What we can and can’t help with

We can usually help with everyday legal questions, whatever area of life they come from. What we can’t help with is a short list, set by the law — here it is, along with how we decide.

Usually yes

Most everyday situations — for example:

• ✓ Home and renting — deposits, evictions, repairs, disagreements with a landlord or letting agent
• ✓ Work — your rights and what your contract says about pay, redundancy, hours
• ✓ Neighbours — boundaries, party walls, fences, noise
• ✓ School — places, exclusions, SEND and EHCPs
• ✓ Family — separating, divorce, arrangements for children
• ✓ Buying things — refunds, faulty goods, builders and tradespeople, contracts and memberships

These are examples, not the whole list — if your situation isn’t named here, that doesn’t mean we can’t help. And none of this is a guarantee — see How we decide below.

Not us

• — Injury and compensation claims, and anything heading for a tribunal
• — Immigration — visas, status, leave to remain
• — Debt and insolvency — bankruptcy, IVAs, debt management
• — Work only a regulated professional may do — probate, transferring property, starting court proceedings
• — Things only a court or an official process can deal with — criminal charges, tax returns, formal adoption arrangements

If your situation is one of these, we’ll say so and point you to people who can help. We’re not the right place to bring it — that’s about us, not about your situation.

How we decide

We look at what you actually tell us, not just the subject. A neighbour problem that turns out to involve an injury is an injury claim, and we’ll say so. So we check your situation individually, and sometimes we’ll say no even in an area listed above.

One more honest possibility: what you’ve written may not give us enough to be sure which kind of help you’re asking for. When we can’t tell, we’d rather tell you than guess.

Start — describe your situation.

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