Don’t wait 45 weeks for tenant eviction

Don’t wait 45 weeks for tenant eviction

12:55 PM, 24th June 2016, About 8 years ago 6

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The Ministry of Justice has released the statistics for possession claims for the first quarter on 2016.Sheriffs Ofice

Overall, there is a slight decrease in the number of possession claims, but the really shocking fact in the release is the news that the average time from issuing a claim to eviction by a county court bailiff is 45 weeks!

The impact of a 45-week eviction wait

So, if a landlord starts a claim today, 2nd June 2016, they won’t get the tenant out of their property until 13th April 2017.

According to Your Move and Reeds Rains data released in April 2016, the average rent in England and Wales is now £793 per month. Assuming the possession claim was issued because of non-payment of rent – a very common reason – then the 45-week delay could amount to a loss of income of almost £9,000, on top of the existing arrears.

The cost will be higher in many areas: London for example has an average rents of £1,229, so the cost would be closer to £13,500 plus pre-claim arrears, more for larger properties.

The same MoJ statistics show that the average time between starting a claim and being awarded an order for possession is 11 weeks.

Faster eviction through the High Court

Once the order for possession has been awarded, landlords can instruct a High Court Enforcement Officer (HCEO) to carry out the eviction under a writ of possession.

The HCEO is able to act far more quickly than the county court bailiff, allowing landlords to recover their property far more quickly, to reduce the lost income and the risk of tenants damaging the property.

The order for possession will need to be transferred up to the High Court, and permission (leave) is required to do this. There is a new process and forms for doing this and we can help landlords to do this.

Contact The Sheriffs Office


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Comments

Luke P

12:30 PM, 27th June 2016, About 8 years ago

How long before HMG but a stop to this route in order to slow the eviction process down further?

Jill Lucas

13:21 PM, 9th October 2016, About 8 years ago

I served notice on my tenant in September and he has already stopped paying rent (1k pcm) part of which £600 a month is from housing benefit and topped up! He is bragging to me that the council have advised him to go for eviction! it seems criminal to me that he will get away with this and is intentionally allowing himself to become homeless. His original rent 8 years ago was £1600 pcm and as a result of his dire circumstances I reduced it foolishly to £1k pcm and returned his deposit which luckily was lodged in a scheme - otherwise he would be chasing me for 3 x times this amount per the law! he claims he is not paying me rent for flowers he has purchased for the garden! Well maybe there are fairies at the end of the garden too!

Jay James

15:44 PM, 9th October 2016, About 8 years ago

Yet another tenant proving themselves to be scum.

Darlington Landlord

18:18 PM, 9th October 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Jill Lucas" at "09/10/2016 - 13:21":

Contact the housing benefit department and ask for payments to him be put on hold as he has not paid the rent and the first day he is 2 months in arrears (the day the second overdue months rent should have been paid or when an amount equal to 2 months rent is outstanding) ask them to pay you direct, at least you will get the housing benefit.

Also you will find other threads on property118 relating to the councils responsibility to treat tenants with a section 8/21 notice as homeless and government advice to them not to advise trenants to wait for eviction. Others may be able to give you the exact links.

If cashflow is critical and you just want possession it may be worth offering to waive his arrears and even for example give him £400 to "cover his moving expenses" if he vacates on time with no damage to the property and signs a deed of surrender. Point out he will have a ccj and problems obtaining credit and accomodation in future if he goes for the eviction route. Against the grain but it may be a cost effective business decision.

Jill Lucas

13:12 PM, 10th October 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Darlington Landlord" at "09/10/2016 - 18:18":

V

Jill Lucas

13:23 PM, 10th October 2016, About 8 years ago

Very grateful for the comments however I am dealing with a very cunning tenant who knows the law inside out! His total objective is to be re-housed by the council and has expressed his wish to be evicted by the bailiff. I had considered paying him off to go! but there is no way I would consider this and he would only increase the anti! Fortunately I have a decent portfolio so whilst this is a financial drain I can cover it! This has been a tough lesson in terms of understanding deposit law! fortunately I returned this or could have been caught out by lack of knowledge in protecting it correctly! Also never never never let to a housing benefit tenant although he started out as a private tenant! He is being very vindictive digging out plants in the garden although the non payment of £1k per month which could end up towards
a loss of £7k would pay for a lot of plants - this is the reason for withholding rent. They have no money and are potless so no point in trying to claim money back and CCJ are water off a ducks back! I will endeavour to re-claim the money back from the council! A tough lesson in how not to! but I will not have sleepless nights over this! We believe that we have been very kind and generous landlords and we will now adopt a totally professional to the letter of the law attitude!

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