We have a telephone advice service at Landlord Law, and I am proud to say that the panel solicitors are some of the best landlord and tenant solicitors in the business.
However, I am increasingly finding that for some situations, it is getting more and more difficult to find a firm that can act.
The situations are when the landlord has a complaint about a large national firm of agents.
The problem is that these large firms will use a number of different solicitors for advice or legal work. Meaning that when landlords, or indeed anyone, wants to seek legal advice about problems with those firms, they struggle to find a firm which can help them.
This problem is getting worse, with increased consolidation among national agents. Plus, there is a greater need for good quality advice with increased regulation and the pending Renters Rights Act 2025.
Landlord and tenant work is specialised, and if a landlord has a complex problem, they need a specialist firm to act for them.
One can’t help wondering whether these large firms might be protecting themselves from being challenged by top landlord and tenant solicitor firms by using them all for different issues?
If so, this is unfair.
Has anyone else found this problem?
Do any solicitor firms have any suggestions as to how it can be dealt with?
I am aware that other large organisations are deliberately instructing (and possibly paying retainers to) multiple firms of solicitors specifically to invoke the conflict of interest which prevents those firms from acting against them. I have been told the BBC do this.
This was literally a plot point in the Sopranos. I’ve had my problems with letting agents didn’t realise their business model was based on the mafia
Very insightful post. The topic of how letting agents manage legal risk is rarely discussed, so this perspective is helpful for landlords navigating agency relationships.