A solicitor has offered to take your case on "no win, no fee". It sounds like free representation. Lose, and you pay nothing. In practice there can still be insurance premiums, expenses and exit costs, so the deal is rarely as risk-free as it sounds.
Some of those costs are hidden in the small print. The rest come from the gap between what you want from your case and what pays your lawyer.
How does no win, no fee work?
No win, no fee is available for most civil claims, though not for criminal or family cases. The usual form is a conditional fee agreement, or CFA, lawful since section 58 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. You usually pay the firm nothing if you lose. If you win, the losing side usually pays most of the firm's costs, and you may pay any shortfall and often a success fee, capped at 100% of the firm's base costs.
The losing side cannot be ordered to pay a CFA success fee (section 58A(6)), so it comes out of what you recover, and unless your housing claim includes an injury, such as illness from damp or mould, no law caps how much of your damages it takes. A damages-based agreement, or DBA, takes a share of your compensation instead, up to 50% including VAT outside injury and employment claims (regulation 4(3)). What a conditional fee agreement means before you sign one explains both deals, and what percentage no win no fee solicitors take works through what you keep.
Who pays the other side's costs if you lose a no win, no fee case?
Many firms arrange after-the-event (ATE) insurance, which pays the other side's costs if you lose, though it isn't compulsory. The losing side generally cannot be ordered to pay your premium (section 58C), so if you win it usually comes out of your compensation. Read the policy before you sign, especially any duty to accept reasonable settlement offers.
Can I be ordered to pay the other side's costs in a housing claim?
In England, the First-tier Tribunal can only order costs in a rent repayment order case in limited situations, such as where a party has acted unreasonably (rule 13). A small claim in the County Court is similarly limited (rule 27.14). And if you win a small claim, the landlord usually cannot be ordered to pay your lawyer's costs, so your agreement decides how much of them comes out of your compensation. A claim asking for repairs is normally allocated to the fast track once the repairs or your other damages are worth more than £1,000 (CPR 26.9).
Above that limit the loser can be ordered to pay the other side's costs. Ask the firm what your own claim could cost you if it fails.
What to look for in a good no win, no fee deal
Look for a firm that offers:
- Clear terms if you lose or win. You should pay nothing if you lose, and know exactly what comes out of your compensation if you win.
- No hidden costs. Disbursements, meaning court fees, expert reports and other expenses, and any insurance premium are set out in pounds, along with which you pay if you lose (what else comes out of your compensation).
- A straight answer on loans. If the firm offers a loan for these costs, it tells you whether the lender pays it a commission and what the loan costs in total.
- An honest case check. Your chances are assessed properly before anyone encourages you to claim.
- Insurance clarity. You know who arranges the policy, who pays the premium, and what happens if cover is disputed.
What are the pitfalls of no win, no fee?
Most of the disadvantages come from one fact. The firm earns nothing on a lost case.
Will a paralegal handle my no win, no fee case?
High-volume firms rely on the winners to pay for the losers, which can mean your case is handled mostly by paralegals, with slow updates.
Ask who will run your case day to day, and how often you'll hear from them.
Can my solicitor pressure me to settle early?
A quick settlement pays the firm sooner than a long fight for a bigger award, so you may be advised to accept an early offer. Some early offers are fair, so ask the firm to explain in writing why it recommends the offer. Check what your agreement and ATE policy say about refusing an offer the firm recommends.
What is claim farming?
A claims farmer is a middleman who finds people with possible claims, often by cold call or a flyer about damp, and passes them on to a law firm.
Be wary of an unsolicited approach, and never let anyone make a claim in your name that overstates what happened.
What happens when a no win, no fee claim goes wrong?
No win, no fee problems tend to surface months after you sign.
What happens if my solicitor drops my case?
Firms sometimes drop a case that gets harder than expected. The termination clause sets out whether you then owe disbursements or the firm's charges for work done, so read it before you sign. An unfair term does not bind you, and you can ask the court to check the bill.
Can I cancel a no win, no fee agreement?
If you signed it at home, online or over the phone, you usually have 14 days to cancel under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. If the firm never told you about that right, you have up to 12 months and 14 days. If it tells you late, you have 14 days from when you get the information (regulation 31).
Cancelling inside the 14 days is not always free. If you asked the firm to start work within the 14 days, it can charge a proportionate amount for what it has done before you cancel (regulation 36). You owe nothing for that work if you never made that request, or if the firm did not tell you about your right to cancel or that you would have to pay for work done. If you signed in person somewhere other than the firm's office, the request only counts if it was made in a form you can keep, such as on paper or by email.
After the window closes, the agreement's termination clause sets what you owe.
What if after-the-event insurance won't pay out?
An ATE insurer can still dispute cover later, for example if it thinks the case was too weak or you didn't cooperate.
If the insurer refuses to pay, complain to it first, then to the Financial Ombudsman Service. A complaint about how your solicitor handled the case goes to the firm first. If you are unhappy with its final response, or it has not resolved things within 8 weeks, you can go to the Legal Ombudsman. Each ombudsman has deadlines, usually 6 months from the final response, and the Legal Ombudsman also needs your complaint within one year of the problem, or of when you should have realised it, so don't wait.
Will the no win, no fee rules change?
The Civil Justice Council recommended in June 2025 that the separate CFA and DBA rules be replaced by a single set of rules. The government's response on 17 December 2025 said it would legislate on two recommendations about third-party litigation funding and look at the rest only after that. No bill has been introduced, so the current rules still apply.
Not sure what a no win, no fee offer would cost you? Remedy can read the agreement with you and set out the costs, insurance and exit terms in plain English before you sign.
Frequently asked questions
It can be, on a claim big enough to leave the small claims track, if it comes with ATE insurance, because losing there can mean paying the other side's costs. On a small claim or a tribunal case that risk is already limited, and your own lawyer's costs can come out of your award, so the deal buys you less. Get the deductions in pounds before you sign.
Usually not your own solicitor's fees. You may still owe disbursements your ATE policy doesn't cover. If you have no ATE cover, you may also have to pay the other side's costs if the court orders it. Check both points in the agreement before you sign.
No. The law doesn't require it, though many firms arrange it. Without it you carry the risk of paying the other side's costs if you lose and are ordered to pay them. In a small claim or a First-tier Tribunal case, that risk is usually limited.
Yes, you are free to instruct someone else. Your old firm may be able to charge for the work it has done, depending on the termination clause. Read that clause before you move, and ask the new firm how it will deal with anything owed to the old one.
Criminal and family cases can't be run on an enforceable conditional fee agreement (section 58A) or damages-based agreement (section 58AA). The exception is a statutory nuisance complaint under section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. It is technically a criminal case, but tenants bring it over disrepair and can use a CFA.
