‘One of the things that may be surprising about remediation orders and remediation contribution orders, both potentially expensive pieces of litigation that leaseholders may be forced to pursue, is that the FtT’s jurisdiction on costs is the “no costs” jurisdiction under rule 13 of its Rules. Costs (beyond payment of application fees) can only be awarded by the FtT if a party has behaved unreasonably, a high threshold, or for wasted costs (likewise). Although the Building Safety Act 2022 did not expressly say that the FtT was to have this no costs jurisdiction (rather than its costs jurisdictions for example in relation to its Land Registration or telecoms), amendments to the Rules from 1 November 2022 make express which jurisdictions can have real cost implications. The new Building Safety Act jurisdictions are not included.’

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Falcon Chambers, 18th September 2023

Source: www.falcon-chambers.com