Page 12 - PIC Magazine-Issue-27-Autumn-Winter

Why property fi nding needs
to be part of your litigation
strategy, not an afterthought.
It’s easy to underestimate just how challenging it
can be to fi nd a suitable house for injured clients,
and how time consuming the process is. At
Steven Docker Associates, we know that no two
clients are the same. What works for one family,
such as ramps and ceiling hoists, might not be
what another family needs; they might require
a through-fl oor lift or adaptive equipment.
Accessible design adaptations can take months to design,
cost and install, even once the right building and location
have been found. None of that work can start until case
managers, insurers and defendant solicitors have agreed
the funding, and when interim payments are involved,
getting everyone to that agreement is rarely quick.
Yet interim payments are what unlocks the funding needed
to start the property search, commission adaptation
assessments and develop costed plans while the claim is still
ongoing. Without them, an already complicated process can
stall before it has truly begun.
A Market That Won’t Wait
Suitable housing stock is in short supply to begin with.
There simply aren’t enough accessible properties in the
UK, and there are even fewer available to rent. The rental
market moves fast and letting agents want certainty
about the renter as early as possible. Before they’ll take a
property off the market for a client, they want proof that
funding and timelines are set in place. That’s why we push
to get involved in litigation as soon as the case manager
is instructed, while there’s still time to compete for limited
stock and make every pound of a client’s compensation,
and every day of their recovery, count.
Accommodation experts can also act as expert witnesses
in early litigation strategy, informing the solicitor and case
manager about how a property must meet the client’s
specialist care needs. At Steven Docker Associates,
our accredited expert witnesses provide hands-on
involvement in the procurement, design and adaptation
of homes for injured people. This involvement is key
to the accommodation claim, supporting quantum
negotiations and providing a detailed, evidence-based
specifi cation for adaptation requirements.
Where a client’s existing home could be reinstated
instead, our design team will visit the property, assess
what’s achievable, and cost the works for litigation
solicitors. From there it goes to tender, so the family and
their solicitor can choose a contractor. The tender needs
to be built on a scope of work that insurers and defendant
solicitors have already agreed to fund, so nothing can
go out to contractors until those fi gures are signed off .
Every stage of that chain, from the initial search through
to a signed contract with a builder, depends on people
outside the property search agreeing adaptations,
budgets and timelines together, and a hold-up at any one
link pushes the whole timeline back.
Louise Colohan
Our Head of Property
at Steven Docker Associates
12
01477 544499
info@stevendocker.co.uk
stevendocker.co.uk
Podcast Episode
Our Head of Property Finding, Louise Colohan,
speaks in-depth about the complex processes in this
article on the CMSUK Podcast, which you can listen
to at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/
5npt718DXCmJ5In1DxlKIN
www.pic.legal Partners In Costs