Restricted
Terms of business
Key Facts:
Landlord Action offer a fixed fee service for standard end of tenancy cases, including those based on a Section 21 notice, a Section 8 notice, or a common law Notice to Quit.
Your case will be assigned to a member of our Legal Team, which includes solicitors and caseworkers.
Communication will primarily be via email. This is the quickest and most efficient way for us to provide your review or updates on your case.
Upon receiving the required instruction form, paperwork, and payment for our Step 1 service, we will aim to conduct the review within the following timeframes:
Section 21 cases: 5 working days
Section 8 (rent arrears grounds) cases: 2 working days
Section 8 (other grounds) cases: 5 working days
Notice to quit cases: 5 working days
Upon receiving the required instruction form, paperwork, and payment for our Step 2 service, we will aim to conduct the review within 10 working days and then issue the claim.
If your matter becomes complex or defended then it will fall outside of our standard fixed fees and we will attempt to provide you with a new fixed fee to progress your matter or we will revert to an hourly rate as set out below.
If the matter is more complex to begin with then we will undertake our solicitor check and review service, then outline your options and how we can assist you.
General
(a)
You are instructing ‘Landlord Action’ which is a trading name of
‘Landlord Action Ltd’.
(b) We are authorised and regulated
by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) with SRA Number
605660.
(c) Landlord Action is a fully owned subsidiary of HFIS
Plc (t/a Hamilton Fraser). Hamilton Fraser is not authorised by the
SRA but is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct
Authority (FCA).
(d) Cases are handled by the Legal Team at the
Landlord Action office. Different aspects of your case may be dealt
with by different people in the Legal Team. The Legal Team is
supervised by our Compliance Officer for Legal Practice, Paul
Sowerbutts. If the supervisor changes, we will inform you
immediately.
(e) We always try to offer fixed fees for the
services we provide but if the matter is not straight forward or
becomes defended then we will advise you and provide our hourly
rates and give costs estimates for each step. We will require you to
confirm that you agree to continue instructing us on that basis.
(f)
Please note that we cannot be held responsible for any delay in your
issuing instructions and the impact such delay might have on the
conduct of your case.
(g) Upon instruction we are required to
undertake anti-money laundering and conflict checks on you. We will
set you and your matter up on our case management software and the
matter will be assigned to a member of our Legal Team.
2.
Client Care
(a) We require all members of our team to meet
certain standards. We expect our clients to receive copies of all
substantive correspondence.
(b) While it may
take us 2-10 working days to complete a review for either Step 1 or
Step 2, we'll always aim to respond to your emails within 48 working
hours.
(c) If you feel
we are not providing you with the level of service you expect then
please refer to clause 15 regarding dissatisfaction.
3.
Progressing Your Matter
(a) Landlord Action’s standard
eviction service operates on a fixed fee three step process:
Step
1 – case review and notice drafting (Section 8, Section 21 or
Notice to Quit)
Step 2 – drafting and issue claim through to
obtaining possession order
Step 3 – regain possession using
bailiff or high court enforcement officer
(b) If you instruct
Landlord Action at Step 1 we require an advance payment of our
advertised fee, along with your instruction form and all initial
paperwork. Upon receipt, we'll review your case and provide our
advice within the following timeframes:
Section 21 cases: 5 working days - Section 8 (rent arrears grounds) cases: 2 working days - Section 8 (other grounds) cases: 5 working days - Notice to Quit cases: 5 working days
Our advice will
outline whether a notice can be drafted immediately or if further
action is required. If a notice can be served based on the
information you've provided, we'll proceed with serving it as part of
the Step 1 fee. If additional information or action is needed, you'll
be required to instruct us accordingly and, if necessary, pay any
further fees before we can serve the notice. If following the review
and advice we cannot serve a notice, our fee is non-refundable.
(c)
If you instruct us at Step 2 then the position depends on whether we
undertook Step 1.
If we undertook Step 1 then you are required to confirm that you agree to us drafting your claim and provide us with any further information we require to be able to do so.
If you did not instruct us for Step 1 then we will be required to review your notice and all related paperwork to confirm that the claim can be drafted. We require the full fee in advance which includes a sum as advertised to undertake a review.
If the notice and paperwork is in order we will proceed with drafting and issuing the claim.
If there are issues with the notice or paperwork we will explain what needs to be corrected. At that point, you can instruct us to rectify the issues, and the process will revert to Step 1. The extra funds you paid will cover the Step 1 fees, and we will request any remaining balance due if you choose to proceed to Step 2 again.
If we cannot
rectify the situation or you choose not to proceed we will retain the
review fee and refund the rest of the Step 2 payment you made.
(d)
If you instruct us at Step 3 we can apply for either a county court
bailiff or instruct a high court enforcement officer to undertake the
eviction if the Possession Order so allows.
Initially, we
will need to review the Possession Order, review the Pleadings and
Evidence and then go on the Court record to show that we are now
acting for you. The fees for these services are as
advertised.
(e) If you instruct us for a Solicitor Check and
Review service then we must receive an instruction form, paperwork
and payment ahead of the matter being assigned to a solicitor to
review the papers and provide you with advice on the position. Our
Check and Review process does not
guarantee that we will be able to take over your case, however we
will be able to offer more specific guidance and will advise on the
best course of action and your options going forward.
If the matter can proceed under our three step process, then
we will let you know. If the matter is more complicated, then we will
advise of your options and if you require further advice after the
initial review then we can continue to assist but will proceed under
our hourly rates as advised.
4.
Instructions
(a) We will advise you of timings and key
events by email.
(b) If we find any information which may affect
your case, we will let you know and explain its effect. Generally, we
do not accept incoming calls as this distracts the Legal Team who are
dealing with cases. Communication should be by email and we will
always try to respond within 48 working hours. We may however need to
call you. If you cannot take the call we will email you to ask for a
time when we can call again.
(c) In order to provide a fixed fee
service, we ask that all emails to us are kept to a reasonable level.
We will monitor emails and calls to us and if necessary we may be
required to charge additional fees on a time basis for excessive
contact by clients. You will be put on notice should this arise. The
hourly rates are set out below.
(d) We use the information you
provide on the Instruction Form and your supporting documents to be
able to draft the notice or claim. If you provide us with inaccurate
information, we are not responsible should the claim fail because of
this. It is imperative you complete the Instruction Form accurately.
If the named landlord on the tenancy agreement is not the owner of
the property, you must tell us the name of the owner(s) immediately.
Failure to do so may result in a costs order against you and the
claim being struck out by the court for which we cannot be held
liable.
If we believe the documentation submitted to be reviewed
in support of your instruction, exceeds a fair and reasonable volume,
we reserve the right to charge an additional fee on top of our fixed
fee agreement, to account for the extra time spent to review. Should
this be the case, you will be advised of the additional costs prior
to proceeding with your case.
(e) Deposit legislation is complex
and easy to get wrong. If you have not followed the deposit
legislation correctly or provided us with incorrect information about
your deposit which is discovered after proceedings are issued then
your case may have to be abandoned and restarted once any issues with
the deposit have been resolved. You will be required to pay
additional fees to start a new case in such circumstances. If you are
unsure about the situation with regards to your deposit we can check
this for you for an additional fee.
(f) The Deregulation Act has
introduced a number of requirements on landlords in terms of the
documentation that needs to be provided to a tenant before a Section
21 notice can be served. A checklist is available with the
instruction form. For us to be able to serve a Section 21 notice on
your behalf we will need copies of all the documents and information
about when and how they were served.
(g) Under a Section 8
claim, if a tenant has a disrepair issue, the court may adjourn and
you will lose time and incur more costs, so before proceedings are
issued you must tell us about any disrepair issues the tenant has
raised and we can look at possible solutions.
(h) In all
possession proceedings, the way the notice has been drafted and
served is critical to the claim. If the notice is wrong, the claim is
likely to fail. The arrears schedule within the Section 8 notice is
fundamental. If it is not in the required format, we will recommend
that you amend it or we can do it for you for an additional fee.
5.
At Court
(a) If a court hearing is required at any stage of
your matter we generally use an advocacy firm called Ashley Taylors
Legal Ltd for representation at court hearings. We find this is the
most cost effective way to provide you with representation at court.
By instructing us on your matter you agree that we will pass on
relevant information about your case to Ashley Taylor Legal Ltd so
the advocate is fully prepared for the court hearing. The Court sets
a fixed time for the hearing and Ashley Taylors will be booked to
cover this time slot. However, on occasion, the Judge, rather than
adjourning the hearing, may extend the allocated time, in order to
reach a decision. Should this happen there will be an additional fee
for the Advocate to continue acting on your behalf, which will be
chargeable to you. If we are required to use another advocacy firm or
barrister for your case then we will let you know.
(b) When a
Court hearing is required either the landlord or an agent who was
managing the property and collecting the rent must attend. If neither
you nor an agent can attend then you must inform us as we will be
required to draft a witness statement and serve it on both the court
and defendant(s) to set out your position. The cost of this service
is set in our list of fixed fees. The person attending must have full
knowledge of the tenancy and have all relevant paperwork (such as
tenancy agreement and up to date arrears schedule) available at the
hearing. We will email you the date, time and location of the
hearing. You must ensure you have all relevant paperwork. You or your
agent will meet an Advocate at Court who will present your case to
the Judge. You will not be able to call the Advocate – they will
call you, usually the day before the hearing.
(c) If you are
seeking possession due to rent arrears and the tenant clears the
arrears before the hearing, then it is unlikely that you will be
granted a possession order. If the tenant reduces the arrears to
below 2 months’ worth of arrears if rent is paid monthly or 3
months’ worth of arrears if the rent is paid quarterly or annually,
then the Judge may order a postponed possession order (provided
grounds 10 & 11 have been included in the Section 8 notice) which
means you get a possession order but the tenant is permitted to stay
provided they pay the rent on time and clear the arrears by an agreed
date. Failure to adhere to the order would mean you can apply for a
bailiff to execute the warrant of possession (evict the tenant(s)).
Ultimately, we will always seek to gain an outright order for
possession, but when Judges are able to use their discretion, it is
normally exercised in the tenant’s favour. (d) When a Section 8
claim is successful, the Judge usually grants a 14 day possession
order (within 14 days from the date of the hearing the tenant must
vacate). At the hearing, if the tenant pleads exceptional hardship,
the Judge might grant a longer period. We would oppose that on the
grounds of the landlord’s hardship. The longest period a Judge is
allowed to give is 42 days.
(e) Upon a successful Section 8
court hearing, a Possession Order will be granted together with a
Judgment for the arrears of rent if applicable. (We also make a claim
for interest and costs). This is an Order placed on the court file
which allows you to enforce it in a number of ways. This Judgment is
not a registered County Court Judgment. If you want the Judgment to
become a registered CCJ, we can apply for that for an additional fee.
How we act will depend on the tenant’s circumstance and we will
discuss options and costs with you.
(f) Where your claim is for
possession only (Section 21) we normally use the Courts’
accelerated procedure. If you also want to claim for rent arrears we
will need to use the Court’s standard procedure (non-accelerated)
or a separate small claim can be issued. Additional fees will apply.
If you want to use Section 21 and include arrears, you must inform us
before your claim is issued.
6. Eviction
(a)
If the tenant fails to vacate by the expiry of the possession order,
a bailiff or high court enforcement officer (HCEO) can be appointed
to carry out the eviction. A HCEO can only be used if the possession
order grants permission to transfer the matter up to the High Court
for enforcement purposes. We will always attempt this but Judges need
to be persuaded of the merits and do not generally agree.
(b) In
most cases a Court’s Risk Assessment Form is sent to the landlord.
It must be completed accurately by the landlord for us to send on to
the bailiff. Failure to complete the form could result in the bailiff
cancelling the eviction appointment.(c) The landlord or agent must
wait for the bailiff outside the property, on the street. The bailiff
will only approach the property if they can see somebody outside.
(d)
On rare occasions a bailiff can be late. They usually notify us and
we will contact you immediately. We cannot be held responsible for
the bailiff’s failure to attend, or attend on time.
(e) On
very rare occasions, tenants refuse to vacate when a bailiff attends.
We cannot be held responsible. If at the time of eviction you feel
there is a breach of peace, you should ask the police for help.
(f)
If you have opted to instruct a HCEO to carry out the eviction we
will charge you an initial fee set out in our List of Fixed Fees.
This will pay for all the costs involved in transferring the case up
to the High Court, for the HCEO to send out a warning letter to the
Tenant and then attend for an hour. If it is necessary for the HCEO
to attend for more than an hour you will be charged an hourly rate.
We ask that you agree this with the HCEO and inform us on the day.
The HCEO will then provide us with an invoice after the eviction and
we will require you to pay the balance of this invoice.
7.
Fees: Step1 and Step2
(a) Our fees are fixed and
all-inclusive for straightforward, undefended cases.
(b) Our
List of Fixed Fees (which forms part of these terms) takes into
account the most common requirements and is laid out plainly so that
you are not surprised by events.
(c) Not all events can be
accounted for by fixed fees and whenever they are not applicable we
will discuss costs and options with you.
(d) At Step 1, if the
tenant replies to the notice, we will tell you our fee to respond in
that situation.
(e) At Step 2, if the tenant files a defence
then much of the work that follows falls outside the fixed fees. We
will advise you of our hourly rate (or fixed fee if applicable) and
our estimated fee for pursuing the claim to a final hearing. If you
want us to continue to act for you, you will need to provide money on
account immediately so that we can proceed.
(f) After a
solicitor check and review if further communication or correspondence
is required then we reserve the right to charge for our time at our
solicitor or senior solicitor hourly rate.
(g) Our hourly rates
are £130 plus vat for a case worker, £175 plus vat for a solicitor
and £275 plus vat for a senior solicitor. We will decide who
undertakes the work based on the complexity of the matter- most if
not all cases will need to be undertaken by a senior solicitor.
8.
Payment
All payments should be made to Landlord Action Ltd
by bank transfer or over the telephone. We do not accept cash. If you
deposit cash directly with our bank, we may charge you for checks we
make to prove the source of the funds. Where we have to pay money to
you, it will be paid by cheque or bank transfer. It will not be paid
in cash or to a third party.
9. Limit of Liability
The
work we carry out is based on the instructions and information you
give us. If any information you provide is incorrect or incomplete,
we cannot be held liable for delays or costs that arise. Under the
Professional Indemnity Rules firms are required to take out and
maintain qualifying insurance. Our insurance details can be seen at
our office or you can contact us for the details. This firm’s
liability to clients is limited to £3 million for each and every
claim. Nothing in this agreement shall benefit any third party and
the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 shall not
apply.
10. Confidentiality
Clients’ affairs
are kept confidential. We only have conversations and correspondence
with landlords and agents named on the case and solicitors and
advocates acting on their behalf unless we suspect money laundering
in which we may be required to disclose it to the National Crime
Agency.
11. Identification Requirement
It is a
legal requirement for solicitors to obtain evidence of their clients’
identity and sometimes people related to the client or case. To meet
the Money Laundering Regulations we use an electronic client
onboarding solution provided by Infotrack Limited. For
your identity to be verified electronically we need you to provide
photo and address identification for yourself at your current
address, dated within the last 3 months. By instructing us you
agree to this information being provided to Infotrack to produce an
appropriate anti-fraud check. If we use a different credit reference
agency we will let you know.
12. Data Protection and
GDPR
(a) The Data Protection Act requires us to tell you
that your details are held on our database. We may use these details
to send you information that might interest you.
(b) Landlord
Action is a fully owned subsidiary of HFIS Plc which acts as a Data
Controller for Landlord Action. You can contact us at: 1st Floor,
Premiere House, Elstree Way, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire WD6 1JH,
Telephone: 0333 321 9418, Email: updates@landlordaction.co.uk.
(c)
We process the Personal Data supplied by you in order to provide the
legal services in which you instruct us. In order to do this we will
pass this information to any relevant supplier such as our anti money
laundering search provider, the courts and also high court
enforcement office.
(d) Personal data will be stored for a
period as required by current legislation. We would draw your
attention to your right to request from us access to your personal
data as well as your rights to have such data corrected or deleted
once it is no longer necessary for the fulfilment of our retainer to
provide legal services to you.
(e) We would also draw your
attention to your right to lodge a complaint with the Information
Commissioner’s Office if you feel that we have not carried out our
obligations under the relevant Data Protection legislation.
(f)
We use a cloud based case management system for all our matters and
by instructing us you agree that all matters about your case will be
stored in this way.
(g) From time to time we may contact you
about other relevant products offered by the Hamilton Fraser Group.
You may opt out of these communications at any time. We will request
your consent prior to being contacted directly by any associated
product.
13. Storage
After completing a case,
we are required to retain files for six years. Files will be safely
destroyed after seven years. To retrieve your file from storage or to
produce a file from our electronic records, the fee is £100.
14.
Termination or Variation of Services
(a) You may end your
instructions to us in writing at any time if you wish to end the
action, the tenant vacates the property or you wish to act for
yourself or use another legal representative. We may keep all your
documents while fees are owed. We will move your case, at no fee, to
a solicitor you choose once all monies owed to us have been paid.
(b)
In the event that you wish to dis-instruct us and you wish to act for
yourself (in a personal capacity) then you agree to sign a notice
pursuant to Part 42.2 CPR notifying the court of your intention. This
will not be required if you decide to instruct another solicitor who
will undertake to file and serve on the other side a notice of change
of solicitor.
(c) If you decide to terminate an action before we
start working on your matter you will receive a full refund subject to a £30 plus VAT administration fee if we have set you and your matter up on
our case management software.
(d) If you decide to terminate any
instruction after we have conducted work on your matter, either in
terms of contacting you to request further information or
documentation, providing a review or drafting either notices or a
claim form then no refund other than fees we have received to pay for
disbursements which we have not yet been required to pay for will be
refunded.
(e) If, after you send us a step 1 or 2 instruction
form, you do not supply paperwork and information as requested within
30 days, the file will be closed unless you have made special
arrangements with us to put the file on hold.
(f) If you decide
to terminate a trace after we have sent out the trace request, you
will receive no refund.
(g) If you decide to terminate a bailiff
request or a Step 3 instruction after we have applied to court (even
if we have not yet received a date back from the Court) you will
receive no refund.
(h) If you decide to do something yourself at
court without us, or move an existing case to another solicitor, or
apply for a bailiff without us, you must take us off the record using
form N434. If you do not take us off the record we will charge you
£600 to cover continued communication, admin, our application to
come off record and the court fees.
(i) Corrections you wish to
make to information you have previously supplied must be made in
writing. If we have already used the previously supplied information
you may need to start the entire, or part of the process again and so
forfeit any fees already paid.
(j) Any refunds may take up to 28
days to process.
(k) We may decide to stop acting for you, only
with good reason (e.g. if you do not pay a bill, we are unable to
obtain instructions from you, or there’s a conflict of interest).
We will give you reasonable notice that we will cease acting for you.
(l) If we organise a locksmith for you that you later cancel, we will
refund the fee less an administration fee of £60. If you cancel on
the date of the appointment, you will not receive any refund.
15.
Dissatisfaction
Landlord Action
Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation
Authority Registration Number 605660.
We want to give
you our best attention at all times, however if you have a complaint
about our service or a bill then we have a complaints handling
procedure policy which is available on our website or we will send
you a copy if you ask for it. If you are not satisfied with our
handling of your complaint, you can then ask the Legal Ombudsman at
PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ, Tel: 0300 555 0333 or you can
email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk to
consider the complaint. Normally you need to bring a complaint to the
Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written
response from us about your complaint.
16. Referrals
If
you have been referred to Landlord Action by a letting agent or other
third party then we may have paid that letting agent or third party a
nominal referral fee. Please ask us if you would like to know whether
we have paid a referral fee for your matter.
17. Other
Matters
(a) If you need clarification on any of these terms
of business please email info@landlordaction.co.uk
(b) The law governing any dispute arising from these terms of
business shall be the laws of England.
18. Our
Details
Landlord action
Limelight,
1st Floor Studio 3
Elstree Way, Borehamwood
Hertfordshire
WD6
1JH
info@landlordaction.co.uk
0333
321 9415
Registered in England 08067511
SRA Number 605660
Fixed Fees
Step 1
Our costs to review your documentation, advise then draft and serve the first notice (if possible);
Section 21 £345.60
Section 8 (rent arrears only) £345.60
Section 21 & Section 8 (rent arrears only) £424.80
Section 8 (non-rent arrears ground) £424.80
Notice To Quit £432.00
Step 2
Our costs to review your documentation, advise then submit paperwork to court (if possible) are as follows;
|
If LA served the original notice |
If original notice was not served by LA |
Section 21 |
£1136.00 |
£1344.00 |
Section 8 (rent arrears) |
£1290.00 |
£1498.00 |
Section 21 and Section 8 (rent arrears) |
£1676.00 |
£1906.00 |
Section 8 (non-rent arrears) |
£1676.00 |
£1906.00 |
Notice to Quit |
£1676.00 |
£1906.00 |
Step 3
County Court Bailiff £372.00
High Court Enforcement Officer £1381
Debt Recovery
Address Trace £109
Employment Trace £109
Address and Employment Trace £168.60
Pre-Action Letter to Tenant £240 OR £360 if landlord is a company
Issue a Money Claim Online (MCOL) £360 plus court fee
High Court Writ of Control (Bailiff) £652.90
Other
Witness statement £350.00
Solicitor check and review £1200.00
Deposit check and fix £200.00
30 minutes telephone consultation £180.00
S48 landlord address change £90.00
S3 Landlord change £90.00
S48 landlord address change and S3 Landlord change £150.00
Section 13 notice: £150.00
* Prices correct as of August 2025 but may be subject to change
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