Cost for sending solicitor letters?

Paulalfc

Hi

Can anyone tell me how much you are allowed to charge solicitors for sending them letters regarding a small claims court case?. We are representing ourselves and have done all admin ourselves. We are just trying to get our costs together for the judge.

Thanks

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Seek Professional Advice!

DoaM

I think legal costs of £50 are allowed ... provided legal costs have actually been incurred.

steampowered

I suspect the answer is 'nothing'. But much more information is required before anyone can give you a sensible response.

Without further details, all I can do is point you towards the small claims track costs rules here: https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part27#27.14.

bris

Nothing, you can't charge anything to get your case together.


If you win you can get travel and admin costs, some loss of earnings if you can prove it but it's limited.


If you lose you will have to pay their costs but it's limited too so not going to break the bank.

CIS

Small claims are very limited in what you can claim - as a litigant in person you can however claim an hourly fee depending on the situation.You can also ask for any court fees to be granted if you win.
http://www.atjf.org.uk/litigant-in-person-costs.html

Ectophile

I would say 65p for a stamp, per letter. Paper is about a penny a sheet if you're using ordinary printer paper. Maybe a few pence for the envelope. A penny or two for printer ink.

You might get away with £1 per letter.

DoaM

CIS wrote: »

You can also ask for any court fees to be granted if you win.
http://www.atjf.org.uk/litigant-in-person-costs.html

Ask? Unless the judge thought the claimant acted in any way unreasonably then court costs (filing and hearing fees) should be automatically granted, as the amount claimed would include those fees.

steampowered

The definitive list of costs which can be claimed in small claims track are set out in the link to the court rules I posted.

To be clear, the rules do not allow you to claim postage costs.

They do allow you to claim court fees. These would be awarded in most cases (regardless of whether the defendant behaved unreasonably or not).

In small claims track, you would only be able to claim hourly costs at the litigant in person rate of £19 an hour if you could prove that the other party behaved unreasonably. This test is strictly applied and such costs are only awarded in a very small number of cases.