The New FTT Rules

The old Rent Assessment Committee, Rent Tribunals, Leasehold Valuation Tribunals, Agricultural Tribunals and Adjudicator to HM Land Registry were abolished and instead there is this ‘First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber)’.

Within this Property Chamber are three departments:

‘Residential Property’ covering the old RPTS jurisdictions;

‘Agricultural Land and Drainage’; and

‘Land Registration’ covering matters previously within the jurisdiction of the Adjudicator to HM Land Registry.

The new rules are meant to provide a quicker, cheaper and easier way of settling disputes or determining a valuation under relevant legislation.

There are changes to Rule 3, whose aims include avoiding unnecessary formality and seeking flexibility in the proceedings; ensuring parties are able to participate fully in the proceedings, and avoiding delay.

Other rules have also been introduced, including:

Rule 4: the Tribunal is obliged to seek, where appropriate, to bring to the attention of the parties the availability of ADR and if the parties wish it to facilitate the use of such procedures.

Rule 6: the Tribunal has case management powers including the power to regulate its own procedure and to suspend the effect of its own decision pending any application for permission to appeal or appeal or review.

Rule 8: the Tribunal can impose sanctions for failure to comply with any rule, practice direction or direction.

Rule 9: the Tribunal can now make Unless Orders in terms whereby non-compliance with the order will automatically strike out the whole or any part of any proceedings as directed.

The new rules provide more detail as to how cases are to be managed, and when a claim may be struck out. The Tribunal can also make an order requiring a person who has “acted unreasonably in bringing, defending or conducting proceedings” to pay the costs of the other party. One important difference from the former LVT is the removal of the current £500 limit on the amount of costs which can be awarded.

The new rules open the way for much tighter control on tribunal proceeding. It is to be expected that the Tribunal will be slow to assert its new powers and will continue to be relatively generous particularly where litigants in person are concerned, but there can be no doubt that these reforms are changing the way property proceedings will be conducted in the future.