Eviction Ban and the courts
On Friday 21 August 2020, the UK Government announced a last-minute extension to the ban on court hearings for possession. Instead of opening again on 24 August, the courts are now set to hear possession cases from 21 September 2020.
This means that in total no legal evictions will have taken place for 6 months
From 21 September courts will start to hear possession hearings again. When cases are heard again these will be subject to new court processes and procedures which the Judiciary have developed. These include:
- The prioritisation of cases, such as those involving anti-social behaviour and other crimes, as well as extreme rent arrears where landlords would otherwise face unmanageable debts.
- No cases from before 3 August 2020 will immediately proceed to hearing. If an application for possession was made prior to 3 August 2020 and the landlord wishes to continue or resume proceedings they will need to notify the court and defendant in writing. This notification will be known as a ‘reactivation notice’. Without a reactivation notice cases started prior to, or during lockdown, will not be able to resume. After reactivation the case will then be subject to a new review hearing, at least four weeks before the substantive hearing.
- Landlords will also need to provide the courts and Judges with information on how tenants have been affected by the pandemic. Where this information is not provided, judges will be able to adjourn proceedings until the information is provided.
If landlords are going to court on the grounds of arrears, a full arrears history needs to be provided in advance – not just at the hearing.
These new measures are expected be in place until 28 March 2021; although there is provision for a review at an earlier date if circumstances change.
Landlords should expect that when the courts do re-open there will be a backlog, cases will take longer than usual to progress, and it will be even more important than ever to follow procedures to the letter.
