Terms of Business

1. Who we are

Helping Tenants is a trading style of HDTR LTD, a claims management company registered in Scotland under company number SC723970, with its registered office at 2/3 Clyde Offices, 48 West George Street, Glasgow, G2 1BP. HDTR LTD is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in respect of regulated claims management activities, firm reference number 1009370, which can be checked on the Financial Services Register at register.fca.org.uk.

2. Our service

One of our Case Managers will listen to your enquiry and take the details of your housing disrepair enquiry. Where the advisor feels you would benefit from legal representation and your claim meets a panel solicitors' criteria, we will offer to put you in touch with a specialist solicitor without delay.

Helping Tenants will not charge you anything for doing this. We will not ask you to sign anything, or enter into any contract, but by using our website and vetting service you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy. We do not give you legal advice. That is the job of specialist solicitors who will speak to you directly if you proceed with our recommendations. If we feel we cannot help you, we will let you know, and of course you are free to seek advice elsewhere.

3. Your choice of solicitor

Helping Tenants will assist you in making contact with an independent firm of solicitors. You are free to choose another solicitor. Any panel solicitor that specialises in your claim area will be explained to you and are an independent professional firm who will give you impartial and confidential advice. The solicitors should always act in your best interest; this is a requirement of their professional body. Helping Tenants panel of solicitors are required to comply with the Solicitors Code of Conduct.

4. Information about your case

Where you use our vetting and recommendation service and subsequently instruct a panel solicitor we have recommended to you, you agree that the solicitor firm may provide us with information regarding your case, progress and result of any claim.

5. Our responsibility

Helping Tenants is not in any way responsible for the advice given or other work undertaken on your behalf by your solicitors' firms. Your solicitor firm will give you their independent advice about their process, service, fees, use of legal expenses insurance and any medico-legal reporting requirement, or other specialists which may be required as part of the claim process.

6. How we are paid

Solicitor firms pay Helping Tenants for one or more of our services which include but are not limited to marketing, call handling, administration support and other services. This may be an upfront fee, a success fee, profit share, or a combination of these depending on the commercial agreement in place between the law firm and ourselves. This does not affect the value of your claim in any way, nor is it any extra charges to you as part of your claim costs.

7. What you pay us

Our service to you is free of charge. We do not charge you a fee for reviewing your enquiry, for referring you to a panel solicitor, or at any other point in our service. There is no fee payable if a claim succeeds, no fee if it does not, and no fee if you decide not to go ahead.

Because we make no charge to you, no fee illustration is required. If this ever changes, we will give you a written illustration of our charges, including the amount or the way it is calculated, before you agree to anything, as required by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Your solicitor firm is separate from us. If you instruct a panel solicitor, you enter into an agreement directly with that firm, usually a Conditional Fee Agreement, and that firm will set out its own charges, any success fee, and any insurance premium in its own client care documents. Those charges are a matter between you and the solicitor and have nothing to do with Helping Tenants. Read them carefully before signing.

8. Changing your mind

You are not asked to sign a contract with Helping Tenants and you are not tied to us at any stage. You can tell us to stop at any time, for any reason, at no cost to you, by calling or emailing us using the details in this document.

If we ever ask you to enter into a written agreement with us, you will have a right to cancel it within 14 days of entering into it without charge, and we will tell you in writing how to do so before you sign. Ending your relationship with us does not end any separate agreement you have signed with a solicitor firm. If you have signed a Conditional Fee Agreement with a solicitor and later cancel it, that firm may be entitled to charge you under the terms you agreed with them, particularly if you cancel after the cancellation period in their own agreement has passed. Any such charge is between you and that firm, and Helping Tenants receives none of it. Contact the solicitor directly, and read their cancellation terms before you sign.

9. If your case is declined

If our panel of solicitors declines to represent you, you are free to make other enquiries with any claims management company or solicitor of your own choice.

10. You do not have to use a Claims Management Company

By using a Claims Management Firm a claim will not be resolved more quickly, or with a better prospect of success, or with a better outcome for the customer, than if the customer were to make the claim themselves for free either to the person against whom they wish to complain or to the Housing Ombudsman.

You can complain directly to your landlord under its own complaints procedure, refer the matter to the Housing Ombudsman, seek free advice from organisations such as Shelter or Citizens Advice, or instruct a solicitor yourself. All of these routes are open to you at no cost, and using our service is entirely your choice.

11. Seek advice quickly

Seek advice quickly after you become aware of a liability. This is important. The Statute of Limitations Act gives specific time scales for you to instigate a claim, after which your right to bring a claim could be time-barred. It is best to gather the evidence while memories are fresh and get the legal help when you need it most.

12. Law Society accreditation

Our panel of solicitor firms have been selected to deal with Housing Disrepair claims and are all accredited with the Law Society. Every firm on our panel is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. We will tell you which firm we propose to refer you to, and you can ask us at any time how many firms are on our panel and how we select them.

13. Getting in touch with Helping Tenants

When telephoning Helping Tenants we inform you that calls may be recorded and used for internal training and regulatory compliance purposes only. Our data retention policy means we do not store data for longer than is necessary for the purpose it was intended. Electronic files are stored on a cloud server.

If you phone us during our opening hours you will be put through directly to an advisor who will be able to talk you through the claims process and any queries you may have.

Use of artificial intelligence. We use artificial intelligence tools to help us communicate with you and manage enquiries. This may include messages sent to you by email, SMS or online chat, and the transcription or summarising of recorded calls. Where you are dealing with an AI tool rather than a person, we will tell you, and you can ask to speak to a member of our team at any time. AI does not decide the outcome of your enquiry: every enquiry is reviewed by one of our advisors. How we handle information processed in this way is explained in our Privacy Policy.

14. Confidentiality and your data

We treat all client information confidentially. We do not sell your personal information or share it with third parties for their own marketing. Where your enquiry is referred to a panel solicitor, or where a supplier processes information on our behalf, we share only what is necessary. Full details of how we handle your information, and the rights you have over it, are set out in our Privacy Policy.

15. Helping Tenants site information

The contents of the website, any links or videos do not constitute legal advice and you should always consult a suitably qualified lawyer on any specific legal problem. The site is designed to give you some information about claiming compensation for housing disrepair matters and, if you wish, help you start a claim with a specialist solicitor.

16. Website terms of use

By accessing this website you agree to be bound by these terms, all applicable laws and regulations, and you are responsible for compliance with any applicable local laws. If you do not agree with any of them, you should not use the site. The materials on this website are protected by copyright and trade mark law.

Use of materials. You may temporarily view and download one copy of the materials on this website for personal, non-commercial use only. This is a licence, not a transfer of title, and you may not modify or copy the materials, use them for any commercial purpose or public display, attempt to reverse engineer any software on the site, remove any copyright notices, or transfer the materials to another person or mirror them on another server. The licence ends automatically if you breach any of these restrictions.

Accuracy and availability. The materials on this website are provided on an "as is" basis and may contain technical, typographical or photographic errors. We do not warrant that the materials are accurate, complete or current, and we may change them at any time without notice. We do not guarantee that the site will always be available or uninterrupted.

Limitation of liability. To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any loss or damage arising from the use of, or inability to use, the materials on this website, including loss of data or profit or business interruption. Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so parts of this clause may not apply to you.

Links. We have not reviewed every site linked from this website and we are not responsible for their contents. A link does not imply endorsement, and use of any linked site is at your own risk.

17. Customers needing extra support

If you need information in a different format, more time to consider things, or would like someone to speak to us on your behalf, please tell us and we will do what we can to help. Our Vulnerable Customer Policy is available on request.

18. Complaints

If you are unhappy with any part of our service, please tell us. Complaints cost nothing to make and you do not need anyone to complain on your behalf.

• Email info@helpingtenants.co.uk
• Telephone +44 20 3098 0400
• Post Complaints, HDTR LTD, 2/3 Clyde Offices, 48 West George Street, Glasgow, G2 1BP

We will acknowledge your complaint within five working days and aim to issue our final response within four weeks. If we cannot, we will write to you giving reasons. Our full procedure is set out on our complaints page.

If you are not satisfied with our final response, or if eight weeks have passed, and your complaint is eligible, you may refer it to the Claims Management Ombudsman, a service provided by the Financial Ombudsman Service. You must normally do so within six months of our final response.

19. Insurance and continuity

HDTR LTD holds professional indemnity insurance appropriate to the regulated claims management activities we carry out. Details of our cover are available on request.

If we cease trading, or if our business is sold or transferred to another firm, we will write to tell you what this means for your enquiry or case, who will be handling it, and what your options are. Your right to take your case elsewhere, or to deal with your landlord directly, is unaffected.

20. Governing law

These Terms of Business, and any dispute arising out of them or our service, are governed by the law of Scotland, and the Scottish courts have jurisdiction. If you live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, you may also bring proceedings in the courts of the country where you live, and nothing in these terms affects your rights as a consumer.

21. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms of Business from time to time. The version published on this page is the one that applies, and the date at the top shows when it was last changed.