If anyone is pursuing a personal injury claim because of an injury at workplace or in a road traffic accident, you are unlikely to be eligible for legal aid. This would put the claimant at the risk of having to pay high legal costs up front and face the risk of losing it if the courts ruled against your claim. In order to protect clients from losing their money, lawyers can now take these personal injury claims on what is known as a conditional fee basis.

Conditional fee cases are better know as no win no fee legal arrangements. If your personal injury case is thrown out of court you will not owe your solicitor any fees. The costs are usually claimed from those defending the case. If the case is won than you will have to pay your solicitors fees though, in reality, those costs are usually claimed back from the other side.

Unfortunately, despite the no fee part of the agreement there will still be costs that you will have to meet in order for the solicitor to move your claim forward. Even if you have a no win, no fee legal agreement, there could be still be other costs attached to your personal injury claim. You will still be liable to pay any medical and accident report expenses, court fees and any expert witness expenses. The expenses could be very large and are not covered by a conditional fee arrangement. These expenses can soon add up to quite a large sum and they will not be covered by the arrangement you have with your solicitor.

Before signing any legal agreement with your solicitor ensure that you confirm, point by point, all the possible fees and costs that you may be liable for. Make sure that you check the terms of the contract very carefully as you may also be liable to pay fees if the case is dropped or if you refuse a settlement offer.

As the no win no fee slogan suggests, if you lose your case than you will not have to pay your solicitor anything. But, if you are successful than you will have to pay your lawyer a fee. This fee is usually recovered from the losing side but the court can sometimes decide that the loser should not be liable for the full cost of your solicitors fees. If this happens than you will be liable to make good the amount from your compensation payment.

Not all solicitors charge the same fees or offer the same service so it is usually worth your while to shop around to find the best terms.

Next I suggest you try the 30 second test at Accident Claim Helpline and within minutes you could have a good idea of how much you can claim.

http://62.105.94.133/lond_Current_auction_lot.asp?pos=57

Harpenden, Herts, £85k, Rent £4,394 per annum

So what’s the catch?

Well I looked up what a regulated tennacy is (http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/regulatedtenancies) and basically it seems here are the major problems for the landlord:

• the landlord cannot evict the tenant unless he or she gets a possession order from the courts, and the courts can grant an order only in certain circumstances
• if the tenant dies his or her spouse will normally take over the regulated tenancy (a family member who has been living in the home can take over an assured tenancy)
• either the landlord or the tenant can apply to the rent officer for a fair rent to be registered
• once a rent is registered it is the maximum the landlord can charge until it is reviewed or cancelled
• even if a rent is not registered, the landlord can only increase the rent in certain circumstances
• the tenant may get housing benefit
• the landlord is usually responsible for major repairs
• the landlord, or in some cases the tenant, can ask the local authority for a grant towards certain repairs and improvements.

So all in all you are lumbered with a liability rather than an investment! It’s a house you have little chance of ever moving into or achieving a fair rent, and with the expected yield of 5% in todays uncertain market, I would give this one a miss. I may consider it at £40k though, as the rent minus repairs may pay off the mortgage eventually.