Fees
Every price we charge, on one page
There is no hourly rate here, no file opening charge, no correspondence fee and no percentage of anything you recover. The number you agree before work starts is the number on the invoice. If the matter turns out to be bigger than the scope note describes, we quote the extra separately and you decide whether to instruct it.
Document review before you commit
A contract, tenancy agreement, finance agreement or quotation read before you sign it, up to twenty pages. You get the clauses that matter marked up, in writing, with an explanation of what each one does to you if things go badly.
- Turnaround two to three working days
- One follow up call included to go through the note
- Longer documents quoted individually, usually £95 plus £40 per additional twenty pages
Letter before action, one recipient
The full pre-action stage. We read everything you send, put your position in writing first so you can decide whether to proceed, then draft, send and diarise the deadline.
- Written position note before anything goes out
- One round of amendments after you have read the draft
- Proof of posting or delivery kept on file
- The reply, or the silence, logged and assessed against the note
Two recipients, or an ombudsman submission
Where the claim properly lies against more than one party, most often a dealer and the finance company on a hire purchase agreement. Also covers a full written submission to an ombudsman scheme with the evidence bundle attached.
- Both letters drafted from one review, not billed twice
- Ombudsman route used first wherever the other side is a scheme member
- Financial Ombudsman Service, The Motor Ombudsman and the property redress schemes cost you nothing to use
Small claim prepared for filing
For claims up to £10,000, which is the normal small claims track limit. Particulars of claim, a schedule of loss that adds up, and numbered exhibits in the order a district judge will want to read them.
- Formatted for Money Claim Online with a sheet telling you which text goes in which box
- Filed by you, in your own name. We do not conduct litigation
- Court issue fee paid by you directly to HM Courts and Tribunals Service
- We do not attend the hearing, because we have no right of audience
How long things take
Our part of the calendar is the part we can promise. The rest belongs to the other side, to an ombudsman queue or to a court list, and anyone who tells you otherwise is guessing.
First call booked
Controlled byUs
Usual spanSame or next working day
Documents read, position note out
Controlled byUs
Usual spanTwo to three working days
Letter drafted and sent
Controlled byUs
Usual spanOne to two working days after you approve
Period allowed to respond
Controlled byPractice Direction
Usual span14 days on a simple money claim
Ombudsman decision
Controlled byThe scheme
Usual spanCommonly three to nine months
Small claim to hearing
Controlled byThe court
Usual spanFrequently six months or more
Payment, cancellation and the awkward questions
When you pay
After the scope note, before the work. Bank transfer or card. We do not hold client money, we do not take payment on account, and we do not have a client account, because handling client money is not something an unregulated provider should be doing.
Cancelling
You have fourteen days from agreeing the contract to cancel, under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. If you asked us to start inside that period we keep a proportionate amount for work already done. The refund policy sets out each scenario.
What is never in the fee
Court and tribunal fees, expert reports, vehicle inspections, search fees and anything payable to a third party. You pay those directly to whoever charges them, so nothing passes through us and nothing gets marked up.
No win no fee
We do not offer it and we would be wary of anyone unregulated who does. A conditional fee arrangement means the adviser takes a share of your money and carries the risk of your matter, and that is regulated territory for good reasons.
If we take a case we should have refused
If it turns out the matter is reserved work, or that we missed something that made the instruction pointless from the start, you get the whole fee back including the part already carried out. That has happened twice and we would rather it stayed rare.
If you cannot afford the court fee
Ask about Help with Fees, the remission scheme for people on a low income or certain benefits. It is applied for directly on gov.uk, it has nothing to do with us, and it is worth checking before you decide the claim is out of reach.
The quote comes before the work, in writing, every time
If we cannot put a fixed number on it, we say so and explain why rather than opening an hourly file.