In almost all legal proceedings, the Courts will usually decide who must pay for the legal costs associated with the underlying legal proceedings and will make a “cost order” to this effect. The normal rule is that “costs follow the cause”, or in other words, the successful party will normally be granted a cost order in their favour.
Something else to bear in mind is that the Courts can order that the cost order be on a particular scale, with those scales being: party-and-party costs; attorney-and-client costs; and; attorney-and-own-client costs. The scales differ as follows:
Party-and-party Costs
These are the legal costs that are incurred according to the applicable Court’s prescribed tariffs and which costs are strictly necessary for the matter to proceed. This means that you will not get back the majority of your legal costs because this is the lowest scale, which applies by default.
Attorney-and-client Costs
These are the legal costs that are incurred for all attendances but at the applicable Court’s prescribed tariffs. These costs are normally awarded when the applicable agreement specifically provides that the tenant shall be liable for the landlord’s “attorney-and-client” legal costs.
This is the second-highest cost scale and does not apply by default unless the applicable agreement specifically allows this scale to be claimed. It is also possible to ask for this scale because of the misconduct by the non-paying tenant.
Attorney-and-own-client Costs
You can only claim attorney-and-own-client costs in the High Courts and this is usually only permitted where the applicable agreement specifically allows you to claim attorney-and-own-client costs.
These legal costs are the legal costs actually incurred by the landlord in paying the attorney for the eviction or other proceedings; however, not all legal costs actually incurred can be recovered from the non-paying tenant. This is the highest legal cost scale.
The above should not be accepted as legal advice, and you are advised to seek legal advice.
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