If  you want to instruct us to act for you in evicton work, these are our standard terms and conditions. 

Note that none of the matters set on this page will affect your statutory rights.

The person doing the work

1. Your eviction orother work will normally be done by Tessa Shepperson of Landlord Law / TJ Shepperson solicitors.  However, if Tessa is for any reason unable to do the work, it will be passed on to a solicitor on our specialist panel of property solicitors.

2. If your work is done by a solicitor other than Tessa Shepperson, then :

2.1 It will be subject to the terms and conditions of the solicitor concerned's firm, and they will provide you with information about this.

2.2. Your contract for work and services will be with that firm and not with Landlord Law / TJ Shepperson 

2.3 Any complaint you may have about that firm or their work should be made to them direct and Landlord Law / TJ Shepperson will not be liable in respect of their work.  However we would appreciate it if you kept us informed.  

2.4.  You agree to information about your case being passed by that firm to Tessa Shepperson.

The rest of the information on  this page will only apply if your work is being done by Landlord Law / TJ Shepperson.

Complaints

3. If you are ever unhappy about any aspect of our service, please let us know. We have a complaints procedure page here where our complaints procedure is explained.  You can also find it linked from the main Legal Services page.

Fixed fee work and costs

4. Where we have agreed to work on a fixed fee basis, this is on the understanding that::

4.1. You have checked that the type of procedure you are asking us to use is appropriate for the circumstances of your case.  (Landlord Law members can check this via our Which Possession Proceedings trail)
4.2. You will provide any information requested by us promptly, and all information provided by you will be correct and complete
4.3. No work will be done until the fixed fee has been paid
4.4. You will keep us informed of any developments which affect the work we are doing

And with regard to the specific eviction work to be done, you confirm that:

4.5. The tenancy started after 15th January 1989
4.6.  It can be proved that all relevant notices have been properly served in the correct form
4.7. There is a mandatory ground for possession
4.8. There is no valid defence to the claim (other than payment of the rent due in the case of a rent arrears claim)
4.9. That the landlord (or one of them if there are more than one) will sign the court paperwork
4.10.  That if there is a court hearing, either the landlord or his managing agent will attend this (we will normally arrange for you to be represented by an advocate, depending on the type of work  you have instructed us to do)
4.11.  For rent arrears cases, you agree that interest will not be claimed (as working out the interest due can become time consuming). In our experience, the interest that can claimed is not worth the time spent in calculating, it particuarly as in many cases the rent arrears are never paid by the tenant.

If on receiving the papers we find that there are problems with your case, and we are not able to take the matter any further, the fee paid will be refunded less an administration fee of £95 (inclusive of VAT). 

So far as costs are concerned.

5. The amount of the Landlord Law fixed fee may change from time to time, but this will only affect clients who instruct us after the information on the Landlord Law web-site has been changed to show the new fee.

6. In the vast majoirty of cases, our work is carried out for the agreed fixed fee, and no further payments are needed.  However, if the claim we are bringing becomes defended (in the case of litigation) and/or becomes unusually time consuming or protracted, then we may need to make additional charges.  You confirm that you understand this, and agree that  if this happens, we can charge you for all future work on a 'time costing' basis, after having first given you notice of this. 

7. Tessa's hourly rate is £250 per hour plus VAT at the rate applicable at the time of invoice.  If it becomes necessary to charge you on a time costing basis, further information will be provided to you at that time.

Legal aid and legal expenses insurance

8. In some cases people are entitled to legal aid, or to have legal work done for free under the provisions of their insurance.  If so, note that TJ Shepperson is not part of the Community Legal Service and is therefore unable to do legal aid work. If you have legal  expenses insurance you should speak to your insurers first, as they may want you to use one of their panel solicitors firms rather than us. 

Defended cases

9. In the vast majority of eviction cases the order for possession will be made at the first (and in most cases only) hearing or in the case of claims brought using the accelerated procedure, without any hearing.  However if the case is defended and the Judge orders that it should be set down for a full trial, note that we will then pass the case on to another firm of solicitors to deal with from then on.  We can only deal with standard cases here and are not set up to handle defended claims. This situation is very rare however.  

Money judgements and costs orders

9. You understand that the amount of costs in litigation which you will have to pay to us is likely to be greater than the amount, if any, you can recover from the other party to the case.

11. Note that our service does not include the enforcement of any county court money judgement or costs order you may receive as well as the order for possession.  However you can use the service of Shergroup which Landlord Law members can read about here for this work. 

Cancellation

12. You can ask us to stop working for you at any time in writing.  However in most cases where we have started work,  you will not be entitled to any refund of fees, other than for expenses which have not been incurred due to the cancellation. Even if minimal work has been done, we will make an administration charge of £95.00 (inclusive of VAT). 

13. If we have already started court proceedings at the time you ask us to cancel, you will have to pay for the cost of cancelling those proceedings.  Note that we cannot be held responsible for any costs orders which may be made against you by the court as a result of the early ending of the case.

14. We reserve the right to stop acting for you in certain circumstances such as where you cannot give proper instructions; or where you fail to provide us with information or anything else we may need to do our work for you properly; or where you lose confidence in us; or when you do not pay an interim bill or request for money on account of costs. 

Paperwork

15. After we have finished our work for you, and/or after our instructions have been ended, we are entitled to keep all papers and documents belonging to you until any money owed to us is paid (this will not normally apply as our fees are payable in advance).

16. Unless it is returned to you or sent to someone else at your request, we will normally retain all paperwork for a period of six years, after which it will be destroyed. 

Other matters

17. As a solicitors firm in England and Wales, we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and bound by the solicitors code of conduct. If you wish to view these they are online on the Solicitors Regulation Authority web-site.  The firms SRA number is 78852, and we are registered VAT No. GB 640 4691 45. The firm has professional indemnity insurance as required by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

18. Any liability we may have (whether to you or anyone else, and however it arises), shall exclude, any indirect or consequential economic loss or damage (including loss of profits) suffered by you or any third party arising from, or in connection with, the work done for you, however the indirect or consequential economic loss or damage is caused, including our negligence but not our wilful default.

19. Nothing in this section of these terms shall impose on us any liability of any kind or for any amount which we would not have but for this section. Nothing in this section  shall have the effect of restricting our liability in respect of any kind of loss, damage or liability which cannot or must not be excluded or limited under English law.

20. Nothing in this agreement shall benefit any third party and the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 shall not apply.

21. Under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 we may be obliged, without teling you first, to make a disclosure to the National Criminal Intelligence Service (or equivalent organisation) unless it is information received so that advice may be given about it or unless it comprises the advice itself (privileged information). We therefore reserve the right to give such NCIS notices as we consider appropriate without notice to or discussion with you.

22. The agreement between us is subject to English law, and you agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts if there is any dispute between us which involves court proceedings.

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