Property Tribunal Fees Change After Renters’ Rights Act

On paper, this looks like one of those documents most people would skip: the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) Fees (Amendment) Order 2026. But according to legislation.gov.uk, it was made on 30 April 2026 and came into force on 1 May 2026, which means it already changes how some housing disputes move through the tribunal system. If you rent, advise tenants, or follow housing policy, this matters for a simple reason. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 created new routes for cases and appeals, and this Order supplies the fee rules that go with them. **What this means:** a right on paper still needs a working route into the legal system.

The Property Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal deals with certain disputes about housing and property, and this Order extends to England and Wales for proceedings in that chamber. Fees are the payments attached to starting some cases, and sometimes to reaching a hearing. This Order does not rewrite the whole tribunal system; it updates the fee order from 2013 so the tribunal can process newer types of cases linked to the 2025 Act. The source text also shows how these changes were made. The Lord Chancellor used powers in the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, consulted the Senior President of Tribunals, obtained Treasury consent, and laid a draft before Parliament for approval by both Houses. That is a useful reminder that a statutory instrument is often where a big policy change becomes administratively real.

Here is the technical change in plain English. The 2013 fees order has been amended, and Schedule 1 has been replaced in full. In legal drafting, that sounds dry. In practice, Schedule 1 is the part that tells court and tribunal users which fee applies to which kind of case. Not everything is new. The explanatory note says fees 1.2 to 1.6, the notes in the schedule and hearing fee 2.1 are restated without change. The point of the rewrite is to fit newer case types into the existing system without rewriting every other fee around them.

The Order also updates the wording about when fees are due. References that used to point only to fees 1.1 to 1.6 now run to fees 1.1 to 1.12, and the old single reference to fee 2 is split into fees 2.1 and 2.2. That tells you straight away that the system has been widened to cover extra types of applications and appeals. For readers trying to make sense of the legal language, this is the key lesson: when a schedule of fees expands, it usually means new legal routes are being added somewhere else. The admin change is the visible clue that the law underneath has moved.

The new fee categories are where renters’ rights policy meets day-to-day procedure. The explanatory note says fee 1.7 is for an application to determine rent, while fee 1.8 is for new applications to determine the terms of a tenancy under provisions brought in by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. It also creates fees 1.9 to 1.12 for appeals against financial penalties imposed under new provisions in the Act. A new hearing fee, numbered 2.2, becomes payable when a hearing date is issued in those financial penalty appeal cases. By contrast, no hearing fee is payable in proceedings covered by fees 1.3 to 1.8. **Why that matters:** not every case now carries the same cost pattern, so the type of claim affects what a person pays and when.

One small but important detail is that not every new fee starts at the same moment. The explanatory note says fees 1.7 to 1.10 and 1.12 are tied to provisions that came into force on 1 May 2026. Fee 1.11 is different: it will start later, when section 6A of the Housing Act 2004 is fully in force. This is a good example of how commencement works in UK law. Parliament can pass an Act, but different sections may begin on different dates. That means the fee system has to move in stages too. If you are reading a rights guide or preparing a case, dates matter just as much as the headline change.

The Order also removes two older definitions from the 2013 fees order: “leasehold case” and “residential property case”. According to the explanatory note, those cross-references are no longer needed because fee 1.1 now points straight to specific pieces of primary legislation instead. That may sound like legal tidying, but exact wording can change real outcomes. When a fee is linked to a broad label, there is more room for doubt. When it is linked to named statutory provisions, it is usually clearer which route applies. **Quick teaching point:** this is why lawyers and advisers pay such close attention to even very short amendments.

The Order was signed on behalf of the Lord Chancellor by Alex Davies-Jones, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice, on 30 April 2026. Treasury consent was signed on 29 April 2026 by Gen Kitchen and Christian Wakeford. The explanatory note also says no impact assessment was carried out because no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors was foreseen. That does not mean the change is irrelevant to ordinary people. Tribunal fees can still shape whether a tenant, landlord or representative decides to bring a case, appeal a penalty or stop at an earlier stage. So the big takeaway is this: from 1 May 2026, the Property Chamber has an updated fee structure for some of the new routes created or amended by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. If you are helping with a housing case, check the current fee category before filing, check whether a hearing fee applies later, and remember that fee 1.11 is still waiting for a later start date.