Complaints procedure
Housing Disrepair Experts is a trading name of Cooper Hall Solicitors Limited, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA No. 639467). This procedure explains how we will deal with a complaint, how long it is likely to take, and what you can do if you are not happy with how we handle it or with our final decision.
Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your claim.
1. Who to contact
If you have any concerns about our service, our work or our charges, please raise them first with the person who has day-to-day conduct of your claim. They may be able to put things right straight away.
If they cannot resolve your concerns, or you would rather not raise them with that person, please contact our Designated Complaints Handler, Jamal Ahmed, Solicitor and Director of Cooper Hall Solicitors Limited.
- Email: ja@cooperhallsolicitors.co.uk
- Post: Jamal Ahmed, Designated Complaints Handler, Cooper Hall Solicitors Limited (trading as Housing Disrepair Experts), Listerhills Science Park, Unit 3 Campus Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD7 1HR
- Phone (Cooper Hall Solicitors head office): 01274 488877
If you complain by phone, we will write to you to confirm the details of your complaint. Please let us know if you need any help or adjustments to make your complaint.
2. Acknowledging your complaint
Within two working days of receiving your complaint, we will record it in our complaints register, open a separate file for all correspondence and documents relating to it, and send you a letter acknowledging it.
3. Investigating your complaint
We will investigate your complaint. This will usually involve:
- reviewing your complaint
- reviewing your file and any relevant documents
- speaking to the person handling your claim
If we need more information or documents from you, we will ask you to provide them within a set period. We will keep you updated on progress.
At the end of our investigation we will write to you explaining what we have done and what we propose to do to resolve your complaint. Where possible, we aim to do this within 21 days of the date of our acknowledgement letter. In any event, we have eight weeks from receiving your complaint to send you our final response.
4. If you are still unhappy: the Legal Ombudsman
If we have not resolved your complaint within eight weeks, or you are unhappy with our final response, you may be able to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, which is free and independent.
You must normally refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:
- within six months of the end of this Complaints Handling Procedure (our final response); and
- no later than one year from the act or omission you are complaining about, or one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
These time limits are set out in the Legal Ombudsman’s Scheme Rules in force from time to time (available at legalombudsman.org.uk or from the Legal Ombudsman), and may only be extended by the Legal Ombudsman in exceptional circumstances.
Ordinarily, you must first try to resolve your complaint using this procedure. You can go to the Legal Ombudsman sooner if the Legal Ombudsman decides there are exceptional reasons to consider your complaint earlier, or that it cannot be resolved by us because the relationship between you and us has broken down irretrievably.
To use the Legal Ombudsman you must be one of the following: an individual; a micro-enterprise (broadly, a business with fewer than 10 staff and a turnover or balance sheet value not exceeding €2 million); a charity, or a club, association or society, with an annual income of less than £1 million; a trustee of a trust with a net asset value of less than £1 million; or a personal representative or residuary beneficiary of an estate where the person with the complaint died before referring it. If you are not, you can only obtain redress through this procedure, by mediation or arbitration, or by taking action through the courts.
Legal Ombudsman
- Address: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
- Telephone: 0300 555 0333
- Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
- Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
5. Alternative dispute resolution
Alternative complaints bodies, such as the Ombudsman Service or ProMediate UK Ltd, can deal with complaints about legal services if both you and we agree to use them. We have chosen not to adopt an ADR process, so if you wish to take your complaint further, please contact the Legal Ombudsman.
6. Concerns about our behaviour: the Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money, or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or another characteristic. We are bound by the SRA’s professional rules, which you can read on its website.
Solicitors Regulation Authority
- Address: The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN
- Telephone: 0370 606 2555 (SRA contact centre)
- Email: report@sra.org.uk
- How to report a concern: www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/
7. What will it cost?
We will not charge you for handling your complaint, and the Legal Ombudsman’s service is free. If we have issued a bill for work done and all or part of it is unpaid, we may be entitled to charge interest on the amount outstanding, as explained in our terms of business.
Last updated: 11 October 2026
