The UK Government has set a date from which tenancy eviction court cases will begin and also outlined the way in which the backlog of cases will begin to be heard. Court proceedings for eviction cases will re-start from August 24. However, for any cases that were opened prior to August 3rd 2020, landlords must go through a couple of procedures to reactivate the case and confirm they wish to continue with the cases.
While it's good news for many landlords who are currently receiving no rent and can’t reclaim their property, it's worth highlighting that the re-start comes with added admin, particularly for those landlords who began their cases prior to August.
Eviction Court Proceedings Reactivation
It’s been a few months across the UK for many people with the Coronavirus pandemic hit the UK and the start of lockdown in mid-March. The government has worked hard to help as many people and sectors as possible, but no solution – particularly one constructed in a few stressful days and weeks – will ever be perfect.
For many tenants and landlords, the new rules have been manageable and having no evictions for a set period, a welcome development for many tenants. However, even though landlords were encouraged and sometimes supported to exercise forbearance where possible for tenants struggling with unemployment or existing illnesses, some situations escalated beyond the discussion stage and evictions proceedings were begun or will begin very soon.
For landlords who applied to the courts for an eviction hearing before August 3rd, they must complete and submit additional paperwork to inform both the court and the tenant of their intention to continue with and reactivate the court eviction process.
This is to ensure that all cases that go forward to court should be there as in some cases, the situation may have been resolved in another way during the period where tenant evictions were not permitted. Without that reactivation confirmation, your eviction case will not go ahead.
New Court Eviction Requirements
If your eviction application was made after August 3rd, then you don’t need to reactivate your case. However, there are still some new details you must provide as a landlord to support your case and secure your court hearing:
- The landlord must find out whether or not the tenant is shielding or has another vulnerability to Covid-19.
- The landlord should also itemise the rental arrears in writing and as part of the reactivation notice, where possible and if it’s a relevant part of the eviction.
It’s important to note that landlords must also continue to adhere to pre-existing rules and not harass the tenant or visit the address without prior arrangement. In addition, due to coronavirus social distancing rules, block eviction listings will no longer be permitted. This means the process will take longer and create more paperwork for court officials.
These new rules for eviction court proceedings are currently set to remain in place until March 28 2021, although an earlier review may occur should the broader situation change significantly before that time.
