Making a complaint against your solicitor: Change to Legal Ombudsman Rules

The legal ombudsman has announced changes ( as from the 1st April ) to its rules regarding the time period for bringing complaints, reducing it to one year from the date of the act or when a complainant should have realised there was an issue.

The decision is due to older cases being more challenging to investigate and the hope is that removing this extra burden will help reduce case backlogs that have been so problematic in recent years.The ombudsman also now has discretion to accept out-of-time complaints if they determine it to be fair and reasonable. In April, the organisation will be able to consider a complaint as resolved through the decision of a case investigator provided neither party objects.

Additionally, complaints can be dismissed under compelling reasons such as lack of significant loss or distress, or if there is undue delay in making a complaint or if an ombudsman finds it too complex to investigate proportionately.