for you with good reason, you will still have to pay our charges and expenses up to the date that we cease our support service, including costs for removing our solicitors name from the court record if court proceedings are involved and transferring our files to you or another advisor. Landlord Advice UK are not regulated by the law society. They do not call or purport to be solicitors. In a valid complaint or a claim if you are taking action against Landlord Advice UK, you accept and agree you are not entitled, never the less as an alternative you waive any right to take action against Landlord Advice UK staff, senior management or solicitors for Landlord Advice UK whether they are employed by Landlord Advice UK or instructed by them to act as agents directly, indirectly in part or thereof for you. For avoidance of doubt, you agree you can only bring a complaint or a claim against Landlord Advice UK. Your continuing instructions will amount to your acceptance of these terms & conditions.

Terms and conditions - You accept and agree without reservation anything said orally or in an E-mail by Landlord Advice UK which directly contradicts these terms and conditions that these terms and condition shall apply alone. Payment by you for any of the services offered by Landlord Advice UK is deemed acceptance by you that you have read and understood our terms and conditions and that you fully understand and accept them. Alternatively where you instruct Landlord Advice UK prior to payment, receipt of your instruction is deemed acceptance by you that you have read and understood our terms and conditions and that you fully understand and accept them. Your continuing instructions will amount to your continued acceptance of our terms and conditions.                    <Click Here to go back to Home page>