Landlord blasts court after possession order delay

A landlord has blasted the court system as “a fallacy” after his possession order arrived two weeks after his tenant was ordered to leave.

Nottingham landlord Mick Roberts says the entire possession process took six months after he instructed his solicitor in March. His tenant was ordered to leave by 21 August, but his solicitor was not notified until 4 September.

The news comes as the court backlog continues to worsen.

Government can’t get this simple procedure right

Mr Roberts told Property118: “What a fallacy this UK court system is. If the government can’t get this simple procedure right, what hope is there for landlords trying to regain possession of their properties?

“The court made the possession order on 7 August, requiring the tenant to leave by 21 August. However, the order wasn’t dated until 27 August, six days after the tenant was supposed to have left.”

He added: “It gets worse. My solicitor didn’t receive an email from the court confirming that possession had been granted until 4 September, two weeks after the possession date had already passed.

“How can a landlord be expected to act on a possession order when they aren’t even told about it until after the deadline has passed?”

Court backlog shows no signs of slowing down

As previously reported by Property118, the court backlog shows no sign of easing.

Analysis of Ministry of Justice data reveals 91,093 landlord possession claims were issued in 2025, down from 98,766 the previous year.

However, the fall in claims has not resulted in faster outcomes, with landlords facing some of the longest court waiting times in more than 20 years.

The median time from a possession claim being issued to repossession reached 27 weeks in 2025, up from 25 weeks a year earlier, according to Landlord Action.

Excluding the exceptional delays caused by the pandemic backlog, this represents the longest wait in more than two decades.