cost of legal action

sam1970

In short, I contracted a building firm to do a house renovation and they made a complete mess with many problems. Iam looking to take them to court as they are not responding to my requests to sort out the problems. I have independent assessment reports confirming the issues with central heating, plumbing, electrics,,etc.
Iam looking for a solicitor and I could not find one who will quote a figure for legal fees. All the one I contacted want to charge per hour (between £250-£300). I dont like the uncertainty of the cost even though Iam confident of winning the case as I have all the necessary paperwork. Any advice please?

elsien

What sums are you talking about? Would it fit into the small claims process?

sam1970

Thanks for the reminder. I forgot to say that although I do not have exact figure yet but Iam looking at around 20K

davidmcn

If the action is defended then nobody can be certain about how much work will be involved. You might at least get a fixed fee quote if there's an assumption that it isn't defended. Obviously if you win you should get (some) of your costs awarded, though whether you actually get cash out of them is a different matter.

sam1970

Iam hoping to get my cash as they have public liability insurance

waamo

sam1970 wrote: »

Iam hoping to get my cash as they have public liability insurance

That won't usually cover shoddy workmanship.

sam1970

Oh dear..I did not know that

Undervalued

sam1970 wrote: »

Iam hoping to get my cash as they have public liability insurance

That won't cover it. They would need to have a more specific insurance (which they may well do) to cover claims against poor workmanship etc.

Do you have any legal expenses cover as part of your house insurance. It is a fairly inexpensive add on so it is not unknown for people to find they have such cover without realising.

sam1970

I have legal cover with my home insurance and they refused to take the case (Offered to take it privately at £300/hr). The legal cover with home insurance is a big con. I tried it also in 2010 when I got stuck in Paris due to volcanic ash and the airline refused to pay compensation. The home insurance refused to take the case under the legal cover (again were happy to do it at £300/hr) so I took it personally and chased the airlines for over a year through various routes (including French Aviation authority) and got all my money back + compensation. I will never pay for this crap legal cover again

Undervalued

sam1970 wrote: »

I have legal cover with my home insurance and they refused to take the case (Offered to take it privately at £300/hr). The legal cover with home insurance is a big con. I tried it also in 2010 when I got stuck in Paris due to volcanic ash and the airline refused to pay compensation. The home insurance refused to take the case under the legal cover (again were happy to do it at £300/hr) so I took it personally and chased the airlines for over a year through various routes (including French Aviation authority) and got all my money back + compensation. I will never pay for this crap legal cover again

Normally for them to take it on requires a legal opinion that there is a better than 50% chance of success. If you have evidence that is the case then lodge a formal complaint and if need be take it to the FOS. Otherwise it will cost you c £300 ph I'm afraid.

You may be "confident of winning" and you may be right. However, it seems the insurance company don't agree. Either you or they are right.