
Next in our series of ebriefings on the Government’s Green Paper: Transforming public procurement; looking at the Chapter 4 proposal to change the basis of contract awards.
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Court Fees
Back in January 2015 we outlined the Government’s plan to increase fees at the County Court. The MoJ has now published the Government’s Response to the consultation and has submitted proposals for further fee increases. These further fee increases are in addition to and separate from the increases to fees for money claims which came into effect from March this year.
Confirmed increases
There will be exceptions for some applications such as varying or extending an injunction for protection from harassment or violence (though this seems to be designed to cover personal injunctions and it is unclear whether it applies to an ASB injunction brought by a social landlord).
Despite overwhelming opposition in response to these proposals the above increases will go ahead and are estimated to generate significant additional income for HMCTS each year. The increases will be laid before Parliament by Statutory Instrument “as soon as Parliamentary time allows”[1]: Parliament is in recess until 7 September but we expect to see these in force during the Autumn possibly.
Proposed further increases
The Government has recognised that the disposable capital thresholds for fee remission (i.e. where person applying can avoid paying the fee due to low income) will also need to be amended and proposes: a capital limit of £20,000 for applications with a fee of £10,000 or more and a limit of £25,000 for applications with a fee of £15,000 or more or where the applicant is aged 61 or over. Whilst the increases may be thought to reduce the number of claims brought by tenants against landlords, the fee remission will probably not affect the majority of low income customers.
There is no clear timeline for when these proposals would come into force, but we would expect to see these changes timetabled for March 2016.
How will this impact on you?
Landlords should note the potential impact on budgets. Reply to the consultation on the proposed further increases before the deadline of 15 September. The Consultation document is available from the justice.gov.uk website and responses should be submitted by Tuesday 15 September to mojfeespolicy@justice.gsi.gov.uk .
Court closures
At the same time the Government has issued a consultation to close more courts. Please click here to view the consultation.
Some of the county courts on the closure list include Bath and St Helen’s. Again the main driver is about reducing the court service’s expenses where courts are not fully busy.
This consultation ends on 8 October 2015 and responses should be sent to email: estatesconsultation@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk.
[1] Paragraph 45 of the Consultation
[2] Excluding personal injury claims which remain capped at £10,000
[3] Excluding personal injury claims which remain capped at £10,000
Please contact the Housing Litigation team on 0121 212 7400.
Next in our series of ebriefings on the Government’s Green Paper: Transforming public procurement; looking at the Chapter 4 proposal to change the basis of contract awards.
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