Becoming involved in any dispute can be unpleasant and time-consuming. Our team of specialists has extensive experience of resolving a wide variety of disputes and claims, negotiating settlements and, where necessary, handling court proceedings.
We provide practical, focused and expert legal advice to meet your needs and objectives, and do all we can to resolve your dispute swiftly and cost-effectively.
Disputes can arise if, for example, your builder’s work is not up to standard or if you have been charged more than you were expecting.
As a builder, your customer may not have paid you for work that you have done or may have decided to sack you and appoint a new builder.
Our team has a wealth of experience in advising in building dispute claims. We advise both builders and customers, and we are often approached when a relationship between the two has completely broken down. We are happy to help if you find yourself in this position or would like advice to try and help prevent this from happening.
Seeking legal advice early
These types of claim are rarely easy or quick to resolve, as by nature, people are very protective of property that they believe they own. We recommend that you seek legal advice at the earliest opportunity to try to settle matters before neighbourly relations are permanently damaged.
If you decide to start proceedings, we have the experience and expertise to act for you, whether through the courts or before the adjudicator to HM Land Registry.
Contract law is seldom black and white, even when a written and signed contract is in place. Contract terms are often open to interpretation, and depending on the circumstances, a term may not be enforceable.
We have considerable experience of cases involving contractual disputes. As every case is different we always give advice that is very specific to you. We will explain your options and suggest ways of resolving matters, with our focus on the terms that have been breached in the context of the contract as a whole.
We act for landlords or tenants in disputes. We can also advise if you are a landlord and have queries about your obligations, or if you are a tenant and want to know what your rights are.
It is more important than ever that landlord’s deal with tenancy deposits properly. Failure to do so could hamper a landlord recovering possession of their property when the tenancy term expires. In addition, a landlord may have to pay a penalty to the tenant.
Many of these disputes involve unmarried couples: first time buyers find it increasingly difficult to get on the housing ladder. It is now more common for friends to purchase property together or for family members to help with the deposit and mortgage payments.
Our team of experts will advise and help you to resolve disputes that may arise between co-owners of a property.
We appreciate that making a claim can be daunting, and we will do all we can to make the process as smooth and stress-free as possible.
Our experienced Professional Negligence team acts for claimants in a wide variety of disputes against:
We understand that Professional Negligence claims happen in many circumstances and provide specialist advice that you need in order to decide:
You can rely on our advice being practical and straightforward. You get a range of options, including how best to fund your claim.
Forrester Sylvester Mackett can offer you proven expertise in dealing with:
In an ideal world everyone would have a Will so that last wishes are clearly set out. If a person dies without having a valid Will, their estate passes under the intestacy rules, which means that people who might reasonably have expected to benefit might not in fact do so. Therefore, we strongly recommend getting expert advice as soon as possible so that matters can be resolved quickly and to prevent claims becoming acrimonious and drawn out.
In some cases, inheritance claims can be made even when a valid Will has been made.
You may have grounds for challenging the validity of a will if, for example, you believe there is a later will, that the person who has died did not have the capacity to make it, or was influenced or pressurised by others when they did.
Private Payment
This is the traditional funding method, with fees calculated on the basis of time spent.
Conditional Fee Agreements
These are commonly known as “No Win No Fee” agreements and are often misunderstood.
Fees are calculated on the same basis as private payment subject to the following:
1) If you do not win your claim, you do not have to pay our fees. However you are responsible for paying any disbursements (payments made to third parties).
2) If you do win your case, you are responsible for paying our fees plus a percentage increase on top of our normal fees – sometimes known as a success fee. The percentage is fixed at the time of entering into the conditional fee agreement and is never more than 100%.
Currently, if you win your claim you will usually be entitled to claim some of our fees (but not all) from your unsuccessful opponent. After April 2013, new legislation will limit the amount of fees that can be recovered from an unsuccessful opponent.
We are pleased to consider offering conditional fee agreements for most personal injury claims and clinical negligence claims that we take on.
Legal Expenses Insurance
It is becoming increasingly common for people to have legal expenses insurance as part of their household insurance cover, car insurance cover, as a benefit given with their bank account or as a standalone insurance policy.
The small print of these policies needs to be carefully considered but we are generally happy to accept instructions under a legal expenses insurance policy if it is appropriate.
Damages-Based Agreements
These are agreements that the Government intends to introduce in April 2013. Under such agreements, we may be prepared to enter into an arrangement with you whereby our fees are only payable if you win your claim and are fixed as a percentage of the damages you recover.
Note: In April 2013, this will need to be amended accordingly.
Negotiation
We always recommend negotiation, where possible, for resolving claims and disputes, as this is the most cost efficient way of dealing with matters. Negotiation can happen at any time throughout the life of the claim or dispute, and in conjunction with any other method of resolving matters.
Legal proceedings
Initiating court proceedings is the traditional method of resolving claims or disputes that cannot be resolved by negotiation.
Even after court proceedings are underway, matters are often settled by agreement, with comparatively few cases actually reaching trial.
Mediation
Mediation is commonly referred to as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). It can take place at any time – before court action commences and whilst it is underway – both parties must be willing to explore the possibility of settling their claim or dispute this way.
Arbitration
Arbitration involves an independent third party – the arbitrator. Similar to a judge in court, the arbitrator’s role is to assess the facts and make a decision about the claim or dispute. The parties involved agree to be legally bound by the arbitrator’s decision.
Keeping debtor levels to a minimum and taking action to recover bad debt before you lose out – perhaps to another creditor – is more important than ever.
We are very experienced in recovering monies for clients. We will talk to you about the different types of enforcement action that you can take in your particular circumstances and advise you on when it is appropriate – and when it is not – to serve a statutory demand prior to bankruptcy or winding up proceedings.
We can also help if you are served with a statutory demand by someone you owe money to and will advise you on what options you have.
