How to use the N258 builder
- Enter the claim. Enter the court, the claim number, the parties with their references, and whose costs are being assessed.
- Enter the costs order and the bill. Enter where the right to costs comes from and its date, for the deadline, then the bill total including VAT and the VAT within it. The builder picks provisional assessment or a hearing, which you can change, and the court fee.
- Enter when the notice was served. Enter the date and method of service of the notice of commencement; the form certifies it.
- Enter the points of dispute and tick the enclosures. Enter when the points of dispute were served and whether replies were, and check the documents ticked as enclosed. For a hearing, add a time estimate.
- Sign and download. Add the name to print as the signature, the date and your fee account number, then download the filled N258 and file it with the enclosures and the fee.
When to file the request
Where points of dispute are served, the receiving party must file a request for a detailed assessment hearing within 3 months of the expiry of the period for commencing detailed assessment, whether that period is the one in CPR 47.7 or one the court directed (CPR 47.14(1)). If the last day falls when the court office is closed, filing on the next day it is open is in time (CPR 2.8(5)). If the request is late, the paying party can apply for an order to file it by a set date, on pain of losing all or part of the costs, and even without that application the court may disallow interest on the costs (CPR 47.14(2) to (4)). Our detailed assessment deadline calculator gives every date in the process.
Provisional assessment or a hearing
Where the costs claimed are £75,000 or less, the court carries out a provisional assessment on the papers, without the parties, using its best endeavours to do so within 6 weeks (CPR 47.15(1) to (4); PD 47 paras 14.1 and 14.4(1)). In proceedings that go no further, the most the court will award as the costs of the assessment, other than drafting the bill, is £1,500 plus VAT and court fees (CPR 47.15(5)). The rules do not say whether VAT counts towards the £75,000, and views differ; the builder follows the bill without VAT by default, warns you when the answer turns on it, and lets you choose. Bills over £75,000, and any the court finds unsuitable for provisional assessment, go to a detailed assessment hearing (CPR 47.14 and 47.15(6)), of which the court gives at least 14 days’ notice (PD 47 para 13.6).
What to enclose
With the request, the receiving party files (PD 47 para 13.2):
- a copy of the notice of commencement and a copy of the bill;
- the document giving the right to detailed assessment;
- the points of dispute, annotated to show which items are agreed and their value and which remain in dispute and their value, with a copy for each person who served them;
- a copy of any replies served;
- copies of all orders relating to the costs to be assessed;
- copies of the fee notes and other written evidence served with the notice of commencement;
- where the receiving party’s liability to pay its legal representatives is disputed, the client care letter or other written terms;
- where a costs management order was made, a breakdown of the costs claimed for each phase; and
- a signed statement of the names, email addresses, addresses for service, references and telephone numbers of the receiving party, the paying party and anyone else who served points of dispute, with an estimate of the length of the hearing.
For a provisional assessment, add the paying party’s open offer letter, an additional copy of any paper bill with a statement of the costs of the assessment drawn on the basis that there will be no hearing, the offers made (Part 36 and ‘without prejudice save as to costs’ offers in a sealed envelope marked ‘Part 36 or similar offers’, not saying who made them), and a completed Precedent G (PD 47 para 14.3). Part 36 applies to the costs of the assessment (CPR 47.20(4)): to work out what an offer means, use our free Part 36 calculator.
The court fee
The fee on filing the request depends on the amount of costs claimed (fee 5.2), from 13 July 2026:
| Costs claimed | Fee |
|---|---|
| Up to £15,000 | £398 |
| £15,000.01 to £50,000 | £801 |
| £50,000.01 to £100,000 | £1,192 |
| £100,000.01 to £150,000 | £1,595 |
| £150,000.01 to £200,000 | £1,992 |
| £200,000.01 to £300,000 | £2,988 |
| £300,000.01 to £500,000 | £4,980 |
| More than £500,000 | £6,640 |
The fee order does not say whether VAT counts in the amount claimed. The builder uses the total with VAT, tells you when leaving VAT out would put the bill in a lower band, and lets you type the fee your court asks for. Where the requesting party is legally aided and no other party has been ordered to pay the costs, the fee is £296.00 (fee 5.1).
What happens next
After a provisional assessment the court returns Precedent G with its decisions, and the parties have 14 days to agree the total due (PD 47 para 14.4(2)). A party who wants an oral hearing must file and serve a written request within 21 days of receiving the notice of the provisional assessment, naming the items to be reviewed and giving a time estimate (CPR 47.15(7) and (8)), and pays the costs of that hearing unless it achieves an adjustment of 20% or more in its favour, or the court orders otherwise (CPR 47.15(10)). Before a detailed assessment hearing, the receiving party files the papers in support of the bill between 14 and 7 days before it (PD 47 para 13.11).
Related guides
- The steps before: the notice of commencement, with our free N252 builder; with no points of dispute, a default costs certificate with our free N254 builder
- Provisional assessment in housing disrepair costs: why the replies matter
- Points of dispute in housing disrepair costs: the 12 most common reductions
- Points of dispute in clinical negligence costs: the timetable, the budget and the usual challenges
- Ward v Rai [2026] EWCA Civ 816: when can defective points of dispute survive?
- The terms, defined: provisional assessment, detailed assessment and points of dispute
- Every costs form explained: our costs forms and precedents guide
Sources
- Form N258: request for provisional or detailed assessment (HMCTS, GOV.UK)
- CPR Part 47 (rules 47.14, 47.15 and 47.20)
- Practice Direction 47 (paras 8.3, 13 and 14)
- CPR Part 5 (rule 5.3, signatures)
- Civil court fees (EX50) and the Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008, Schedule 1 (fees 5.1 and 5.2)
- The Senior Courts Costs Office Guide 2025 (sections 12 and 13)