Landlords: Is a Housing Court the answer to your prayers?

Imagine taking your mobile phone from your pocket, unlocking it, and handing it to the nearest stranger. The thought of doing so would understandably make most of us extremely nervous, and the majority of the public, myself included, would say no. The privacy we feel towards our phones is very much like the privacy we feel towards our property and, when it comes to selecting a tenant, it is natural for landlords to feel hesitant or anxious.

When landlords agree new tenancies, they put a great deal of faith in their new tenants. Questions like “will they look after the carpets?”, “will I get endless calls about something breaking or annoyed neighbours?”, and “what if they don’t pay rent?” will be running through their minds. But if those fears become reality and the tenant is a nightmare, how quickly can the landlord evict the tenant?

In the summer of 2019, the average waiting time in London was 10.5 weeks from a claim being issued to a possession order being granted. The average time from the claim being issued until bailiff enforcement was 30 weeks. Waiting times were slightly lower in other regions of the country. Whilst bailiffs are not always required, because some tenants will leave voluntarily, this is nevertheless a worrying statistic. Of course this does not include any notice period given to the tenant prior to court proceedings being issued and so, in actual fact, the waiting time could be much longer depending on the amount of notice required to be given. Including the service of a section 21 notice (or a section 8 notice relying on one of the grounds which require two months’ notice to be given) the entire process could easily take 9.5 months.

The significant waiting times suggest our system is already stretched to its limit and, coupled with the Government’s plans to end “no-fault” evictions (see my previous article “Does the end of “no-fault” evictions spell disaster for landlords?”), it could spell disaster for landlords. The thought of waiting over 9 months to remove a troublesome tenant has the potential to put landlords off lettings altogether!

The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) is calling for the Government to create a dedicated housing court in the hope that this court, focused purely on housing issues, will be able to deal with the increased case load more efficiently. The government previously consulted on the proposal for a housing court a year ago but no further action has been taken. With a new majority government in place, and Brexit now in the next phase, there is certainly potential for action to be taken to implement a Housing Court and hopefully clear the backlog of repossession actions and reduce the waiting times significantly.

If you are a Landlord looking for advice on how to recover possession of your property then please do not hesitate to contact our dedicated Property Disputes Team for specialist advice on 01603 610911 or email them here.