Citation, commencement, extent, and application.

1.  This Order may be cited as the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) Fees Order 2013 and comes into force on 1st July 2013.

2.  This Order extends to England and applies to proceedings in the Tribunal.

Definitions

3.  In this Order-

"lead case" means a case which is directed to be a lead case under rule 23 (lead cases) of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Property Chamber) Rules 2013(2);

"related case" means a case which is directed to be a related case under that rule; and

"Tribunal" means the Property Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal.

Fees payable

4.-(1) Proceedings where fees are payable in accordance with the provisions of this Order are listed in column 1 of Schedule 1 to this Order.

(2) The fee due is set out in column 2 of that Schedule.

(3) Any fee payable for an application under fees 1 to 5 is due at the same time as the application is made.

(4) Any fee payable under fee 6 is due within 14 days of an applicant receiving notice of the hearing date under rule 32 of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Property Chamber) Rules 2013.

Fees: transferred proceedings

5.  Where an issue in proceedings in court has been transferred to the Tribunal and fee 4 or 5 is due, the fee payable shall be the fee due less the total amount of any fees previously paid by the applicant to the court in respect of the court proceedings.

Fees: split hearings

6.-(1) Paragraph (2) applies where the Tribunal has directed that an issue in a related case is to be determined at the hearing of a lead case and the remaining issues are to be determined at a separate hearing.

(2) The fee payable in respect of the hearing of the remaining issues shall be the fee payable under Schedule 1 to this Order less the amount of any fee paid by the applicant in accordance with article 7.

Fees: lead cases

7.  A hearing fee for a lead case shall be payable in equal proportions by-

(a)the applicant in the lead case;

(b)an applicant in a related case; and

(c)an applicant whose application is heard with the lead case.

Fees: apportionment of liability for fees in cases involving more than one applicant

8.-(1) This article applies where a fee is payable under fee 4, 5 or 6.

(2) Subject to paragraph (3) and article 9 (remissions), any fee payable shall be payable in equal proportions by the applicants.

(3) Where proceedings are brought by a tenant or landlord of premises and the tenant is more than one person or the landlord is more than one person, the tenant shall be treated as one person and the landlord shall be treated as one person for the purposes of paragraph (2).

Remissions

9.  Schedule 2, which provides for remissions, has effect.

Article 4

SCHEDULE 1Fees to be taken

Article 9

SCHEDULE 2Remissions

Interpretation

1.  In this Schedule –

"applicant" means the individual who would, but for this Schedule, be liable to pay the fee required under this Order;

"couple" means-

for the purposes of sub-paragraph (d), two people of the same sex are to be regarded as living together as if they were civil partners if, but only if, they would be regarded as living together as husband and wife were they instead two people of the opposite sex;

"partner" means-

Remission

2.-(1) No fee is payable under this Order if the applicant is granted a fee remission.

(2) An applicant is eligible for a fee remission if at the time when a fee would otherwise be payable, the applicant or their partner is in receipt of a qualifying benefit.

(3) The following are qualifying benefits for the purposes of sub-paragraph (2)-

(a)either of the following benefits under part 7 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992(16)-

(i)income support; or

(ii)housing benefit;

(b)an income-based jobseeker's allowance within the meaning of section 1 of the Jobseekers Act 1995(17);

(c)a working tax credit under Part 1 of the Tax Credits Act 2002(18) to which sub-paragraph (4) applies;

(d)a guarantee credit under the State Pensions Credit Act 2002(19);

(e)an income-related employment and support allowance payable under Part 1 of the Welfare and Reform Act 2007(20);

(f)a certificate which has not been revoked or discharged -

(i)which has been issued under the Funding Code(21), being the code approved under section 9 of the Access to Justice Act 1999(22); or

(ii)which has been issued under the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012(23) under arrangements made for the purposes of Part 1 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012(24); and

(iii)which is in respect of the proceedings before the Tribunal where an issue has been transferred from a county court for determination by the Tribunal.

(4) This sub-paragraph applies where-

(a)either

(i)there is disability element or severe disability element (or both) to the tax credit received by the person or their partner; or

(ii)the person or their partner are also in receipt of child tax credit; and

(b)the gross annual income taken into account for the calculation of the working tax credit is £16,190 or less.

3.-(1) An applicant must apply to the Lord Chancellor for a fee remission at the time when the fee would otherwise be payable.

(2) Where the Lord Chancellor refuses a fee remission, the fee must be paid within such period as may be notified in writing by the Lord Chancellor to the applicant or applicants as the case may be.

Reduction of fees

4.  Where a person is not liable to pay a fee by virtue of paragraph 2, the following provisions apply-

(a)where more than one person is the applicant and at least one of those persons is liable to pay a fee, the fee shall be reduced rateably in accordance with the number of persons who would have been liable but for paragraph 2; and

(b)where more than one person is the applicant and at least one person is liable to pay a portion of a fee by virtue of article 7 or 8, such proportion shall be reduced rateably in accordance with the number of persons who would have been liable but for paragraph 2.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order specifies the matters dealt with in the Property Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for which fees are payable. It lists the types of proceedings which attract a fee, identifies the point at which the fee is payable, the person liable to pay such fee and the amount of the fee.

The Transfer of Tribunal Functions Order 2013 (S.I. 2013/1036) transferred into the unified tribunal structure the functions of (amongst others) residential property tribunals and leasehold valuation tribunals in relation to England. The effect of this Order is that the circumstances which attracted fees in those tribunals will attract fees in the Property Chamber, though the amount of the fees has been increased by the rate of inflation since the fees were last increased for those types of proceedings. The original fees are detailed in the Explanatory Memorandum to this Order which is published on the website of the Office of Public Sector Information.

This Order also provides for fees to be remitted in certain circumstances and for fees to be reduced rateably where one or more of the applicants is granted a fee remission.