To get a court possession order you need to either serve your tenant with a section 21 notice or section 8 (not sure what these are…call me!)
After serving notice and the tenant doesn’t vacate or either contact you re section 8 you have to apply for a possession order through the local county court.
Court fees are currently £355
But what do you get for that money?
We speak to a landlord today to get feedback on the service they have received.
“I served a section 21 notice on my tenant in December 2021 because I wanted to sell the property. The property was on the market so I thought I would give the tenant ample time to find another property.”
“The tenant didn’t find further accommodation so I asked Landlord Help UK to file for possession.”
“The paperwork was completed early March 2022 and was submitted to the County Court to serve on the tenant.”
“The notice of issue was send and the tenant had until 20 March 2022 to file a defence.”
“The tenant did not file a defence so the file was referred to the judge to make sure that my paperwork was correct and to issue a possession order, this was sent to the county court on 4 April”
“My paperwork is still with the judge and have been told that judges look at possession paperwork in between hearings so it can take up to three months”
“As far as I am concerned I paid a court fee and like any other application my file should not just be sat waiting for a judge to have time in between hearings.”
“A judge should be asked to sit and look at all applications maybe once a week, at least then I would know where my file was and how soon it would be looked at.”
“The court system for possessions is just crazy. I now have a big dilemma that the buyers that i found in January 2022 have pulled out, I then found another buyer in February 2022 who said that they will wait for the tenant to vacate but wants £5000 knocked off of the asking price! Not only because I cannot give a completion date but because the buyer doesn’t know what condition the tenant will leave it in, and to be fair neither do I. “
“I have decided to take the property off the market and wait until the tenant vacates and then access the property and put it on the market. “
“This may seem fair to others but not for me. I will then have an empty property with no rent to cover the mortgage but I will also have council tax to pay for, my insurance premiums will increase and I will also have gas and electric to pay for.”
“All in all it doesn’t matter what route I go down the tenant is winning.”
“If there are to be reforms on the current possession process then the court also needs reforms!”
Article 30/05/2022