Professional


“To protect yourself, make sure everything is written down and you can prove what has been said. Keep an email trail, make meeting notes every time, and take a note of every phone conversation. And always be 100% transparent, especially about pricing.”


Gilly Craft, president of the BIID


Contract for Home Owner/Occupier also includes provision for it. There is an administration fee of £300 charged by the RIBA, plus the adjudicator’s fees which generally cost upwards of £200 an hour. The Adjudication Society noted the average cost for adjudication was £8,878. Its advantages are speed, privacy, and the fact that this process does not require lawyers. It is also legally temporarily binding and can be enforced by the courts.


Arbitration 42


Architects’ contracts often stipulate an option to try arbitration. But even if it is not written in there, both parties can agree to go to arbitration. The RIBA has a list of suitably qualified arbitrators and members can apply to have someone appointed at a cost of £300, plus the hourly fee. The Business Arbitration Scheme from ciarb.org offers fixed rate arbitration at £1,250 for each party, for disputes from £5,000 to £100,000. The arbitrator hears both sides of the argument. Proceedings are held in confidence, so anything that is discussed cannot be used in subsequent litigation or disciplinary proceedings. The arbitrator makes a decision, called an Award, which can include the costs of the hearing. The decision is binding on both sides and can be enforced through the courts.


Legal action


the person appointed will have qualifications in the area that are accepted by both parties. If the disputing sides both agree to do so beforehand, the independent professional’s opinion can be legally binding. It is often done by document submission only, although the expert might decide to hold a meeting or site visit. There is a £50 charge to the RIBA for appointing the expert, with costs up to around £500. A similar process, called expert determination, is available through conflict management consultancy cedr.com and other agencies. In this case, the decision is always binding unless previously agreed otherwise, with costs starting from £3,000, plus an additional £200-£600 an hour.


Mediation


This is an informal process that does not impose a solution, but helps warring parties to find an acceptable outcome (although both sides can agree via a Settlement Agreement to make it legally binding). The mediator is not a legal expert and will concentrate on helping parties achieve agreement and rebuild the relationship rather than apportioning blame. Mediators are impartial and skilled at cutting through emotions and keeping negotiations going. You can access mediation through civilmediation.justice.gov.uk, which offers


fixed-rate prices of between £50 – for one hour’s mediation on a disputed amount of up to £5,000 – and £425 for four hours to discuss an amount up to £50,000. Fees for larger amounts are negotiable. The RIBA also provides fixed-fee mediation for members, starting from £400. What is discussed in mediation is “in confidence”, so cannot be used in subsequent litigation.


Adjudication


Part II of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 and its current update – Part 8 of The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 – provides adjudication as a statutory right for the parties in a construction contract. This means most building contracts contain provisions defining how the parties are entitled to refer a dispute to adjudication and the rules that will apply. The RIBA is often named as the adjudicator-nominating body. Even if a contract does not include this provision, the statutory right exists and the rules that will apply are set out in the Scheme for Construction Contracts – so in most cases parties cannot opt out of adjudication. The main exception is for disputes with a residential homeowner for work to their own homes, although these clients can also opt-in to the process. The JCT Building


In general, almost any other way of resolving a problem is going to be cheaper than legal action, unless the amount involved is very small (in which case, consider whether the time spent on it, if billed at your normal hourly rate, would be time well spent…). It costs a sliding rate from £25 to £410 to take someone to court to recover between £300 and £10,000. Above that, it will cost you 5% of the claim – and that is just to launch court proceedings, without any lawyers’ fees. It is also worth considering whether you are throwing good money after bad – it is possible to win in court, pay even more to try to enforce the payment, but still get nothing simply because the other party goes into liquidation or does not have the money to pay you.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48