Ground rent dispute / county court claim

[Gordon999]

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-...ney/court-fees

The court fee is based on the amount you’re claiming, plus interest.

Up to £300	£35	£25
£300.01 to £500	£50	£35
£500.01 to £1,000	£70	£60

[thomas991]

Thanks both.
Just seems a bit wrong that the freeholder can put me through all this when he was clearly in the wrong and not get any “punishment”

[eagle2]

Before you commence a county court action, you should contact the freeholder and ask him to reimburse your reasonable costs. I doubt that he will agree but there may be an alternative method of resolving a dispute under the terms of your lease. You would need to be able to provide evidence of loss of earnings. It is up to you to consider whether or not to risk spending further time on this matter. You have succeeded with the main point and you have avoided charges in the future,

[Macromia]

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-...ney/court-fees

The court fee is based on the amount you’re claiming, plus interest.

Yes, but the court fees for an application are not the only cost, you also have to factor in the cost of your time, and costs of photocopying, postage, etc. for communications regarding the claim.

Even if it only costs £25 + some of your time, that's still another £25 it may have cost you because there is no guarantee that you'll win any award of costs.

Thanks both.
Just seems a bit wrong that the freeholder can put me through all this when he was clearly in the wrong and not get any “punishment”

That's life I'm afraid - and if you pursue it as a "punishment", you could lose and also end up paying their costs of defending against your claim (courts don't like claims that they consider to be vindictive)

Before you commence a county court action, you should contact the freeholder and ask him to reimburse your reasonable costs. I doubt that he will agree but there may be an alternative method of resolving a dispute under the terms of your lease.

There is certainly nothing to lose from doing this (other than the time taken to write a letter and the cost of an envelope and stamp if you send it by post).
It's unlikely that it'll get you anywhere though.



What you have already 'won' is probably the best that you'll get - your freeholder/managing agents now know that you won't back down to unwarranted claims and will expect them to do things properly.

[eagle2]

You should not underestimate what you have achieved, you have avoided legal fees of £700. You could have paid and saved the time and inconvenience but if you had done that, the next time, legal fees would have been £1000 and then £1500 and so on until you stopped and said enough is enough. You should inform your fellow leaseholders and perhaps they will volunteer contributions to you.

The point of my posting at #48 was to warn you that you should try to reach agreement with the freeholder (emails would cost you nothing) before you commence any legal action and to consider if there is an alternative way of claiming compensation eg your lease may state that you can refer disputes to a surveyor who could decide whether or not you are entitled to compensation and who should pay for the cost of appointing him. The threat of claiming to raise a dispute in this manner may persuade the freeholder to make you an offer. .