Government pledges bailiff reforms as court delays persist

Labour refused to publish the results of their justice impact test on the courts.

https://www.property118.com/government-refuses-to-reveal-renters-rights-bill-court-impact-assessment/

More Nonsense
It`s extremely Expensive , Stressful, for the Landlord . And cost the Tenant Nothing . The Non Paying House Bashing Tenant receives all of the resources the Government can provide whilst the Landlord has to navigate the Legal Minefield alone . And months later, after jumping through all the hoops when you Finally get to the Day you should be meeting the Bailiff to get your property back at say 11.30 am . At 9.30 The Court will inform you it`s all off because of Breathing Space.

most possession cases do not require bailiff enforcement?
They have this the wrong way around.
Even after a court order for possession the council housing officers and homeless teams along with shelter and others tell the tenant to stay in the property until a bailiff attends. I have had 3 like this in the last 6 months and no chance of getting the costs back even though the courts have ordered the tenant to pay. I always advise the tenants that they can be liable for the court costs yet they seem to get contradictory advise from the local council etc.

Reply to the comment left by Northernpleb at 05/08/2026 – 10:25
I have a clause in all my contracts that the tenant is tesponsible for any costs incurred in taking legal action to regain possesion should they not vacate at the end of the notice period.
The 1 occasion I had to sue the tenant for the money the court said they didn’t have a leg to stand on and they had to cough up.

Reply to the comment left by Paul Rush at 05/08/2026 – 10:55
yes I have it in mine too however it does not mean you can get the money all it does is place a CCJ on their credit file and to pursue further results in more costs for us and them. We only claim the court costs as I am fortunate that none of my tenants are in arrears.

Reply to the comment left by Sheralyne Stamp at 05/08/2026 – 11:05
This kind of thing is of course extremely stressful.

One of the consequences of the Labour Renters Rights Act is that all landlords and their agents are now going to have to do a much more thorough job of screening tenants before ever considering signing a rental agreement with them and giving them the keys: This is because the Labour Renters Rights Act increases a landlord’s risk but labour haven’t fixed the court system and this shouldn’t surprise anybody because they declined to publish the results of their justice impact assessment.

And the key question to consider (before ever handing over the keys) is will I have enough personal and financial information to be able to pursue an enforceable claim through Money Claims Online, or pass the outstanding debt on to a debt collection agency? Or, if I’m using an agent, will my agent have these details and does the agent either provide a debt collection service or have an obligation to pass on sufficient tenant details for me to be able to recover the outstanding debt? Also (something I am now having to think about) if the tenant has done so much damage that there is no prospect of the deposit even coming close to covering the damage, will there be sufficient personal information for it be possible to pursue a tenant for damages via Money Claims Online? And if the tenant is a tenant on benefits, do I have sufficient guarantees from the benefits people in writing that the tenant is eligible for benefits and that they take all responsibility for assessing eligibility for benefits both at the time the tenant enters the property and also going forward during the period of the tenancy (which is now forever, because all shorthold tenancies have been turned into rolling tenancies that do not end).

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 05/08/2026 – 12:02
All sounds great, I use a company to conduct all our tenant referencing including credit, landlord, employer, right to rent, and AML checks and once approved its great however tenants change their habits, circumstances and once their in the property tend to breach a lot of the clauses within the tenancy. with regards to enough information then a paper trail is always reliable in court or via money claims on line. If you use a good agent they will keep a record of phone calls, messages, emails and letters, they should also be able to make the claim via money claim online on your behalf, I myself have done this for my landlords in the past its not a big issue for most agents to do this. Yes you would need to pay the court fee for this to be done and depending in what is in the terms and conditions of the agent states will determine if they will do this or not

Reply to the comment left by Sheralyne Stamp at 05/08/2026 – 12:35
Tenants do change their habits and I have known a tenant provide either false information or a false address in order to try to avoid payment of outstanding rent.

One of the consequences of the Labour Renters Rights Act is that landlords, their agents, and businesses doing screening for them, are going to have to store a lot more tenant information than before.

“most possession cases do not require bailiff enforcement”

If the tenant(s) being evicted want the Local Authority to house them they certain do as most Local Authorities, and quite wrongly, tell the tenant(s) to stay put until there’s a Bailiffs Order or the Bailiff is on the doorstep.

Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 05/08/2026 – 13:14
And if the tenants don’t stay till the bailiff knocks then the council may claim the tenant made themselves intentionally homeless and therefore are not obliged to rehouse them.
5 years was my longest from section 21 to vacant property- owing to health issues and ‘breathing space’ – the financial cost was not actually too bad a few thousand but the mental stress was phenomenal!
I am no longer am a landlord. I sold all 19.
I should point out that this was not of the other 3 I had to serve notice on but enough to finish me with whole system. I’d never trust a council again about anything. The LA deserves everything it gets – unfortunately tax payers pay for their negative attitude to landlords.
No winners – tenants and landlords and all tax payers pick up the tab.