Who Pays Expert Witness Fees in a Property Dispute?

The short answer to who pays expert witness fees in a property dispute is that the party who instructs the expert pays the expert, and the losing party is usually ordered to reimburse a reasonable proportion of those fees at the end of the case. That is the general rule in the county court and High Court in England and Wales, but it has important exceptions: small claims recovery is capped at a modest fixed sum, single joint expert fees are shared from the outset, tribunals rarely shift costs at all, and every recoverable sum is tested for reasonableness and proportionality. This guide explains who is liable at each stage, what can be recovered from the other side, and how to keep the exposure under control.

Who is liable to pay the expert in the first place?

An expert witness surveyor contracts with the party (or the solicitor) who instructs them, not with the court. Whoever signs the letter of instruction is responsible for the fee, whatever the eventual outcome. The RICS practice statement for surveyors acting as expert witnesses requires fee terms to be agreed in writing before work starts and prohibits any fee that depends on the result, so the liability is fixed from the beginning rather than deferred until judgment.

Each side therefore pays its own party-appointed surveyor as the work is done, typically on a fixed fee for the report and an hourly rate for later stages. For the panel's chartered surveyors the published figures are £5,000–£15,000 for a CPR Part 35 report in a straightforward matter, £20,000–£50,000 or more for complex multi-issue litigation, £150–£300 per hour for answering questions and preparing the joint statement, and £1,000–£2,000 per day for attending court. The expert witness cost guide breaks those figures down by dispute type; the instruction checklist explains how to record the fee basis.

Can expert witness fees be recovered from the other side?

In most litigation, yes, in part. Under CPR 44.2 the general rule is that the unsuccessful party pays the successful party's costs, and expert fees are a disbursement within those costs. Recovery is neither automatic nor complete, because three filters apply:

• Permission. CPR 35.4 requires the court's permission before expert evidence can be relied on, and CPR 35.4(4) allows the court to limit the amount of an expert's fees that can be recovered from the other party. A report outside the permitted scope or discipline may be irrecoverable even if the instructing party wins.
• Reasonableness. On the standard basis the paying party only reimburses costs that were reasonably incurred and reasonable in amount, with any doubt resolved in its favour. A costs judge will look at the hourly rate, the time claimed and the scope of the inspection.
• Proportionality. Even reasonable fees can be reduced if they are disproportionate to the value and complexity of the claim. A £15,000 report in a £30,000 defects claim invites argument.

The winning party therefore usually recovers most, but not all, of a well-scoped expert's fee and carries the balance. A costs order is also only as good as the losing party's ability to pay it.

Expert witness fees on the small claims and fast tracks

The track a claim is allocated to changes the answer:

• Small claims track (generally claims up to £10,000). Costs recovery is restricted by CPR 27.14, and the sum recoverable for expert fees is capped at a fixed amount per expert set in Practice Direction 27, currently £750. A party who commissions a £5,000 report in a small claim will carry almost all of it even if successful, so a specific defect report or short advisory opinion is usually the proportionate tool, and courts often expect a single joint expert if any expert evidence is permitted at all.
• Fast track (generally £10,000–£25,000) and intermediate track (£25,000–£100,000). Since October 2023 these tracks operate under fixed recoverable costs in CPR Part 45. Expert fees are recoverable as disbursements in addition to the fixed costs, but still only to the extent they are reasonable, and fast track expert evidence is normally limited to one expert per party in a small number of fields, usually on paper.
• Multi-track (higher value or more complex claims). Costs are assessed rather than fixed. Most multi-track cases involve costs budgets, and expert fees above the approved budget phase are unlikely to be recovered without good reason, so the fee should be agreed before the budget is filed.

Who pays a single joint expert?

Where the court directs a single joint expert under CPR 35.7, the position differs from the start. Under CPR 35.8 the instructing parties are jointly and severally liable for the fees unless the court orders otherwise, so the expert can look to either party for the whole sum. In practice the parties usually agree an equal split in the joint instruction, and the court may limit the fee to a stated amount or direct that it be paid into court in advance. The shares paid remain costs of the action, so the losing party can be ordered to reimburse the winner's half under the ordinary rules. Single joint expert appointments are common in housing disrepair, boundary and lower-value building defect claims.

Tribunals, party wall matters and other forums

Not every property dispute runs through the civil courts, and the costs rules outside them are often less generous to the winner:

• First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). Leasehold premium, service charge and similar applications are usually decided on a no-costs basis: each party pays its own expert, and costs are only awarded against a party who has acted unreasonably. A valuation expert witness report for a lease extension dispute is therefore normally an unrecoverable cost of the application.
• Party wall awards. Under section 10 of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 the appointed surveyors determine who pays their own fees, and the building owner carrying out the works normally pays both. Where an award is appealed or a damage claim is pursued in court, party wall expert witness evidence falls under the CPR costs rules above.
• Construction adjudication. Each party bears its own costs, including expert fees; only the adjudicator's own fee is apportioned in the decision.
• Mediation and other settlement. Expert input used in mediation is paid for by the party who commissioned it, and the settlement agreement should state who bears the costs.

How settlement offers and conduct change who pays

Two further mechanisms can move expert fees from one side's ledger to the other's. A well-judged Part 36 offer is the first: a claimant who beats its own offer at trial can be awarded costs on the indemnity basis from the expiry of the offer, which removes the proportionality filter and makes full recovery of expert fees far more likely, while a claimant who fails to beat a defendant's offer will usually pay the defendant's costs from that date, expert included. Conduct is the second: a party who ignores a pre-action protocol, refuses a reasonable proposal for a single joint expert, or runs up expert costs on issues never seriously in dispute can have its recovery reduced regardless of the result. An expert report that narrows the issues early, so that the joint statement under CPR 35.12 leaves little to try, is often the cheapest route for both parties.

Managing expert witness fees with Survey Merchant

Survey Merchant provides RICS chartered surveyors as expert witnesses for property and construction disputes across the UK and Ireland, including construction defects, housing disrepair, dilapidations, boundary disputes and surveyor negligence claims. Fixed fees are quoted for the CPR Part 35 report so the figure can go straight into a costs budget or joint instruction, hourly and court attendance rates are set out in writing before work starts, and single joint expert appointments are accepted. Send the pleadings or a summary of the dispute, the property details and the timetable through the expert witness service page, use the contact form, or call 0204 579 8270 for a fixed-fee quote and a conflict check.