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If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’ve just discovered something your seller didn’t tell you, and you’re understandably angry about it. It’s one of the most common questions we’re asked in property misrepresentation claims: can we take on the case on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis?

The honest answer is that ‘no win, no fee’ rarely means what people think it means. It doesn’t mean risk-free, and it doesn’t mean cost-free. We think you deserve to understand exactly what you’d be signing up for before you commit to anything, so here’s a clear breakdown.

But there’s no risk or cost to me… is there?

This is the assumption almost every client makes when they first ask us about ‘no win, no fee’. It’s an understandable assumption; the name practically invites it. But it isn’t the full picture.

These arrangements are properly called conditional fee agreements, or CFAs, and they’re more complicated than the marketing suggests. In September 2025, it was reported that the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) was considering a crackdown on misleading marketing around ‘no win, no fee’ claims. If you’re weighing this up, it’s worth reading the SRA’s own guidance on the subject: www.sra.org.uk/consumers/choosing/no-win-no-fee.

Before agreeing to anything, it helps to understand what actually needs paying for, and when. Broadly, a claim involves four types of cost:

your own solicitor’s costs;
your own third party costs, known as disbursements;
your opponent’s solicitor’s costs; and
your opponent’s disbursements.

A genuine ‘no win, no fee’ deal, if you can find one, would typically only cover the first of these.

Your own legal costs

In most CFAs, what’s actually covered is your own solicitor’s costs, and only if you lose. Win, and the picture changes. You’ll usually be expected to pay those costs after all, plus what’s called an uplift, or success fee, on top.

+ If you win your claim

When a claim succeeds in Court, the Court will normally order the losing side to pay a proportion of the winner’s costs. That order will not include the uplift, which comes out of your compensation.

+ Disbursements and expert costs

And then there are disbursements. In a property misrepresentation claim, you’ll often need an expert surveyor’s opinion on diminution in value, essentially, how much the property’s value has actually been affected by the issue in contention. Third party funding or an insurance policy can sometimes cover this, but that funding isn’t free either; you’ll pay interest on a loan or a premium on a policy, deducted from whatever sum you eventually win.

+ Barristers and Court costs

If your case reaches trial, or sometimes earlier, you may need a barrister. Barristers aren’t obliged to offer ‘no win, no fee’ terms, and if they do, they may charge their own success fee too.

Put all of that together, and a claim that looked like a guaranteed windfall can shrink considerably once the legal costs are accounted for.

+ If you change your mind

You should also consider what happens if you simply change your mind partway through the legal process. Many agreements will ask you to pay for the work already done, since your solicitor has been carrying that cost on your behalf up to that point.

In short, a CFA works a little bit like an insurance policy.
You pay more if you win, in exchange for the security of paying less if you lose

Someone is taking on the risk of not being paid at all, and if they succeed, they will reasonably expect to be compensated for having taken that risk.

Your opponent’s legal costs

There’s a second question that matters just as much: what if you lose?

If the Court orders you to pay your opponent’s legal costs and disbursements, could you actually afford to? A CFA will not cover this for you. It’s sometimes possible to take out insurance against your opponent’s costs, but once again, that comes with a premium to pay.

Will Cunningtons offer a ‘no win, no fee’ agreement?

No solicitor is obliged to accept a case on any particular funding basis, and we’re no different. We’re not opposed to CFAs in principle, but our preference has always been to keep things simple and fair for our clients, and we hope the explanation above shows you why.

We could charge success fees on CFAs if we wanted to. Instead, we prefer to charge a straightforward hourly rate, with an accurate cost estimate given at the outset and kept under regular review as your case progresses, so you always know where you stand financially.

If you’re offered a ‘no win, no fee’ deal elsewhere, take it with a healthy pinch of salt. Ask the questions that matter:

what exactly is covered,
what happens if you win,
and what happens if you don’t.

You deserve a clear picture of where you could end up financially before you agree to anything.

Talk to us about your claim

Every property misrepresentation case is different, and the right way to fund yours will depend on the details. Get in touch with our civil litigation team for a clear, no-obligation quotation, and we’ll talk you through your options honestly, with no hidden surprises further down the line.

Property misrepresentation isn’t a local matter; it’s a specialist one. Wherever you are in the country, we can help, and a good deal of the work can be done by phone and email without you needing to travel.

If you’d rather speak to someone in person, we’re happy to arrange that too.

A Way Around a Conditional Fee Agreement

And if a CFA doesn’t feel like the right fit for you, there’s another way to get clarity before committing to anything. Our Fixed-Fee Property Misrepresentation Assessment gives you a professional review of your case, and an honest view of its potential, all for a clear £400 plus VAT. No surprises, no open-ended commitment, just a straightforward answer on where you stand.

Our related articles covering Property Misrepresentation

We have a lot more information about property misrepresentation, so you can read around the subject before you go any further.

‘No Win, No Fee’ Agreements in Property Misrepresentation Claims