Thursday 10 April 2014

Court fees... going UP!

Just thought you might be interested to know that IF you are going to be taking one of your lovely tenants to court, the fees are increasing!

According to Tessa Shepperson of Landlord Law:

"The court fee for eviction proceedings for example will go up from £175 to £280 and the PCOL fee (the possession claims online service used for rent arrears claims only) will go up to £250. 
 
Other changes are:
 
  • the introduction of a generic issue fee (£280) for all non-money cases across the civil court system
  • increases to issue fees for money claims with a value of over £1,500
  • the removal of the fees to submit a directions questionnaire and listing fees – the cost of these processes are now included in the issue fee and the hearing fee
  • increases in small claims track hearing fees
  • the introduction of the same general application fees across the civil court system, including family proceedings
  • increases to fees charged in judicial review proceedings from £60 to £140 for an application for permission and from £215 to £700 for a hearing or oral renewal application
I understand that the enforcement fees are currently unchanged but that they will be undergoing a separate review.

If you are thinking about bringing legal proceedings you may want to consider starting them now so as to avoid the fee increases.  Although I expect a lot of people will be doing this which will probably put a lot of strain on the courts and may result in delays."


If you want to know more, read this report.