An end to 'free' complaints

Complaints
are about to become a lot more expensive!  With margins cut to the bone
when it comes to conveyancing changes the Legal Ombudsman’s new
charging powers may well tip some firms over the edge. From tomorrow all
complaints it investigates will incur a £400 case fee, but if a firm
follows a reasonable first tier complaints process they may be eligible
for the case fee waiver.

The
following revisions also come into effect tomorrow intended to help the
Legal Ombudsman respond to a developing legal services market:

• Financial limits will increase from £30,000 to £50,000
• Time limits
  for accepting a complaint will increase to six years from the date of
  act/omission and three years from the date the complainant should
  reasonably have known there were grounds for complaint. These time
  limits will be extended gradually from 6 October 2010 – the date LeO
  opened for business. However, the Ombudsman will continue to accept
  complaints about issues that happened before 6 Oct 2010 if the
  complainant only became aware of it after this date.
• The Ombudsman will be able to accept complaints from prospective customers who could reasonably have expected to receive a service or who were unreasonably offered a service they did not want.

The
Ombudsman does not anticipate that changes will substantially add to
the 75,000-80,000 contacts it receives each year; however, it does
expect around a 10% increase in the proportion of contacts which will
fall within its eligibility criteria. This will inevitably increase the
number of full investigations that the organisation carries out.