Sep

BREAKING: More official guidance revealed on how evictions will re-start next week

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The government and the courts have simultaneously published more information on how evictions will work once the current moratorium ends on Sunday.

Last month Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick announced an extended stay on eviction proceedings in England and Wales until that date, after which eviction proceedings for new and existing cases can continue.

But Jenrick also introduced six-month notice periods until at least 31st March 2021, effectively bringing in a six-month ban.
Nevertheless, the Master of the Rolls has announced the shape of how evictions will work after the stay on proceedings ends.

This is all about prioritisation as the tsunami of old and more recent eviction proceedings descend on the courts.

Evictions that will be given priority include anti-social behaviour and extreme rent arrears of at least 12 months’ rent or at least 25% of a landlords’ total annual income from any source.

Other exceptions include squatters, domestic violence, fraud, deception, illegal sub-letting and abandonment of a property.

The update also reveals that landlords will have to make themselves available for telephone meetings with tenants and their representatives prior to court hearings to ‘prevent the determent of compromise’, and also warns that court capacity during Covid will be about 25% of previous capability.

Accelerated claims

Finally, accelerated Possession Claims issued before 3 August 2020 will require a Reactivation Notice as with all other stayed claims, although court process changes due to Covid will render the ‘accelerated’ bit somewhat meaningless.

Away from the courts, the government has published updated versions of the Reactivation Notices that it is asking landlords and tenants to complete and lodge with a court before old cases can be re-started, and which must be sent before 4pm on 24 January 2021 to be valid, the guidance says.

But lawyer Giles Peaker says this date is “not necessarily the case. Any possession claim with a hearing already listed requires a reactivation notice to be filed and served at least 42 days before the hearing, according to Practice Direction 55C 2.5.”

More clarification is expected in the coming days as the September 21 deadline looms, but is expected to include a Pre-Action Plan pack from the NRLA setting out the ‘nine gold rules’ plus four sets of new guidance from the MHCLG and more advice from HMCTS.

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