Landlords across England and Wales with problem tenants are struggling to get their properties back, suffering months of delay and stress and unfairly losing thousands of pounds because of delays in evicting problem tenants caused by backlogs and policy changes in the County Court Bailiff system.
If you are a landlord in that position, follow the links below to find out how you can instruct a High Court Enforcement Officer to help.
I’m a landlord with an Order for Possession who wants to Transfer Up
I’m a landlord without an Order for Possession who wants some help
Our Transferring Up campaign
We’re calling on Government to make two urgent changes to help ensure fair and timely access to justice for landlords.
We’ve written to the Minister and senior civil servants to urge Government to recognise the scale of the problem and
- Engage with District Judges to ensure that requests to transfer up to the High Court for enforcement should always be allowed where the County Court Bailiff delay locally is three months or more, or where it is possible that reasonable force may have to be used.
- Simplify the process for ‘transferring up’ so that it’s easier for landlords to request and apply, easier for the County Court to administrate and better for onboarding into future digital reforms of the courts. This could be done by removing the need for Section 42 and using the N293a process.
Both changes will speed up the system and enable quicker access to justice in cases where a judge has already granted a Possession Order.
Research shows landlords face months of delays and lose thousands of pounds in lost rent
Our detailed Possessions – Transferring Up research shows the true scale of the problem, but you can see the headlines below.
- National average wait of six months in the County Court Bailiff system for an eviction to take place after a Judge has granted a Possession Order
- London average wait of eight months once the Order has been granted.
- That kind of delay is costing landlords over £17,500* in lost rent.
View our Possessions – Transferring Up research
