Detailed Assessment of the
Bailiff Fees.
The Statutory Regulations provide that if there is a dispute about
the fees charged by a bailiff company, that you should apply
to the County Court for what is called a Detailed
Assessment of the fees. (Previously referred to as Taxation of
the fees). This means that a Costs Officer with examine the bill that you have been provided with and he will decided if the fees charged are reasonable or not. He will not be looking at anything other the the fees charged.
For Detailed Assessment you must apply within 12 months of receiving a bill
and the court where the application needs to be made must be
in the same district where “distress was levied”.
There are a number of problems with using Detailed Assessment
as a way of resolving a dispute concerning the fees charged, the
first being that there is a very large Court Fee to pay.
In the Bailiffs Complaints section
of our Downloads area you will see
that we have provided further information on how Detailed Assessment
works, and the alternatives to this procedure.
If you think that the fees charged by a High
Court Enforcement Officer are too high, you will need to
apply to the High Court for a Detailed Assessment of the fees.
This means, that a Costs Officer will decide if the fees you have
been charged, are reasonable or not. The situation is very similar
to that mentioned above, with the exception being, that the Court
Fee is currently £600, which understandably, has put this
method of resolving any dispute out of the reach of most people.
There are proposals currently being considered by HM Court Service to reduce
this fee to £300.We will update this page if this happens.
Note:
Although the regulations provide that disputes about fees are made via Detailed Assessment, it is the case that very few people use this method and instead they either write an informal letter of complaint to the bailiff company or file a formal FORM 4 COMPLAINT about the certificated bailiff to the County Court that granted him his certificate.
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