In 2013 Newham became the first borough in England to require every private landlord within its boundaries to hold a licence, and the scheme has been renewed since. It was a response to the way the borough lives: a larger share of private renters than almost anywhere in London, terraces in East Ham, Forest Gate and Plaistow divided into rooms, and a population that is among the most diverse in Britain. That single legal fact says a great deal about what solicitors in Newham spend their days doing.
Two Newhams
Stratford is the showpiece. The Olympic Park, Westfield, the London Stadium, the university campuses at East Bank and the office towers of the International Quarter have turned it into a second business district. The rest of the borough, from Canning Town and Custom House to Manor Park and Beckton, is where most residents live, and where high-street solicitors on Green Street, Barking Road, High Street North and Romford Road handle housing, immigration, family and crime, often in Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Polish or Romanian as well as English.
Courts and tribunals
Stratford Magistrates' Court on the High Street takes criminal cases from across this part of east London, and trials on indictment go to Snaresbrook Crown Court. Family cases are heard at the East London Family Court at Canary Wharf and employment claims at the London East tribunal in Poplar, while civil and possession claims are listed at county courts outside the borough.
What people in Newham need
Housing dominates: licensing enforcement, overcrowding, disrepair, deposits, evictions and the outbuildings let as bedrooms that the council has prosecuted for years. Conveyancers deal with Victorian terraces bought under Right to Buy or inherited, and with the new towers at Stratford, Canning Town and Royal Wharf, where service charges, cladding certificates and shared ownership raise questions a first-time buyer rarely expects. Employment problems come from London City Airport, the event workforce at ExCeL, the shops of Westfield, the hospitals and the warehouses of Beckton, much of it agency or zero-hours work. Family solicitors handle marriages contracted abroad, children with relatives on three continents, domestic abuse and care proceedings. Business advice is needed by the shops and restaurants of Green Street and East Ham and by the companies moving into the Royal Docks enterprise zone.
Paying for a solicitor
Legal aid matters more in Newham than in most boroughs, and a number of local firms hold contracts for housing, family, immigration and crime. Fixed fees are usual for wills, conveyancing and an uncontested divorce, hourly rates for contested work. Check whether home insurance includes legal expenses cover, and read whether you can get legal help for free. Every firm here is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and featured firms have also passed the site's verification.
Using this page
The sector pages that follow explain each area of law as it works in Newham and list the firms that practise it, verified firms first. Use the Newham search to find solicitors near a postcode, the Tower Hamlets and Hackney pages for the boroughs to the west, and Best Solicitors in London or the borough index for the whole capital.
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