A new rule will leave vulnerable people facing eviction or living in leaky, crumbling homes with no "access to justice".
The new rule, coming into force in April next year, will set the amount claimants can recover in housing cases where they're awarded damages of less than £100,000. Already applied to some areas of law, 'fixed recoverable costs' will make housing cases funded through legal aid or 'no win, no fee' models financially unviable for lawyers to take on.
John Lowry, a director at Liverpool-based CEL Solicitors, represents "vulnerable and financially not well off" tenants in housing disrepair cases against housing associations and local councils. He said: "We know this is going to create access to justice issues.
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"There's already an inequality between the parties in relation to resources, finance and stature. I think what these proposals will do, it's only going to widen them. Realistically, it's going to result in a large number of claimants now being denied access to justice."
Housing cases can prove costly, sometimes taking years to get to trial, where lawyers are required to present expert evidence from electricians or documents like drainage surveys and structure reports. This leads to costs in the thousands, which few tenants, particularly those in social housing, can afford.
The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 improved tenants' rights in terms of the repairs landlords are required to carry out. But John said there are cases where landlords ignore agreements and court orders to complete repairs by a certain date, meaning lawyers have to submit multiple breach claims against them, each at additional cost.
Cases that take years to get to court could cost law firms around £20,000, according to John, who estimated only a quarter of this would be reimbursed under the new fixed costs rule for housing cases. When commercial law firms can't afford to take on cases, clients have to turn to free community services like Vauxhall Law Centre.
But the centre, based on Silvester Street in Liverpool, already "quite often can't meet the demand" and often has to stop taking housing referrals for the week on a Monday afternoon, according to its development officer Alan Kelly. He said: "One of the huge issues with housing is that there are a lot of people in this city who've got mental health issues, and they tend to end up in the worst accommodation and have the biggest housing issues, and have complex cases.
"A lot of people who've got complex mental health issues may have other issues like substance misuse, or just the fact that they've been victims of crime, so it becomes an increasingly complex area. It's difficult to support people who are living on the edge, and the system isn't designed to give them any additional support. The system is designed to give them minimal support, or no support at all."
Helping those most in need, "who are probably those least able to get it", requires money and resources Vauxhall Law Centre doesn't have. It used to get most of its funding from legal aid and the city council, but it lost its full-time solicitor due to cuts to legal aid funding, and Liverpool City Council has lost roughly 65% of its own funding during 12 years of Conservative rule in Westminster.
Alan and fellow development officer Elly Smith work away in their office to secure grant funding and donations from the likes of the Steve Morgan Foundation and the Tudor Trust, which has helped the law centre survive and expand from 1.5 full-time equivalent staff to 12 covering housing, debt, immigration and benefits. But this funding isn't guaranteed, and if it dries up, the centre will have to scale back, leaving even more people with nowhere to turn for help securing justice.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "Fixed recoverable costs will enhance access to justice by helping parties to plan their litigation more effectively. It provides certainty about what costs could be paid and ensures legal action is proportionate – meaning parties aren't locked out of justice through the fear of having to pay high legal fees."
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