In small claim in court, can I claim printing, envelopes and postage costs?

steampowered

Your printing and postage costs sound reasonable to me. If this were a fast track or multi track case, I'm sure you would get £25 awarded without too much difficulty.

A litigant in person in those types of case can claim disbursements on the same basis as a solicitor, and those sort of printing costs are within the realms of what printing shops and solicitors charge.

However I don't think it matters since you can't claim printing costs in small claims track anyway (unless a general costs order is made on the basis of unreasonable behaviour, which is unusual).

steampowered

Ricardo1980 wrote: »

Yes, there was a death line for sending the witness statement and I didn't receive it. I think this landlord is not taking court seriously. Not only that, in the claim response, he didn't write any defence.

You could perhaps consider asking for costs at the LiP rate of £19 an hour, by making a costs application at the end of the case, if you win the case and you get the impression that the judge thinks the landlord was unreasonable.

I read carefully CPR 27.14, I see the list you say, but my question was more regarding "the fixed costs attributable to issuing the claim which" (is an envelope or stamp a cost attributable to issuing the claim?). Anyway, as dsdhall suggested, I will ask. Than

Fixed costs are a specific legal term to costs claimable by solicitors when handling routine cases. Have a quick look at CPR 45 on Fixed Costs (https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part45-fixed-costs#sectionI) - "This Section sets out the amounts which, unless the court orders otherwise, are to be allowed in respect of legal representatives’ charges."

So, fixed costs can't be used to cover postage costs and are not available to you as a litigant in person.

Ricardo1980

Thanks a lot steampowered, very useful reply.
I think I already have enough info regarding this. Thanks.

DoaM

Ricardo1980 wrote: »

I think this landlord is not taking court seriously. Not only that, in the claim response, he didn't write any defence.

That is actually the correct procedure (assuming you're talking about him acknowledging the claim). The general advice when doing so is to NOT put anything in the Defence field ... if you do then that is your defence and you can't change or add to it. If you leave it blank then:

a) You get an additional 14 days to prepare your defence (witness statement), so 28 days from the claim date; and
b) You can properly prepare a defence based on the claimant's submission.

daytona0

Ricardo1980 wrote: »

Printing witness statement twice (43 pages each one, almost all of them pics): 13.23 pounds.
Send witness statement to court: 7.25 pounds (I said it was an important document and I was charge more than usual).
Send Form N180 to defendant: 1.74 pounds (first class mail unsigned)
Send Form N180 to court: 2.38 pounds (Probably because I selected recorded delivery, not sure)
Sending LBA: 1.74
Sending Form N1: 1.74
Total 28.08 pounds. I don't see anything unreasonable here, and I have all the bills.
Evidently I am not going to buy a printer for this. I have to go to a place to get it printed.

Anyway, thanks.
I will ask in court as dsdhall suggested.

Fair enough!

Ricardo1980

DoaM wrote: »

That is actually the correct procedure (assuming you're talking about him acknowledging the claim). The general advice when doing so is to NOT put anything in the Defence field ... if you do then that is your defence and you can't change or add to it. If you leave it blank then:

a) You get an additional 14 days to prepare your defence (witness statement), so 28 days from the claim date; and
b) You can properly prepare a defence based on the claimant's submission.

Thanks for reply DoaM.
I think that is not the case.
My defendant and I received an order from court regarding the witness statement and a dead line, and it was very clear.

The dead line already expired, many days ago.

I already sent my witness statement to court and my defendant on time, however I didn't receive anything from him. So, I guess the only possibility is that he is not taking seriously the fact he is going to court.