Hello again Now have the letter. It's from their solicitors. It states: You will note that the Order which you have provided to us stated that the costs were to be assessed if not agreed. There has been no attempt on your part to negotiate settlement of the costs. Instead you have sought to disregard the Order and commence detailed assessment which will only seek to increase the costs further. We reserve the right to show this letter to the Judge when considering the reasonableness of the costs which you are claiming. Turning to the costs that you are claiming and the detailed assessment proceedings, you are already aware that the Claimant has issued an application to have the claim reinstated. We have spoken to the Court and the matter has not been returned from the Judge. We propose to file the points of dispute however we would request that you refrain from taking any further action in respect of your costs pending determination of our client's application as the outcome of the application will have an effect on the detailed assessment proceedings. We look forward to hearing from you by return. The letter is headed Without Prejudice, Save as to Detailed Assessment. 1) As per my thread above, how else were we meant to get our costs? 2) How will our detailed assessment increase the costs further? If we don't agree then we have to make an application which costs us, although we can add it to the amount being claimed, £325. If they don't respond then we pay £60 for a default costs certificate. So isn't the ball in their court as to whether cost increase? Aren't they the ones increasing costs? If they'd paid their fee this probably wouldn't have been struck out and they wouldn't have had to pay a fee to apply to have it reinstated and we wouldn't have paid a fee to apply for our costs. 3) Our costs are very reasonable. We've included professional fees, plus our application costs, plus our time off for the survey and time spent taking up our decking and digging holes in preparation of the survey plus time spent reinstating the decking. And believe you me we haven't claimed for as many hours as it actually took! 4) They told me by email on 31 July that they had made an application to reinstate. Wrong! An application was only received by the Courts on 20 August. That'll be why it hasn't been returned by the Judge yet. 5) The look forward to hearing from us by return, yet they haven't asked us any questions. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

And so the saga continues. The builder or their solicitor have written to us (haven't seen the letter yet). Apparently we've gone about getting our costs the wrong way. We shouldn't have completed an N252 – Notice of commencement of assessment of bill of costs but should have written to them to negotiate the costs. But surely they can negotiate the costs now? We've told them what they are they tell us what they don't agree with? They've advised that they intend to dispute, but haven't said what they don't agree with, but they are going to wait until their application to reinstate the claim has been heard. I've spoken with the Courts and their application to reinstate the claim was received on 20 August. The claim was struck out on 17 July. Any thoughts? Thanks

Thank you

Have calmed down a bit now and am therefore after some more help please! The assessment fee is £325.00 and the cost to issue a default costs certificate is £60. So at the top of the form I have increased our costs by £325. But it then says "together with interest (see note below)", but I can't see anything about interest. What should/can I do about this? Right at the bottom of the form it says that if we haven't received a dispute by the appropriate date then we will ask the court to issue a default costs certificate for the full amount of my bill (see above) plus fixed costs and court fee in the total amount of £...... If they don't dispute then I guess we don't complete the N258 and don't need to pay the £325. So can I leave this figure out of the total at the bottom? Do I simply put the amount we're claiming, £2,616 plus the £60 fee? Also sorry, being thick here, but who do I need to serve the N252 on? As far as I know the claimant are still represented, so do I simply serve this on their solicitors? Thanks

Thanks guys, will have another read tomorrow, but for now I'm fed up and am not going to do anything. Will have another look tomorrow. PS I think the insurance policy is non existant. I do have a copy and perhaps it may be worth a letter to them with details of the costs, but I guess as an insurer, they would only deal with their Insured. Hubby has now been escorted off the motorway and another nice bottle of rioja is beckoning......

Sorry guys, but I know everyone hates debt collectors, but can I not simply pass this on?

OMG, I have to pay approx £500 to get my costs agreed? Well there's absolutely no point in me going any further. They don't have the money. End of. We were provided with a copy of their bank statement in February and there wasn't very much in it, although there was slightly more than our costs, which by the way, we've only claimed £2,616, which is broken down as follows: Conservatory 1 v Mr & Mrs XXXXXX Claim Number XXXXXX Summary of Costs Counsels fee – XXXXXXX LLP £1,320.00 (copy invoice attached) Research, preparation and disclosure regarding the standard disclosure by lists and Litigants in Person (Costs and Expenses) Act 1975 (10 hours) £ 180.00 Preparing N244 (1hour) £ 18.00 Court fees for filing of N244 £ 45.00 Preparing a supplementary witness statement (5 hours) £ 90.00 1 day off work to allow access for single joint expert (7 hours) £ 126.00 Time spent removing decking & digging holes to allow Inspection of foundations by the single joint expert (2 hours) £ 36.00 Time spent reinstating decking and filling in holes following Inspection of foundations by the single joint expert (2 hours) £ 36.00 XXXXXXXX’s fee (SJE) £ 720.00 (copy invoice attached) Court fees for filing of N244 – application for costs £ 45.00 TOTAL £2,616.00 I haven't claimed for a vast amount of which which we've done on this, the letters we've typed, the paper, the ink, envelopes, postage. We've been very fair and reasonable (as we have throughout the entire process). Sorry, Mike, completely stress again (it doesn't take much) and I've hit the bottle to try and alleviate the stress! Plus hubby has broken down on the m'way!!! If I got it right, that it's going to cost approx £500 to pursue this, it's a no goer, other than I'll defo write to my local MP about the injustice of the so called justice system.

No offence to anyone on here, but this is a farce! So I've applied for my costs and paid for the privilege and now I have to jump through hoops to even attempt to get them paid (which I daresay they won't). Please, what do i need to do? Do I just fill out an N252 and send it to their solicitors? With a break down of the costs and supporting invoices? If so, I'm not sure I understand the form. OK obviously with the top right hand side, then the order dd 14 August and the total amount of the costs. But this form relates to an assessment fee. Are we going to have to have this "assessed", pay a fee and go to Court, again? Date of service is 21 days after service and presumably if I put this in the post tomorrow, date of service would be Tuesday 21 August and therefore 21 days after would be 11 September, but we have a Bank Holiday in between, so will this be 12 September? I guess I only need to serve this on the solicitors or should I serve on the solicitors and claimant? Sorry, the justice system just really gets to me!

Thanks Ganymede So do we simply write and ask for them?

Evening all Received an order re our application for costs, which states: IT IS ORDERED THAT It is recorded that this claim is struck out in accordance with paragraphs 17 of the Order of 10th July 2012. The Claimant shall pay the Defendant's costs of the action pursuant to CPR 3.4(3). Such costs shall be assessed if not agreed. Ok, so we've been awarded our costs, but what does "Such costs shall be assess if not agreed" mean? Also, presumably this will have been sent to the Claimant's solicitor. Do we now write to the Claimant's requesting our costs? Thanks again in advance.

Hi Mike I was wondering if you could help me again! If I understand the attached appeal correctly, then the claimant had his claim struck out (due to not paying costs on time), applied to have the claim reinstated but was denied, so appealed and the appeal was allowed and referred back to the County Court. How would I find out what actually happened with the case, just out of interest. Thanks

Hello again Andrew1 Back home again! Just read what you said earlier, ie "I'm not going near a court again", however, if you made a complaint with the IPS depending on how far the complaint progressed you may have to. As mentioned, I've already made a complaint against 2 members and the complaint has been taken very seriously (but it is long winded, as everything seems to be with the judiciary. I made my complaint formal end of December 2011 and it was only heard last week, but then this has no bearings on my actual court case now so I can just sit back and wait) and is now being referred to tribunal. Not entirely sure what this entails until it gets there, but I do need to agree and sign a witness statement (fortunately IPS will prepare this based on the information I have provided, obviously I'll need to go through to ensure it's correct, but at least they do the leg work and set it all out correctly) and I may possibly have to attend the tribunal as a witness. If this is what it takes to send out a message that we will not accept unacceptable behaviour, then so be it. I'm not even sure where the tribunal will be held. IPS are based in Bedford but the guys I've complained about are from the North West. If I need to go to Bedford, I will.

From what I've been told, unless you are a solicitors client, you cannot make a complaint against a solicitor with the SRA. The SRA take the view that if they allowed this happen then the opposing party would always make a complaint. You can check if a solicitor is a member of ILEX here http://www.cilex.org.uk/about_cilex_lawyers/cilex_lawyers_directory.aspx. However, the 2 members that I complained about, whilst members, weren't lawyers, so didn't appear on the list. It depends what level you are, I think, if you are shown. Which is why you may need to speak with them to see if the solicitors you are not happy with are actually members. I can't find the 2 people i'm thinking of making a complaint against so I have made an email request for confirmation. Fortunately for me, as I am already in correspondence about the original 2 I have a direct email address for IPS. Hopefully this link http://www.cilex.org.uk/PDF/IPS%20Code%20of%20Conduct%20May%2010%20final.pdf will open up the IPS Code of Conduct. Have a look and see what codes they're breaking, then follow the complaints procedure. Apologies for the quick email, I'm off out! But will check back in later.

That's quite a read! Lets hope we get somebody of a like mind to Lord Justice Jackson.

Thinking about it. I think I have very good evidence to make complaints against code of conduct points 1, 2 & 3. I may not have a legal background but I am very meticulous and organised and I think they may have dug their own grave should I make a complaint based on written correspondence that I've received from them. I'm just waiting confirmation as to whether they are actually members of ILEX. The litigation executive claims to be, so I see no reason why she isn't. Then I'll have to think about how this will effect my case.

If it were me, I'd check to see if either of the solicitors were members of ILEX (quick phone call or email is all it'll take) and if so, I'd make a complaint about their conduct to the IPS. I've made complaints against 2 members of ILEX and both had hearings last week and the matter for both has been referred to tribunal. Have a read of IPS code of conduct and you'll probably find that they're in breach of them (1 of the conditions of membership is that they must obey court orders), in which case, you can make a complaint. I'm considering making a complaint against 2 further members, 1 of whom is a litigation executive and another is a fully fledged solicitor. I too feel completely frustrated with the legal system and these rogue solicitors, whether authorised to practice or not, should be stopped. Good luck Andrew1's friend and Will Lliw

Thanks Mike

Hello Mike Yes this does refer to sanction relief. More particulary, having the case reinstated. Thanks

Hello again Was just wondering if anyone could give me an opinion as to what "prompt" or "undue delay" is? Thanks

Thank you so much for your post ihateyes I've got to tell you, right now we're feeling pretty low and feeling like the system is really letting us down. Have been doing LOTS of research regarding applications for reinstatement, cpr3.9, abuse of process etc. Whilst we can't do anything until we have a copy of the application, we'll make sure that we're prepared for when we do receive it. Thanks again to everyone for your help and support.

As you say, we'll just have to wait and see. Will be sending in a witness statement in response once we get a copy of the application.

Application to reinstate received by the Courts today. Unbelievable! But not unexpected.

Hello Citizen B Defo think this is the photocopying from the other side now I've actually seen what has been left by the post office. Anything from Ebay comes in the name on the ebay account (which I'm not telling, just in case they happen to be reading this!). So it defo has to be from them so I'm not collecting it. It'll be returned to them in 18 days. There was no need to post. I told them not to and they'd emailed everything to me. Totally unnecessary. Just trying it on.

Me again! Received another email, at work, after I had left on Tuesday (and wasn't in yesterday so didn't see it till today). Basically stating that whilst we hadn't agreed their per sheet cost, we had agreed their reasonable costs. They also advised that they have filed an application with the Court to have the matter reinstated - no suprise there! However, 2 days later and the Courts have still not received an application. Bullying tactics again? Maybe they intend to but they specifically advised that they had file and application, which is clearly not correct. Why would their client be willing to pay the application fee, plus eventually the court fee, when he wasn't prepared to pay the court fee in the first place? Unfortunately, the Courts would not accept our emails, despite telling us to email them, in respect of costs and we've had to make a formal application and pay the fee. I've hand delivered these today. I did take them down after work on Tuesday, but there's no post box! I was going to take them yesterday but the PSU advised that the public counter is closed from 1pm everyday in August, so there was little point! The PSU and work's solicitor have advised that they don't think I will need to pay the solicitors copying costs. Besides anything else, why did they need to post them since they'd already emailed? It was unnecessary. Unfortunately, works solcitor thinks that should they apply to have the matter reinstated, then it will be, only as maybe the strike out would be deemed a little harsh. I don't see how it could be deemed to be a little harsh considering the clients and their representation's conduct throughout. Works solicitor told me to take some comfort from the fact that if the case is reinstated their solicitor will be given a rought time. Anyhow, that'll be up to a DJ to decided if and when they make the necessary application and pay the appropriate fee. I can't see CPR3.9 going down too well for them though. They need to apply "promptly" to reinstate. What is "promptly"? They've known about the orders since 10 July and the case was struck out when they failed to comply by 17 July. Surely they've had enough time already? Also they'll have to provide evidence that the failure wasn't intentional and that the failure to comply wasn't caused by the claimant. Surely the legal rep won't admit the failure is his doing? This will leave him wide open to an E&O claim. If he does I'll certainly be contacting the SRA and ILEX. I have been doing a lot of research today on how seriously orders should be taken and whether relief should be granted. I've found the case of Marcan Shipping (London) Ltd v Kefalas (2007), ok so this was a much larger claim this this one, but the message was unless orders mean what they say and that a party who feels that the time allowed for performance is insufficient or that the specified consequences are disproportionate, should address his objections to the court making the order. Once the time for compliance has passed, it would be too late to seek indulgence. In another case Fred Perry v Brands Plaza Trading Ltd, ok another large claim, Lord Justice Jackston stated "Non compliance with the Civil Procedure Rules and orders of the court ont he scale that has occurred in this case cannot possibly be tolerated. Any further grant of indulgence to the Defendants in this case would be a denial of justice to the Claimants and a denial of justice to other litigants whose cases await resolution by the court." So let's hope works solicitor is wrong! Works solicitor also said that CPR3.4 only provides an element of protection if the claimant doesn't pay the costs, if they attempt to make a new claim and not for reinstating this one. Bugger! On a brighter note, a parcel has been delivered today (maybe it's from ebay but.....) however, the sender hadn't paid enough postage, so if we want it we have to collect and pay the shortfall and the admin charge. They will hold for 18 days at which point they will return to sender. I guess this is going to be returned to sender! Next instalment to follow shortly no doubt. Thanks for taking the time to read this again.

The thought had crossed our mind too! The solicitors are predominantly property solicitors. Their client is a builder. Their client sent no other than Stephen French round to pay us a visit. Stephen French owns a number of property businesses. I don't trust them.......