5 months average – Could ‘Housing Court’ speed this up?

5 months average – Could ‘Housing Court’ speed this up?

14:18 PM, 26th November 2018, About 5 years ago 3

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Private landlords have to wait an average of over five months to regain possession of a property when applying to the courts according to new figures from the Ministry of Justice.

Where a landlord needs to regain possession urgently because of tenants’ anti-social behaviour and the tenant refuses to leave, landlords have to resort to the courts.

The RLA says that the long delay in dealing with cases means landlords may go without any rent, or suffer damage to the property before the tenant finally has to leave.

Following a question tabled by Kevin Hollinrake MP, the government has clarified that the average time taken for a landlord to repossess a property was 22 weeks in 2017, up from the 16.1 weeks it had previously quoted using a less common calculation of the average.

This masks considerable regional differences, with the wait for a property to be repossessed being 25 weeks in London and with a low of 18 weeks in the South West.

The RLA is warning that the government’s efforts to develop longer tenancies will fail without urgent court reforms to ensure landlords can swiftly regain possession of a property in cases such as tenants failing to pay their rent, committing anti-social behaviour or damaging the property.

The RLA says that many landlords are using section 21, or ‘no explanation’ evictions, because the alternative process that requires applications to the court are too long and cumbersome.

The government is currently consulting on speeding up justice in the private rented sector and the RLA is calling for a fully-fledged and properly funded housing court to speed up access to justice for both tenants and landlords.

David Smith, Policy Director for the RLA, said: “These figures show that the court system is failing to secure justice for landlords and tenants when things go wrong.

“If Ministers want to roll out longer tenancies landlords need the confidence that in cases where they legitimately want to repossess a property the system will respond swiftly. It is not good for either tenants or landlords to be left in a prolonged period of legal limbo.

“We hope that the government will press ahead with a properly funded and fully fledged Housing Court.”

The housing court plans are currently out for consultation.


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Comments

The Grinch

16:07 PM, 26th November 2018, About 5 years ago

Finally something for the Landlord in the pipeline. Why does the government not see we put most of the spare money we have into buying properties and we need some security in return. Private Landlords are housing people that could otherwise have no chance of buying and that in the most, would be homeless without us. If the UK landlords all gave up there would be a homeless chrisis within weeks that would make the UK look like a third world country. The balance needs to be redressed soon and we need to be recognised for the huge investment we make in both money and contribution to giving people homes.

Annie Landlord

18:44 PM, 26th November 2018, About 5 years ago

If/when S21 goes and/if landlords have to pursue possession through the S8 route, the courts would grind to a halt in weeks. A new Housing Court is necessary. As England seems to be following Scotland's lead with regard to private sector legislation, I wonder if the English Housing Court will be based on the Scottish First Tier Tribunal. I've searched for stats on the number of cases the tribunal is dealing with, and the time frame involved, but can find very little

Chris @ Possession Friend

20:14 PM, 27th November 2018, About 5 years ago

5 months ( 20 weeks ) What a load of Tosh !
2 [ clear ] months Notice for Sec 21, 3 months to get to court ( There's your in excess of 5 months already. Court awards Possession in 28 or 42 days Another Month.
Tenant doesn't leave, Bailiff application, about 8 weeks
TOTAL = 8, or 8 and a half MONTHS. !!!

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