CIVIL LITIGATION & OTHER LEGAL SERVICES
Fortiori Law in Amersham and Slough are here to support you with all your legal issues.
OUR SERVICES
At Fortiori Law, we are here to provide you with legal services in the following key areas:
CIVIL LITIGATION
At Fortiori Law, we are dedicated to enforcing and protecting our clients’ rights and to that end, we tirelessly pursue our clients’ claims whilst strategically exploring every avenue towards a successful outcome. Some of the areas of litigation we cover include:
• High value debt recovery
• Breach of contract
• Professional negligence
• Fraud and asset recovery
• Dispute resolution
• Alternative dispute resolution
• TOLATA – Trust of Land Claims
Our clients occupy high profile positions in their personal and professional lives, so we appreciate the impact a protracted dispute can have. We endeavour to take decisive action to strengthen our clients’ positions and draw disputes to an efficient conclusion.
Dispute Resolution
As per Court guidance and wherever possible, we assist our clients to resolve their disputes by means of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Such methods can be effective for bringing disputes to a close without the need to commence formal court proceedings. As well as saving time and costs, ADR means that your dispute can be drawn to a conclusion privately and cost effectively.
At Fortiori Law, we can assist with different forms of ADR such as informal negotiations, mediations, Part 36 offers, Calder bank (without prejudice) offers and several other similar solutions.
From time to time, where ADR is not an effective solution, Fortiori Law are prepared to issue proceedings and to instruct Counsel (a barrister) to advise on complex aspects of your claim, including, attendance at Court to make representations and to plead your case through to success.
HOUSING LAW
Fortiori Law can provide comprehensive advice and expertise for residential landlords and tenants. We specialise with actions and/or defence on behalf of landlords and tenants. We can assist in the following areas:
Landlords
• Service of Section 8 notices (based on various statutory grounds) and Section 21 notices (no fault route)
• Advising as to validity of Section 21 notices, including, consideration of Deregulation Act documents / formalities at the time of initially letting property
• To obtain possession of your property without the need to attend Court if your case is undefended and compliant in procedure
• Opposing defence of possession claims
• Applying for warrant over land – Eviction by bailiff
• Defending claims for unlawful evictions and harassment
• Defending injunction proceedings
• Defending or settling claims for failure to register deposit
• Drafting tenancy agreements and advising as to formalities of renting property
Tenants
• Defending possession actions under the accelerated procedure and claims under statutory grounds of the Housing Act
• Reviewing proposed tenancy agreements
• Advising as to acts or obligations of landlords and tenants
• Claims for disrepair
• Defending warrants of land – bailiffs and eviction
LASTING POWER OF ATTORNEY (LPA)
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that allows you (the donor) to choose trusted people (attorneys) to make decisions on your behalf during your lifetime, if there comes a time when you can no longer make decisions for yourself. Anyone over the age of 18 with mental capacity can sign an LPA and act as an attorney for another person.
You can make two different types of LPA: –
• Property and Financial Affairs – This allows an attorney to manage anything to do with your property and finances e.g., bank accounts, investments, pensions, benefits, tax affairs and buying and selling property as if they were you. This type of LPA is effective as soon as it is registered – unless you stipulate that it is not valid until you lose mental capacity.
• Health and Welfare – This can only be used once mental capacity has been lost and gives your attorney authority to make decisions, which relate to your medical needs and personal wellbeing ranging from medical treatment, living arrangements, care home needs, and also giving and/or continuing with life sustaining treatment.
What happens if you don’t have an LPA?
If you no longer have mental capacity and have not signed and registered an LPA then it would be necessary for an application to be made to the Court of Protection for a deputy to be appointed to deal with your financial affairs.
If there is no-one able or willing to be appointed, then a professional deputy will be appointed. The application to the Court for the appointment of a deputy is a much more complicated and expensive process than appointing an attorney for you and could result in someone unknown to you or your family managing your affairs.
How we can help
Fortiori Law will guide you through the process from start to finish and our all-inclusive fixed fee services include the following: -
• An initial consultation meeting to assist you in deciding on who to appoint as your attorney(s) and what powers and responsibilities they should have.
• Obtaining all relevant information needed to complete the LPA documentation.
• Instructing a medical expert to provide an independent medical report if mental capacity needs to be assessed.
• Preparing the LPAs and sending them to you for approval.
• Attending you to sign the documents and sending them to attorneys for signature.
• Notifying any person who you feel should be made aware of the LPA. This is optional.
• Submitting the signed LPA(s) to the Office of the Public Guardian for registration.
• Storing the registered documents (free of charge) until such time as they are needed.
Fortiori Law will not be able to execute the LPA as a Certificate Provider to confirm that a Donor is assessed as having capacity. The Donor will need to arrange for a professional assessor at an additional cost or someone known to them to confirm such capacity. We would be happy to advise you further as to who may be a Certificate Provider during an initial consultation.
Home Visits
At Fortiori Law, we believe it is important that all our clients have access to our legal services, which is why we offer home visits to clients who are either housebound, don’t have transport, or don’t have on-line facilities for a zoom meeting. To find out more, please contact us directly for further information.
DO YOU NEED CIVIL LITIGATION HELP?
Experts in Dispute Resolution
Choose Fortiori Law in Amersham and Slough and we'll help you every step of the way.
CERTIFYING DOCUMENTS
Certified Copies
As solicitors, we are often asked to certify that a photocopy of an original document is a true copy of the original. Various organisations will not accept a certified copy unless it has been certified by a solicitor. Certified copies are often required by:
• prospective employers - as part of their recruitment process
• banks - if you’re applying for a bank account
• the Foreign & Commonwealth Office - as part of a legalisation application
• solicitors - as part of their client identity checks to comply with anti-money laundering legislation
We charge a fixed fee of £5.00 (no VAT) for reviewing individual original documents against their photocopies and certifying the photocopies. If you prefer not to collect your documents in person, we can return them via recorded delivery or by courier for an additional fee.
Oaths, Affidavits & Statutory Declarations
These are legal documents signed in the presence of a solicitor in which you swear or affirm that the contents of a document are true. Oaths and Affidavits are often required for Court proceedings. Our fees are fixed by law and are £5.00 (no VAT) per oath/affidavit/statutory declaration, plus £2.00 (no VAT) per exhibit. For any other type of document on which you require us to witness a signature, we charge £20 (no VAT) per document.
ID1 Land Registry Form completion
The ID1 Land Registry Form certifies your identity and is typically needed during property transactions to protect against identity fraud. If you have chosen not to instruct a legal professional to help you with a conveyancing or other property-related matter, the Land Registry requires you to provide a completed ID1 Form. Section A is completed by you and section B is then completed by a solicitor who is required to meet you and view your original identification and certify a passport sized photograph. Following completion of the transaction, the Land Registry may contact the solicitor to make sure that they have in fact identified the person named in the ID1 Form. We charge a fixed fee of £75 (no VAT) for completing an ID1 Land Registry Form and identifying you for the Land Registry.
