Consultation

This applies to England & Wales

The Government has launched a consultation for eight weeks, which looks at how to improve support for tenants that are being evicted.

The key proposals in the consultation are:

• remodel the delivery of the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme (HPCDS) to become a new Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS), incorporating both the existing service of advice and representation at court but also early legal advice before court
• expanding the scope of legal aid so that HLPAS providers can offer early legal advice on social welfare law matters to individuals facing procession proceedings
• contracts for individual courts rather than larger geographical areas
• allowing providers to claim for the court duty fee in addition to a Legal Help fee for follow on work
• introducing a set attendance fee for all schemes, replacing the existing nil session payment

Essentially what this means is normally HPCDS assists tenants when there is a court hearing for possession . The main proposal in the consultation is looking at offering earlier advice and potentially mediation to help tenants and landlords resolve any issues which may have been the reason for the landlord to serve notice. This could be a better outcome for both parties and less time and money for court reviews and hearing.

The consultation will run until 23.59 22 January 2022. We at PRSP will be responding to the consultation. If you have any views or comments that you feel are relevant to the consultation please feel free to email us by the 15 January 2022 and we will include this in our response before the 22 January. Please see the link below.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/housing-legal-aid-the-way-forward