RETURN OF THE ASS
The claimants’ solicitors authorised the county court at Central London to debit the court fee from their PBA account when they sought to issue Pt 8 proceedings by post in Peterson and another v Howard De Walden Estates Ltd [2023] EWHC 929 (KB), [2023] All ER (D) 29 (May). Alas, the authority was for £24 short of the prescribed fee and so court staff bounced back. That fatally meant that the deadline for applying for an order under s 48(3) of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (LRHUDA 1993) was missed. The claimants sought relief under CPR 3.10, which gives the court power to rectify where there has been an ‘error of procedure’. Mr Justice Eyre, on appeal, affirmed the decision below, holding that there was no jurisdiction to grant relief as, although CPR 3.10 could be used to remedy defects in the form of proceedings
