Procedures for possession

This applies to England and Wales

The suspension of the courts hearing possession claims was due to come to an end on 25 June and was extended. The Practice Direction 51Z for the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) was initially issued on 27 March 2020 and suspended all Part 55 possession claims and enforcement of those claims for a period of 90 days until 25 June 2020. At the time it was issued, the Practice Direction said it could last until 30 October 2020, which is of course a significantly later date than 25 June. Therefore on the 11 June when it was announced that the complete ban would last till 23 August, it was hardly a surprise. The government then confirmed that they would not be extending it beyond 23 August and that from 24 August hearings would start again.

It has not been confirmed on how the courts are going to prioritise the cases but any landlord wanting possession of their property must ensure the following steps have been carried out. These temporary arrangements will be in place until 28 March 2021 and will no doubt be reviewed during this time.

• A requirement for a claimant to inform the court who wishes to resume stayed proceedings to inform the court and defendant in writing of this after the expiry of the stay in a “reactivation notice”;
• Requiring the claimant to provide (in the particulars of claim reactivation notice or for the hearing as appropriate) any relevant information about the defendant’s circumstances to include information on the effect of the pandemic on the defendant and his/her dependants, which will enable the court to have regard to vulnerability, disability, and social security position, and those who are “shielding”;
• To allow the court to fix a date either on or after issue (so that hearings may be appropriately spread out and avoiding “bunching”).
• To suspend the standard period between issue of a claim form and hearing which usually would be not more than eight weeks, again to spread out hearings appropriately in particular having regard to court capacity;
• To require a claimant, so far as practicable, to produce the full arrears history in advance rather than at the hearing.

Essentially following these steps will mean more work for the landlord, as they will have to provide a statement as to how the coronavirus has had an effect on their tenant or the tenant’s dependants that live in the property, as long as the tenant has been or is communicating with the landlord, along with the full rent arrears history

The suspension/new rules applies to all possession proceedings whether that is under a section 21, section 8 or indeed a mortgage provider seeking an order for repossession.