Distress (Costs) Act 1817
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1817 c. 93 |
(57 Geo. 3) C A P. XCIII.
[10th July 1817]
'WHEREAS divers Persons acting as Brokers, and distraining on the Goods and Chattels of others, or employed in the Course of such Distresses, have of late made excessive Charges, to the great Oppression of Poor Tenants and others; and it is expedient to check such Practices;' Be it therefore enacted, by The King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That from and after the passing of this Act no Person whatsoever making any Distress for Rent, where the Sum demanded and due shall not exceed the Sum of Twenty Pounds for and in respect of such Rent, nor any Person whatsoever employed in any manner in making such Distress, or doing any Act whatsoever in the Course of such Distress, or for carrying the same into Effect, shall have, take or receive out of the Produce of the Goods or Chattels distrained upon and sold, or from the Tenant distrained on, or from the Landlord, or from any other Person whatsoever, any other or more Costs and Charges for and in respect of such Distress, or any Matter or thing done therein, than such as are fixed and set forth in the Schedule hereunto annexed and appropriated to each Act which shall have been done in the Course of such Distress; and no Person or Persons whatsoever shall make any Charge whatsoever for any Act, Matter or thing mentioned in the said Schedule, unless such Act shall have been really done.
II Party aggrieved by any such Practice may apply to a Justice of the Peace.
II. And be it further enacted, That if any Person or Persons whatsoever shall in any manner levy, take or receive from any Person or Persons whatsoever, or retain or take from the Produce of any Goods sold for the Payment of such Rent, any other or greater Costs and Charges than are mentioned and set down in the said Schedule, or make any Charge whatsoever for any Act, Matter or thing mentioned in the said Schedule and not really done, it shall be lawful for the Party or Parties aggrieved by such Practices to apply to any One Justice of the Peace for the County, City, Town, and acting for the Division where such Distress shall have been made, or in any manner proceeded in, for the Redress of his, her or their Grievance so occasioned; whereupon such Justice shall summon the Person or Persons complained of to appear before him at a reasonable time to be fixed in such Summons; and such Justice shall examine into the Matter of such Complaint by all legal Ways and Means, and also hear in like manner the defence of the Person or Persons complained of; and if it shall appear to such Justice that the Person or Persons complained of shall have levied, taken, received, or had other and greater Costs and Charges than are mentioned or fixed in the Schedule hereunto annexed, or made any Charge for any matter or thing mentioned in the said Schedule, such Act, matter or thing not having been really done, such Justice shall order and adjudge Treble the Amount of the Monies so unlawfully taken, to be paid by the Person or Persons so having acted to the Party or Parties who shall thus have preferred his, her or their Complaint thereof, together with full Costs; and in case of Non Payment of any Monies or Costs so ordered and adjudged to...
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