Driving a hard bargain

In a profession where an individual’s reputation for quality of advice is reflected by the fees they charge, this is hardly surprising.

Inside Housing’s first ever legal supplement tackles this delicate subject head-on. Our exclusive fees survey uncovers the true state of housing’s legal services market and reveals just how much landlords are paying their lawyers. The results are decisive and, for law firms, will make for grim reading. Social landlords are spending less on legal fees than they did three years ago, a trend they expect to continue - and as a result, law firms are suffering.

By clubbing together to play the market, social landlords are negotiating some huge discounts. Meanwhile, competition among law firms scrabbling for a firmer foothold in the housing sector means that landlords have never been better positioned to secure added value packages, such as free training, from their lawyers.

To take full advantage of this window of opportunity, social landlords must consider carefully which option is best for them. We examine how best to shop around for legal advice and compare different approaches to buying the right counsel to match your needs.

We also demonstrate how to shrink your legal bill by getting the simple things right: providing the most useful in-house legal training, and avoiding common pitfalls when making a possession claim in court. Similarly, with public sector cuts and job losses on the horizon, knowing your rights as both an employer and an employee has never been more important.

This advice is free of charge. But, while extracting ‘value’ from lawyers whose wisdom comes at a price, landlords should remember that in the long run, few things can prove as expensive as cheap legal advice.