I have issued a summons to a builder who has damaged my property. He appointed a firm of solicitors and I will be representing myself. All paperwork has been filed and the court hearing is scheduled in two weeks. I received this morning from the defendant a Notice of Change of Legal Representative, whereby now the defendant shall be acting in person. I just wanted to check with the experts, whether the defendant is able to file such two weeks prior to hearing and is this compliant with court procedures. I have a strong case, it just odd at the last minute his solicitors are terminated when they have been acting on his behalf and filed his defence paperwork and featured in all communications. thank you

Hi All Is there a difference between a court hearing for Possession and / or Repossession its probs a silly question and I know the answer but I ask because I have just recieved some paperwork re my court appearence on Monday 6th Dec, hence the title O M G. Mr Very Worried at the momment however I am sure that will change in the next few hrs.

A friend has asked for my help presenting an appeal for ESA Support Group to the Upper Tribunal, after loosing his appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal. His case appears strange because it appears that his representation by a Welfare Rights Officer (a local council employee) crucially damaged his case. Weeks before the hearing my friend submitted his own 5 page presentation of why he felt that descriptors 4,5,6 and 8 as well as Regulation 35(2) applied and his submission was included in the page numbered bundle sent out to all parties weeks before the hearing. Barely two weeks before the hearing, believing that it would help his case, he found a Welfare Rights Advisor who offered to represent him at the Tribunal. They met once and spoke on the phone a few times. On the day of the hearing that representative arrived minutes before the hearing began and asked my friend to sign a single page submission for descriptors 8 and 9 and some mention of Regulation 35(2). There was no time to read the submission properly and he was not given a copy. He did not want to argue descriptor 9 as he did not think that it applied to him, but it was too late to debate the matter and he signed the submission. The decision of the Tribunal and the Statement of Reasons did not say why, but consideration was limited to descriptors 8 and 9 only. The Tribunal said that they placed a strong reliance on the oral evidence, without saying why and they also said they did not believe that oral evidence, without saying why. They only asked about descriptors 8 and 9 and did not discuss Regulation 35(2) at all. They also found that it did not apply. The hearing was recorded and a copy issued with the Statement of Reasons. My friend applied for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal, but it was refused by a judge (a QC) who said that "descriptors 4,5 and 6 were not in issue after advice from an experienced Welfare Rights Representative" and he referenced SS Act 1998 12(8)(a). The implication is that the late submission contained some sort of cancellation of my friend's own earlier detailed submission, but the Tribunal office will not supply a copy of that late submission. Despite repeated requests the Tribunal office staff have repeatedly stated that they have already sent everything that is in the bundle. Clearly the late submission was not included in the bundle sent out weeks before the hearing, but they refuse to accept that. They have now issued a letter, quoting the Judge again, stating that the submission is the page number in the bundle after the last page itemised in the bundle list, and still refuse to send a copy. So I have two questions: 1) How can the Tribunal office be persuaded or forced to send a copy of the submission document? 2) Is it normal for a submission by a representative at a Tribunal to totally supersede any earlier submissions by the appellant on their own behalf and would it require specific wording to that effect? There are 12 days to go before the deadline for the appeal to the UT so my friend has prepared most of his arguments on several points of law, but any further thoughts or experience would be appreciated.

Hi there, I am messaging on behalf of my friend. He is an international student here, and his landlady has basically attempted to do two false claims against him; a false Section 8 case which started in July 2012 (which is going to trial), and a section 21 case she started in October 2012. In January, the courts were confused about why two claims had been started so called for a hearing to understand the situation for both cases. Eventually the 21 case wass struck out,because she did not provide relevant info to him or put his deposit in the deposit scheme on time, and the 8 was decided to go to trial, because my friend has put in a counterclaim and defence due to harassment and bills appearing in his name. shortly after the courts decision, the landlady has yet again filed a section 21 claim against my friend.. It is a verrrrry long story, and basically they're looking to go to trial, so witness statements are being drafted up and there's a pretrial hearing in April. My question is basically, is there any way for him to get free legal aid here? He was granted some for a hearing back in october from Shelter, but they then stopped the funding and are saying they cannot fund him anymore. Is anyone able to represent him/work on his behalf to help? thanks