Your right to independent legal advice

Your Right to Independent Legal Advice

Every tenant in England has the right to seek independent legal advice. This right is fundamental to access to justice and cannot be removed by your tenancy agreement, your landlord's preferences, or any correspondence you receive.

In housing disrepair cases, this means you are free to:

• Contact a solicitor directly about your situation
• Use a claims management company to assess your case and refer you to a regulated solicitor
• Proceed with a no-win, no-fee arrangement without requiring your landlord's agreement
• Seek advice from Citizens Advice, Shelter, a Law Centre, or any other advisory organisation

No one - including your landlord, your housing officer, or your landlord's solicitors - has the right to discourage you from seeking independent advice or to suggest that doing so is improper.

Are These Services Regulated?

Yes. This is an area of genuine public confusion that is sometimes exploited.

Claims management companies operating in the housing disrepair sector are required to be authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA sets standards for how claims management companies handle clients, provide information about fees, and manage referrals to solicitors. Council Repair Claims is authorised and regulated by the FCA under Firm Reference Number 1042169.

Solicitors handling housing disrepair cases are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), which sets standards for client care, professional conduct, funding explanations, and complaints handling.

If you or anyone else has a genuine concern about the conduct of a claims management company, the appropriate route is a complaint to the FCA. If the concern is about a solicitor, the appropriate route is a complaint to the SRA. These regulatory routes exist specifically for this purpose.

The existence of regulation in this sector is relevant because it is sometimes suggested - in correspondence or questionnaires - that tenants should think twice about using claims management companies or no-win-no-fee solicitors. That suggestion misrepresents the regulatory position. Using a regulated service to pursue a legitimate legal right is not something tenants should be made to feel uncomfortable about.

What to Do If Your Landlord Contacts You Directly

Once you are legally represented - whether by a solicitor directly or through a claims management company that has referred your case to a solicitor - your landlord and their legal team are expected to direct all communication about your claim to your legal representative, not to you.

Direct contact with a represented person on matters relating to their legal claim raises serious concerns under the SRA's standards for professional conduct. If you receive any of the following while your claim is in progress, share it with your solicitor immediately and do not respond yourself:

• A letter or call from your landlord's solicitors attempting to discuss the claim or propose a settlement
• A call or visit from a housing officer asking about your claim, your solicitor, or your funding arrangement
• Any offer of repairs or settlement made directly to you, outside your solicitor's involvement
• Any suggestion that you should withdraw from the claim or use a different route

Your solicitor needs to know about any direct contact promptly. It will be for them to decide how to respond. Do not agree to anything, sign anything, or provide information about your legal arrangements without your solicitor's knowledge.

What to Do If You Feel Pressured to Settle Without Your Solicitor

Occasionally, tenants report feeling pressure to accept a repair offer or a settlement directly from their landlord - sometimes alongside suggestions that the legal route will take longer, cost more, or produce a worse outcome than settling directly.

This pressure can come in several forms: a housing officer calling to discuss the claim, a letter offering repairs on the condition the legal case is dropped, or a suggestion that the tenant's solicitor is making the situation more difficult.

If any of this happens to you, the response is straightforward: tell the person you are represented by a solicitor and that all communication should be directed to them, then inform your solicitor of the approach immediately.

Whether to accept any offer, at any stage, is a decision you make with your solicitor's advice - not one you should feel pressured into outside that process.

The Right Question to Ask

In any housing disrepair case, the central question should be straightforward: was the home safe, and was it repaired properly and within a reasonable time?

If a tenant needed to seek independent legal advice to get their home fixed, that is not a reflection on the tenant or their adviser. It is a reflection on what happened in the property - and what did not happen, despite being required by law.

A landlord's interest in how a tenant found their solicitor, or what fees are involved in the legal arrangement, does not change what the evidence shows about the condition of the property. It does not repair damp, restore a broken boiler, or undo the months or years a tenant spent living in conditions their landlord was legally required to fix.

Further Reading