England & Wales · Contract disputes · Professional negligence
Someone got it wrong, and it cost you. Find out where you stand.
Free, plain-English guidance for people with a broken contract or a professional who let them down — and a five-minute check that works out your deadline before you decide whether to see a solicitor.
Try: unpaid invoice, surveyor missed damp, is a verbal agreement binding, time limit.
Start here
Which of these sounds like you?
“A customer won't pay an invoice for work we delivered.”
Unpaid invoice →02“The contractor took the deposit and walked off halfway through.”
Abandoned work →03“The survey said the roof and damp were fine. Within a year I was paying for both.”
Negligent survey →04“My conveyancer never mentioned the right of way across the garden.”
Conveyancing negligence →05“I think I have a case, but I don't know how much time I have left.”
Check my deadline →Complete series · Surveyor negligence
The survey said it was fine. It wasn't.
Everything you need to understand a claim against a surveyor who missed a defect on a property you bought: what each level of survey had to find, why damages are measured by the drop in value, how long you have, what to gather, and what happens once the surveyor's insurer is involved.
My surveyor missed a defect. Can I claim, and what is the claim actually worth?
4 min02Level 1, 2 or 3: what your survey actually had to find
4 min03Damp, roofs, knotweed, movement and drains: the defects surveyors are most often sued over
5 min04Diminution in value: how damages against a negligent surveyor are actually worked out
5 min…And 5 more, in order →
Complete series · Conveyancer negligence
You paid a lawyer to check. They didn't.
What a conveyancer was meant to check before you bought, and what happens when they didn't: missed search results, covenants, rights of way and boundaries, unauthorised works, leasehold traps, how loss is measured, getting your file, complaining, and the time limits that catch people who only find out when they come to sell.
Conveyancing negligence: my solicitor missed a right of way, restriction or planning problem
3 min02My conveyancer didn't report a problem in the searches
6 min03A restrictive covenant stops my plans and my conveyancer never warned me
6 min04No planning permission or building regulations sign-off: my conveyancer didn't pick it up
5 min…And 5 more, in order →
Complete series · Solicitor negligence
Your own solicitor got it wrong.
What the law says when the solicitor you instructed costs you money: what a negligence claim against your own solicitor involves, a missed deadline that lost a case, how the courts assess a claim that was lost, advice to settle, mistakes in wills, drafting errors in business deals and leases, complaining to the Legal Ombudsman or the SRA, the time limits, and how these claims are funded.
Complete series · Architect and engineer negligence
The design was wrong. Or nobody checked the build.
What the law says when an architect or engineer's work costs you money: what a claim against a designer involves, telling a design defect from bad workmanship, inspection and certificates during the build, planning and building regulations, a structural engineer's report on a purchase or extension, budgets and cost estimates, how loss is measured, the construction pre-action protocol and the Technology and Construction Court, and the time limits, including the Defective Premises Act.
Can I claim against an architect or engineer? What a negligence claim involves
7 min02Design defect or bad workmanship? When it's the architect, not the builder
5 min03Failure to inspect or certify: the architect as contract administrator
5 min04Planning and building regulations: when the architect or engineer got it wrong
5 min…And 5 more, in order →
Complete series · Unpaid invoices
You did the work. They haven't paid.
How a business recovers an unpaid invoice in England and Wales, in the order it usually happens: what can be added for late payment, what the letter before action has to say, what to do when the customer disputes the bill, when a statutory demand is and isn't the right tool, which court track a claim falls into and what that means for costs, issuing a claim online, enforcing a judgment, and how long there is to do it.
Complete series · Builder disputes
The builder left, or left it wrong.
What the law says when building work goes wrong: a builder who walks off the job, work that isn't up to standard, a bill that keeps growing, when payment can be held back or the contract ended, what the cost of putting it right covers, the evidence that decides these cases, what is left when the builder has gone bust, the time limits, and the routes to resolving it with or without a court.
A contractor walked off the job: is that a breach of contract, and what can I claim?
4 min02Builder did poor work: your rights under the Consumer Rights Act
7 min03Builder wants more money: quotes, estimates and extras
7 min04Withholding payment or ending a contract with a builder: the risks
6 min…And 5 more, in order →
How CasePoint works
From “something feels wrong” to a named solicitor, in four steps.
The full version, including who sees what and when, is on how introductions work.
Tell us what happened
Six guided questions — dates, what went wrong, what it's cost. No legal jargon required.
We work out your deadline
Every claim like this is time-limited. Your estimated limitation date is calculated as you go.
Get your CasePoint Report
A plain-English summary of your position, the likely court track, and what a solicitor will ask for first.
Choose to be introduced
Only if you say yes — your report goes to one specialist solicitor on our panel, matched to your claim.
Try it
Every claim like this has a clock running.
This is the second question in the real check. Edit the example dates — the deadline updates live.
Question 2 of 6 — preview
When did this happen?
Edit the example dates. The estimate updates as you type.
Example dates shown — try your own.
Basis: 6 years from when the loss was suffered, taken here as the date of the event, the earliest it can run (s.2 Limitation Act 1980).
Getting closeA simplified estimate under the Limitation Act 1980 for guidance only — not legal advice. Negligence: the later of six years from the act or three years from your date of knowledge, capped at fifteen years. Contract: six years from breach, or twelve for a deed. A solicitor will confirm your exact deadline from your documents.
Guides
Written to be understood, checked against the law.
Every guide names its sources, carries a published and updated date, and says who wrote it. How we work.
What the court expects you to do before you sue: pre-action conduct explained
The Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct, what a letter of claim must contain, why refusing mediation can cost you even if you win, and how the court tracks and fixed costs shape your decision.
Time limits for professional negligence claims: six years, three years, and the fifteen-year longstop
How the Limitation Act 1980 sets the deadline for claims against surveyors, solicitors, architects and accountants, when the clock starts, what 'date of knowledge' really means, and how a standstill agreement buys time.
The professional negligence pre-action protocol: what happens before a claim is issued
The step-by-step process a claim against a surveyor, solicitor or accountant follows before court — preliminary notice, letter of claim, the three-month response, and why most claims settle inside it.
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