2026 HMCTS Grade A rates for London 3 to London 2. These guide summary assessment of court costs and are not a market price list.
Open the HMCTS rates ↗Trust, but verify
The source should be easier to check than the answer is to believe.
A confident paragraph is not enough. A useful answer makes the governing document, relevant law, uncertainty and professional boundary visible.
See the checking standardWhy the homepage uses £350
£350 is a representative hourly rate, not an average.
The homepage uses £350 as a representative current hourly rate for experienced property or dispute work. Location, seniority, type of work and VAT can move the figure materially.
Dean Wilson lists commercial-property solicitors at £300 to £375, associates at £400, and dispute-resolution senior associates at £330 to £350, excluding VAT.
Open the firm’s rates ↗What the number means: it is a useful illustration of how quickly a lease question can become expensive. The actual rate and total cost depend on the firm, person, location and work required.
The evidence standard
Three things that should never be blurred together.
The hierarchy matters. A recollection or operating habit cannot silently override the executed lease or current legislation.
The governing document
Show the title, parties, date, clause and page. Check deeds, headleases or other instruments that may change the apparent answer.
Document-derived factCurrent authoritative law
Show the provision, jurisdiction, effective date and conditions. Link to the official source so the reader can check it.
Legal ruleEvidence and judgment
Separate reports, correspondence, events and user-supplied facts from what the lease and law establish.
Evidence, inference or recommendationNobody gets to 100%
Do not hide the places an answer can still fail.
LEASE-iQ uses layered checks to expose error and disagreement. Consistency is useful evidence, but it is not proof of correctness.
- 01Document structure
Pages, clauses, definitions, parties and schedules stay connected.
- 02Current law
The applicable source is checked as at the date of the question.
- 03Ten-pass juror
The material question is asked ten times. Disagreement is surfaced rather than averaged away.
- 04Human verification
The user opens the cited page and checks the evidence boundary before relying on it.
Not automatic todayDeeds of variation
Supply and check any later deed that could change the signed lease.
Document setHeadlease and underlease
Related interests must be identified and checked together where they govern the issue.
Input qualityPoor scans
OCR can fail. The page image and extracted text still need to be compared.
Say what the sources support
Uncertainty is part of the answer.
LEASE-iQ should help the reader distinguish a supported conclusion from a plausible reading, a missing provision or a source pack that cannot yet answer the question.
- Supported
- The reviewed sources directly support the proposition.
- Partly supported
- The core point is supported, but conditions or scope differ.
- Not found
- The reviewed sources do not contain the claimed provision.
- Ambiguous
- Two reasonable readings remain or important evidence is missing.
Professional boundary
Know when the groundwork stops and professional judgment begins.
LEASE-iQ can organise the source, explain the reasoning and expose the unresolved point. It should not hide the moment a solicitor, surveyor, accountant or other qualified professional needs to decide.
- 01The wording is ambiguous or the documents conflict.
- 02The matter is disputed, pre-action, in court or in a tribunal.
- 03A statutory deadline or limitation period may apply.
- 04The value, safety or regulatory consequence is material.
- 05Surveying, accounting, tax or another regulated expertise is needed.
- 06Someone needs a definitive professional opinion or intends to rely on it.
- 07The source pack is incomplete and the missing material could change the answer.
Before you use the answer
Four checks before it becomes a letter or decision.
The value of LEASE-iQ is that the next person can inspect the route. Do that before acting on a consequential answer.
- 01Open the clause
Check that the wording and page answer the question you actually asked.
- 02Check the parties and document set
Make sure the lease belongs to the right flat and that no deed, headlease or later document changes the point.
- 03Open the current law
Check the jurisdiction, date, scope and conditions of any legislation or official guidance relied on.
- 04Escalate the exact open point
If the wording, facts or consequence remain material, give the solicitor or other professional the focused question and sources already found.
Take the next step in LEASE-iQ
Build a source map before asking for a conclusion.
Use this when the issue is unclear or several clauses may interact.
Keep checking: A well-structured question makes uncertainty easier to see. It does not turn incomplete sources into certainty.
Independent sources
