Pre-action protocol costs

Birmingham City Council v Lee [2008] EWCA Civ 891 CA 30 July

The secure tenant’s solicitors had sent to the local authority a letter of claim in respect of disrepair, invoking the Pre-action Protocol for Housing Disrepair Cases. Most of the repairs were carried out and the council offered a global sum for damages and costs. It was agreed that any action would have been allocated to the small claims track as it was for less than £5,000 and there was no claim for specific performance. The court refused to order costs on the fast track.