Possession proceedings – the latest

If you are a landlord of residential property and have been experiencing problems with your tenant(s) over the last 12 months, you may have served the tenant(s) with a section 21 or section 8 notice to bring the tenancy to an end. If you have issued possession proceedings, you will no doubt have been very frustrated by the catalogue of measures put in place to protect tenants during the Covid-19 crisis.

Perhaps the most significant measure put in place was a general stay on all existing possession proceedings issued before 22^nd August 2020. CPR Practice Direction 55C which is a temporary Practice Direction that, at present, is due to apply until 31^st March 2021 (but this may be extended, as other provisions have been over the last 12 months).

PD55C requires a Landlord whose possession proceedings had been put on hold by this general stay to file a Reactivation Notice; effectively a formal request to the Court to lift the stay on those particular proceedings and to “reactivate” them. The deadline for filing a Reactivation Notice was Friday, 29^th January 2021. If you did not file the notice at the court by that date, then your proceedings have been further stayed and your only option is to make a formal application to the Court to lift the stay.

Making this application will require completion of form N244 application notice, which is usually to be accompanied by a draft order, a witness statement setting out evidence in support of the application and always by a court fee.

If, regrettably, you have missed the opportunity to reactivate your possession proceedings before the 29^th January deadline, we can help you prepare an application to have the stay of your proceedings lifted and to get them back on track effectively and cost efficiently.

To find out more, contact a member of the Colemans litigation team by emailing litigation@colemans.co.uk or telephone to speak with Kate Williams or Sheena Bradfield on 01628 631051.

**Please note that in the present circumstances due to Covid-19 restrictions we may be working from home, but rest assured that it is very much “business as usual” at Colemans notwithstanding these unprecedented times. If neither Sheena nor Kate is available when you call the office, please bear with us we will get back to you as soon as we can whilst working remotely.**

Categorised in: Civil Litigation

This post was written by Colemans Solicitors LLP