Page 48 - Solving Housing Disputes

contracts co-designed with the advice sector and Government through
the HDEG. An alternative model to the HDS panel contract would be to
establish an HDS legal aid contract. This could encompass an array of legal
matters addressed by the HDS, potentially amalgamating existing housing,
debt, community care and family contract categories into one contract.

2.72 Lawyers operating under such a contract would be offered sustainable rates
through any contract for activities carried out in relation to or through the HDS
process. The current funding model necessitates that many legal aid
practitioners and law centres are reliant on costs in successful cases to survive.
If, as we expect, the HDS significantly reduces the volume of housing disputes
coming before the courts, then the rate of funding for legal advisors through
the HDS must be sustainable to offset the loss of successful costs orders in
court.
Housing Dispute Engagement Group

2.73 Fundamental to the success of new forms of dispute resolution is meaningful
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stakeholder engagement in system design. Should the HDS garner support
from across the legal profession, Government and relevant housing
stakeholders, we recommend an engagement group be convened, to set out
the parameters for a pilot and provide oversight of it. The engagement group
ought to feature representation from across a broad spectrum of interest
groups impacted by the new dispute resolution system. We recommend the
piloting of the HDS be overseen and delivered through a newly convened
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Housing Dispute Engagement Group (HDEG).

2.74 The HDEG should convene long before the commencement of any pilot. With
the benefit of specialist academic advice, it should establish a range of
evaluative parameters for the pilot, identify possible pilot sites and engage
closely with on-the-ground service and housing providers and judiciary to
agree on a pilot. It should work closely with the advice sector, local

114 Smith and Martinez, ‘An Analytic Framework for Dispute Systems Design’, 4 Harvard Negotiation
Law Review 123, Winter 2009 p. 128.

115 The HDEG should be chaired by a High Court judge of expertise and standing and be populated by
academics, representatives from relevant Government agencies (MHCLG, HMCTS, DWP and MOJ),
lawyers from tenant, landlord and social housing groups, local authorities, the private rented sector,
housing associations and other affected interest groups.

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