Will the Judge issue a possession order whilst tenant is in Hospital?

I purchased a flat to let a couple years ago. We have had the same tenant in for the full period.

Although there have been several months of late payments, he has generally not been a problem. He has always suffered with kidney problems and this has left out of work on occassions, hence the late payments.

In February 2014 he became so unwell that he was no longer able to work and we have now not received any rent for the period of March – July.

Our letting agent started the eviction process and we now have a court date set for the possession order. In the meantime the tenant has suffered a stroke and is now in hospital for the foreseeable future. He has applied for housing support, however the council will only pay one third of the rent and on top of that he did not back date his claim to March, only to June.

My question is will the Judge issue a possession whilst he is in Hospital? We were advised that a judge would not, but given that he could be in Hospital any amount of time this seems unreasonable.

I don’t want to appear heartless, but having covered the mortgage now for several months I simply cannot continue afford to do this any longer and if the Judge suspends possession until the tenant is out of Hospital it could financially cripple me!

If anyone has any advise or has been in a similar situation it would be great to hear from you.

Many thanks

Chris