Government insists courts can cope with Renters’ Rights Act

The government claims the courts have “sufficient capacity to manage the impact of the Renters’ Rights Act”.

The act came into force on 1 May this year and, with the abolition of Section 21, landlords must now rely on Section 8 notices and specific grounds to regain possession.

As previously reported by Property118, industry experts have warned that the act could overwhelm the court system.

Increased sitting days to deal with demand

In a written Parliamentary question, Labour MP Bambos Charalambous asked: “What assessment has the government made of the potential merits of additional County Court sitting hours to deal with Section 8 possession claims following the commencement of the Renters’ Rights Act?”

Justice Minister Sarah Sackman said the government had increased the number of sitting days to deal with demand.

She said: “The Ministry of Justice (including its executive agency, His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service) has worked closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure that the courts have sufficient capacity to manage the impact of the Renters’ Rights Act, including the increase in Section 8 claims following its commencement.

“This year, over 80,000 sitting days were committed to the civil jurisdiction. This is a significant increase and recognises the importance of the civil jurisdiction.”

Landlords having to wait weeks to regain possession

However, as previously reported by Property118, the court backlog shows no sign of slowing down.

The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) pointed out that landlords are having to wait weeks for court hearings to regain possession of their properties.

According to government statistics, it now takes an average of over 34 weeks between a landlord making a claim to the courts to possess a property under the grounds-based Section 8 process and a property being repossessed, the highest level in four years.