Page 47 - Solving Housing Disputes

to HDS where that fails. Should a claim require initiation, we expect lawyers
would articulate a client’s position through written representations to the HDS
and advise clients on their interests following a Stage 2 adjudication, before a
Stage 3 meeting and if need be, to act for a client to appeal a Stage 4
adjudication.

2.69 It is therefore critical that the HDS does not function to deplete or diminish
the corps of publicly funded expert housing lawyers. They will often be the
first port of call. It is essential for access to justice that parties are able to have
an expert assessment of their case and desirable for them to have an
opportunity to do so at Stage 2, before they participate in the Stage 3 ADR
mechanism. Above all, there need to be practitioners available at Stage 4, to
advise on and take appeals. This will require a Government commitment to
offer sustainable funding for legal advisors in the pilot and beyond. As we
explore below, a source for that funding exists.

2.70 Our Working Party considered various models of advice delivery that could
be explored through a pilot. Our favoured model is for the HDS to have a
panel of independent, contracted lawyers to advise clients throughout the HDS
process. Panel lawyers would be drawn from specialist housing lawyers in
local authorities, the legal aid, law centre or private sector. Again, those
lawyers must be remunerated at a sustainable rate beyond that offered under
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funding for “early legal help.” All parties should have access to a degree of
legal advice from panelled lawyers prior to or at Stage 1, perhaps one to two
hours. Beyond that, advice ought to be means tested, but with much greater
eligibility than under the current legal aid scheme. The default position should
be that most tenants have access to a panelled lawyer throughout the process.
Clients would of course still be free to take legal advice from their own choice
of lawyer.

2.71 The Ministry of Justice Legal Action Plan evinces an intention to expand
Government investment in early legal advice, which is welcome, considering
the urgent need for sustainable funding for the advice and legal aid sector after
years of cuts. In that spirit, we recommend specific arrangements be made
for independent legal advice for parties through the HDS process, with

113 Tenant lawyers we spoke to as part of this consultation expressed concern that the rate of funding for
“early legal advice” was extremely low, and often did not meet the overheads of advice rendered.

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