Landlords across England and Wales who are struggling to get their properties back because of months of delays and a \u2018postcode lottery\u2019 in the County Court system need to enforce their judgments through the High Court, landlord groups warned.<\/p>\n
Landlords across England and Wales currently face significant delays in evicting problem tenants and reclaiming their properties \u2013 these are caused by backlogs in the County Court system.<\/p>\n
Some parts of the country, particularly London, often experience delays of a year or more in some cases before an eviction takes place.<\/p>\n
The High Court Enforcement Officers Association (HCEOA) is working with the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), Propertymark and Landlord Action to support landlords and inform them of their options.<\/p>\n
Michael Jackson, vice-chair of the High Court Enforcement Officers Association (HCEOA), said: \u201cIt\u2019s clear that this postcode lottery of delays in County Court evictions is proving to be a real nightmare for landlords in some parts of the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh Court enforcement isn\u2019t a magic wand, and it won\u2019t be the right choice for every landlord right now, but it can certainly help those facing the worst delays in evictions, which are unfairly costing landlords thousands of pounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Landlords who haven\u2019t yet applied to the County Court for a Possession Order, can apply for Leave to \u2018Transfer Up\u2019 to use the High Court for enforcement at the same time as applying for the Possession Order by adding a \u2018Transfer Up\u2019 application to their draft Possession Order.<\/p>\n
In some parts of the country, this could save months compared to waiting for an eviction date from a County Court bailiff or having to make a separate application to transfer enforcement to the High Court at a later stage.<\/p>\n
For those landlords worst affected by the delays in the system, \u2018transferring up\u2019 to use High Court enforcement might be the best option even if they have already applied for a Possession Order.<\/p>\n
This solution to a nightmare scenario for landlords only occurs when landlords are dealing with a situation where a court has judged that a tenant must leave the property and the tenant has not done so.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It is not a \u2018short-cut\u2019 route for an unscrupulous landlord to try to end an agreed tenancy or evict tenants who have done nothing wrong, and it does not undermine any of the principles being talked about as part of the Renters Rights Bill.<\/p>\n
Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA): \u201cThere are landlords across the country who have waited months to have an eviction order granted by a judge who will be forced to wait several more months for an eviction date from over-worked and under-resourced County Court bailiffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll this time landlords are losing money through lost rent which is no fault of their own. It is an unfair, unacceptable situation for all of these individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul Shamplina, founder of Landlord Action, said: \u201cThe delays we are seeing in the County Court system in London and the South East in particular are unbelievable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know of cases where landlords are facing waiting times of 15 months just to get an eviction date.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, we need a change in the law to make this situation fairer, but it\u2019s important landlords know their options right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
As well as providing a solution right now to the worst affected landlords, the HCEOA and its partners are planning on engaging with Government to encourage a change in the law to make the whole process quicker and easier for all landlords. To support this the HCEOA has published a landlords and property agents survey to highlight the challenges and delays landlords face around the country.<\/p>\n
The data and evidence will be shared with the Government to show the scale of the problem landlords are facing and to demonstrate how landlords are being unfairly affected by delays in the County Court system.<\/p>\n
Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark, said: \u201cPropertymark member agents cite delays at every stage of the possession action process in the County Court, this begins from the initial claim up to the eventual possession by a County Court Bailiff and is the product of many contributing factors. To this end, enforcement timings can drastically differ from region to region.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that when using a High Court enforcement officer, the execution of a Possession Order is notably quicker. It is therefore vital that the UK government look at reform in this area to improve access to justice in the private rented sector.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Landlords across England and Wales who are struggling to get their properties back because of months of delays and a \u2018postcode lottery\u2019 in the County Court system need to enforce their judgments through the High Court, landlord groups warned. Landlords across England and Wales currently face significant delays in evicting problem tenants and reclaiming their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-second-home"],"yoast_head":"\n