Almost five years ago, both my parents passed away and instead of selling their property, my siblings and I decided to rent their property out. To cut a long story short, a London LA refused to accept that the property was rented out. As the next of kin, the LA took me to court for five years’ worth of outstanding council tax, this is despite receiving council tax payments in different tenant’s names. The case was repeatedly heard at the Magistrates court. There were several adjournments and it eventually went to the First Tier Tribunal. The panel agreed that our property was indeed rented out. How do we start the process of claiming all of our incurred costs back? What format should the costs be created in? Do we submit the costs directly to the magistrate’s court or to the LA? What are the do’s and don’ts of claiming costs from a LA? At the very start of the court hearings, our solicitor stated inside the magistrates court that we would claim all of our costs back. Some of the costs which we incurred were: (1) Solicitor consultation fees (2) Solicitor court attendance fees (3) Solicitor telephone conversation fees (4) Solicitor case draft fees (5) Solicitor tribunal attendance fee (6) We spent a lot of time attending a lot of court hearings, which we’d like to claim back. (7) We spent time writing and calling passed tenants, which we’d like to claim back. (8) Are we entitled to claim for travel and lunch expenses? (9) Are we entitled to claim for stress, anxiety and ill health caused by the court proceedings