Small Claims Limit Rises to £10,000
The small claims limit rose from £5,000 to £10,000 from 1st April 2013 as a result of amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules.
What does this mean?
In a nutshell, if someone owes you up to £10,000 you will not be able to recover ANY of your legal fees from them.
This has its pros and cons as people may be more likely to defend a claim against them up to £10,000 if they know that they will not be responsible for any legal fees if they lose. On the flip side, people may be more likely to bring claims for the very same reason as even if their claim is nonsense there’s always a chance a Judge may find in their favour.
What about Court Fees for Small Claims?
You can find details of all Court Fees in leaflet EX50 which you can find below. The leaflet was published in April 2011 so will probably change although for some reason this has not happened yet so the fees listed below may very well be out of date soon:
http://hmctscourtfinder.justice.gov.uk/HMCTS/GetLeaflet.do?court_leaflets_id=264
Issue Fees
Amount Claimed Fee
up to £300 £35
£300.01 – £500 £50
£500.01 – £1,000 £70
£1,000.01 – £1,500 £80
£1,500.01 – £3,000 £95
£3,000.01 – £5,000 £120
Allocation Fees
£0 – £1500 £0
£1500 – £5,000 £40
Hearing Fees
up to £300 £25
£300.01 and £500 £55
£500.01 and £1,000 £80
£1,000.01 and £1,500 £110
£1,500.01 and £3,000 £165
more than £3,000 £325
What Do The Specialists Say?
David Healey from Carter & Carter Solicitors in Stockport says:
“We deal with a lot of debt recovery for members of the public whether it be claiming back a loan from a debtor, claiming money and compensation for building work which has gone wrong or breach of contract.
The increase in the Small Claims Limit from £5,000 to £10,000 means that any case up to £10,000 is not cost bearing so you CANNOT recover your legal fees from the other side. People will either have to pay a Solicitor privately or agree to pay a percentage of any monies recovered.
If you need to recover money from someone and are daunted by the prospect of filing County Court Proceedings yourself get in touch.”