Litigation is an unwelcome experience at any time. Dealing with a dispute, be it small or large, can be a particularly demanding experience, especially where there is uncertainty around the cost implications and procedures involved.
The Litigation Team at AWS LLP manages disputes for a wide range of clientele. We provide practical and specialist advice with the aim of resolving your dispute quickly and cost-effectively. Working in partnership with you it will always be our objective to:
- Focus on the issues that are paramount to you, the client
- Identifying the goals that you seek to achieve from litigation
- Avoid the cost and uncertainty of long-running litigation.
Whatever the cause for litigation, as your legal advisers, we will fully protect your interests at all times. A failure to appreciate the seriousness of the circumstances may lead to an adverse decision against a person/company which could have been avoided if the correct legal advice had been sought and obtained at an early stage.
Litigation can be very expensive. Even a victor in court can find that recovery of the costs involved is often difficult and carries further expense. Understanding our Clients’ aims means that we can then tailor our advice to give the best possible chance of achieving a successful outcome.
An honest assessment of the costs implication of the various options open to the Client will be provided to you at the outset of our consultation prior to the instigation of litigation or other legal action.
Wherever possible, we always seek to settle disputes by negotiation as this is often in the best interests of our clients. Our Litigation Team will work with you to reach a mutually satisfactory outcome to both parties within the dispute.
There are occasions when court action is necessary and in these cicrumstances you can rest assured that our team will provide a robust and efficient presentation of your case in order to gain the best possible result.
In many cases, disputes can be resolved by using alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods such as mediation and arbitration. These procedures tend to be more informal and less adversarial and indeed, more economical than engaging full Court proceedings.
Flat leases often contain defects which one party or the other would like to see changed. This can be a particular problem on resale as lenders continue to tighten their requirements over time.
Such a change would usually be documented by varying the lease via a Deed known as a “Variation”.
Recent case law developments have made lease variations easier in certain circumstances and serve as a useful reminder of the available routes for seeking a variation.
The Government has recently reconfirmed its proposal to implement reforms in this regard in the current term of Parliament.
A new Bill which will fundamentally change the way renting residential property in the UK works is currently going through its second reading in the House of Commons.
If enacted, Assured Shorthold Tenancies will be scrapped and all new tenancies will be Assured Periodic Tenancies. The Section 21 ”No fault” process for recovering possession will no longer exist and so landlords will only be able to recover possession by using the existing Section 8 procedure and proving their ground for recovery of possession. It is proposed that new grounds for recovery of possession will be added including where the landlord wishes to sell the property.
