Will I now have to postpone S8 eviction?

Though it's not clear with what has been said, there is a suggestion that there would be no -new- processing of evictions. The understanding being that anything currently in the pipeline can still go ahead.

No whether the court is still in operation in a couple of days time is another matter entirely.

My understanding is that evictions can still take place, assuming the eviction is not because of a reason caused by Coronavirus. I would be prepared, however, for the tenant to now declare an infection, in which case you need to ask for evidence of the infection. We won't know the full detail until the legislation has been released.

...don't expect Government compensation! It's not going to happen.

Reply to the comment left by The Forever Tenant at 19/03/2020 - 11:20
What is considered 'in the pipeline'...if you'd already served notice or do you have to have a claim application already in with the Courts?

I have a hearing today. The Solisitor representing called yesterday to advise us to be prepared, he had just been in court and had an application deferred for 3 months!!!
I will advise how today’s proceedings go?

Reply to the comment left by Don Holmes at 20/03/2020 - 08:02
Best of luck!

I already have a judgment which I am waiting for the letter from the court. I will need to apply for the bailiff after receiving the possession judgment and was not sure if I would be able to apply. I also have an S8 hearing on 25th March which I hope will not be cancelled and once again there will be the problem of applying for the bailiff following that.

I look forward to reading your post following your proceedings Don Holmes.

I have other cases where I have served section 8 notices but not applied to the court yet. It now seems like I am going to have to wait 3 months to make an application to the court or am not sure if I should make the application now and the court will automatically defer it by 3 months.

All this is going to cost me dearly. Unfortunately, most of my tenants are on UC that is why, I have so many section 8 cases and I can see other tenants taking advantage of the situation.

I had a tenant whose notice expires in a few days where she kept sending me numerous texts asking me to cancel the eviction following the governments directions and if I would still be evicting her. I answered saying that, I would be evicting her as soon as possible and left it at that although, she kept asking for clarification with numerous texts.

After 25 years of renting, I am getting out of the market as it is a mug’s game, I have 5 properties on the market with the sale of 3 going through which I am happy about and hopefully nothing goes wrong with these as I just cannot wait to get out of this business.

All the reports say the government is effectively preventing NEW applications for eviction of tenants affected financially BY Coronavirus. For me affected means that they have the disease, are isolated/hospitalised and unable to work/be paid. Or they have been sent home from work without pay. If they are still receiving pay/benefits they are not financially affected, and if they have the symptoms then they would have to defer the court date.

I have literally just driven back home after a S8 hearing. Ours was deferred so Judge can assess our response to defense (AUGH!, but for the purposes of answering your question, there was a discussion at the hearing that the next hearing will be over the phone between the solicitors and the court. Judge aware of need not to cancel or postpone as this is ahead of the raft of delays that will occur on possessions after this crisis is over, so they are still scheduling. My advice go along and as for a result on the day if it is a straight forward case. Are you claiming JUST for rent arrears? If so arrears have accrued BEFORE this virus outbreak. If like me the S8 also includes other things (like blatant damage by tenant) then you could argue that you still want a judgement on eviction although the date may have to be up to the max 6 weeks that the judge could give even if you stated you wanted a min 2 week judgement.

I took a tenant to court on 27th Feb, got the possession order and MJO.

I tried to instruct bailiffs yesterday, at which point the court told me was not possible due to the three month restriction. I discussed this with the representative at some length, but it appears the courts (at least my local) are saying no to all evictions whereby the bailiff has not already been instructed.

I'll be keeping on at this one, and keen to know if anyone has had any luck in a similar situation.