Do students qualify for Legal Aid?

Tech_guy_4

Hi,

I have trouble with my neighbours who make a lot of noise and want to take them to court, but my only income is that i get from the SLC/busary and so am worried about the costs of taking them to court.

Has anyone here ever applied for legal aid as a student and if so what were your experiences? Did you qualify for it?

Hope someone can offer me some advice, as it's really getting me down and has been going on for a long time.

It is just myself in my household BTW, mature student at University.

Many thanks!

dmg24

Are you sure that you want to take them to court? Making 'a lot of noise' is not a civil offence as such, what are you suing for?

Bossyboots

It doesn't matter whether you are a student or anything else. You will be subject to the same rules as everyone else which is that on any application for legal aid your income with be considered along with the merits of your case. The first thing checked will be your income and if you fail on that, it is an automatic refusal. However a solicitor's office can do this check for you and work out whether you would qualify. I could also do this for you if you PM your income details, including ALL sources of income, how much mortgage/rent you pay, whether you own a property, if that property is mortgaged and how much for and whether you pay maintenance for any dependant children.

For a civil matter, you will be expected to show that attempts at resolving the issue through other channels have failed. In your case this will be Environmental Health at your local council.

Assuming you have tried to resolve this already your first step would be injunctive proceedings to stop the noise. However, your local council has this power and the LSC will want to know why they have not taken those proceedings which also gives them the power to remove any equipment responsible for noise nuisance. The obvious argument here at the moment is that if Environmental Health don't consider it breaches noise regulations then you won't be able to prove to a court that it does.

Stubert

Have you complained to the council? Noise enforcement officers can confiscate audio equipment etc....

Blacksheep1979

Stubert wrote: »

Have you complained to the council? Noise enforcement officers can confiscate audio equipment etc....

takes ages and multiple warnings for that - but more likely to be effective than taking them to court.

OP - have you even tried talking to them or have you just wound yourself up to the point where you see court as the only option?