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28/07/2011 15:07:24 Steve Posts: 1	My mother died and left me and my sister her house in her Will. She had a lodger who paid his rent via Housing Benefit to her and she stipulated in her Will that he could remain in the house for one year after her death. However he has decided to make a claim for a Life Interest in her house or £25,000 to get out! He cancelled his Housing Benefit and has paid no rent. Incredibly he was able to obtain Legal Aid to bring a case against me and my sister. We are now two and a half years down the line with this and some £12,000 in solicitors fees and £14,000 in lost rent and the final hearing date is set for March 2012. We were thinking about making an application to the court to have the case struck out but our solicitor thinks this may be risky and we feel he is being rather over-cautious. Please can you advise as we are at our wits end.
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28/07/2011 17:02:01 www.clicklegalservices.co.uk Administrator Posts: 374	We cannot really advise if you have existing solicitors. I would say that you need to speak to them, to give you clearly the pros and cons of any strike out application - the costs and chances of being successful as against the possible savings in costs if the matter went to a full hearing. With a strike out, the test is that there is no real prospect of the claim/defence succeeding. Whilst I hear what you say, they have been able to satisfy the legal aid board of an arguable case. On a strike out application, judges tend to err on the side of caution as they are being asked to determine a matter without full evidence. I would really be pressing for mediation to be considered in this situation. It would involve a compromise on both sides, but could save you thousands.
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