Restarting Possession Claims From August

On-demand Masterclass Recorded on Tue 28 Jul, 2020

21 August 2020 Friday 4 PM BST UPDATE

It was announced today that the courts will continue the pause on possession hearings until 20 September 2020, extending the ban on evictions in the UK for 4 weeks:

  • Ban on evictions continues for 4 weeks taking the total ban to 6 months

  • New 6 month notice periods to be in place until at least 31 March 2021

  • Once eviction hearings restart, the judiciary will carefully prioritise the most serious cases including those involving anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse

Possession procedures are changing from August - Don't get your possession claims thrown out because of avoidable errors. Tune in for a 45-minute briefing of these changes and prevent delaying your court hearing for months on end.

With possession proceedings put on hold for the past few months, many expect claims will be teeming down at the courts once the temporary stay is lifted in August. To avoid a potential procedural crisis in the judiciary, an emergency working group has been called to device a plan that ensures prioritisation of the most serious cases and protection of vulnerable people are both achieved. The collective has published their initial outcomes which are expected to come into force on 23 August, 2020 and remain in place until 28 March 2021.

David Smith, JMW

Watch On-demand Masterclass

David Smith, property law specialist and Partner at JMW Solicitors delivered an emergency masterclass moderated by Rajeev Nayyar, MD of Fixflo, to help property professionals understand these requirements in practical terms. These includes:

  1. proceedings are not to automatically resume - so how can landlords make sure their possession claims resume as soon as possible by submitting a 'reactivation notice'? What information needs to be presented in this document?
  2. a requirement for landlords to actively enquire about the tenant's circumstances and how the pandemic might have impacted them financially and otherwise - what do landlords need to do to fulfil this condition?
  3. court hearing scheduling changes - what levels of delay are expected?
  4. landlords to produce the full arrears history in advance rather than at the hearing - how will this change your existing possession claim?

 

Disclaimer: All content presented in this webinar is intended for general information purposes only and should not be considered as legal advice or official guidance.