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Landlords across England and Wales with problem tenants are struggling to get their properties back because of delays in evicting problem tenants caused by backlogs in the county court system.
Transferring your possession order to the High Court could save you thousands of pounds and months of delay and stress.
Are you a landlord, property agent or solicitor struggling to evict a problem tenant? You might be able to take action now to speed up the process – read our Why It’s Time To Transfer Up guide below and ask your solicitor or a High Court Enforcement Officer for help.
You can also help us lobby for change by completing our survey on possessions. We're looking for responses from landlords, property agents and solicitors.
Why It's Time To Transfer Up
It's like a postcode lottery. Some parts of the country, particularly London, are seeing delays of up to 8 months or even longer in the County Court system. As our illustration below shows, that kind of delay could cost landlords £8,000* in lost rent.
If that's you - then our illustration below shows how you could save almost £5,000* of that lost rent and get your property back six months quicker by enforcing your order of possession with a High Court Enforcement Officer.
If you haven’t yet applied to the County Court for your Possession Order, then you can apply for Leave to Transfer Up at the same time as applying for the Possession Order by adding it to your draft Order. Just ask your solicitor or a High Court Enforcement Officer to help.
If you have already applied to the County Court for your Possession Order without applying for Leave to Transfer Up, don’t worry – see our guide to switching to the fast lane below.
*Based on the 2023 average monthly rent of £977 in England and Wales
Here’s the detail behind our illustration…..
Using the County Court bailiff:
- In some cases the timeline for a County Court bailiff to carry out an eviction can take up to eight months from the granting of a possession order.
- That would mean almost £8,000* in lost rent for you based on average monthly rents in England and Wales.
Using the High Court enforcement route:
- Would save you an average of almost £5,000* in lost rent – and get your property back six months earlier so you can start renting it again.
- The average High Court timeline for carrying out an eviction is two months from you applying for a writ of possession.
- Depending on the size of the property, the typical High Court enforcement fee for an eviction is about the cost of an average month’s rent - £977.
If you have to wait more than two months from the granting of a possession order for a County Court eviction date – then you will be better off using the High Court for enforcement.
*Based on the 2023 average monthly rent of £977 in England and Wales
Switching to the fast lane
If you have already applied to the County Court for your Possession Order without applying for Leave to Transfer Up, don’t worry – you can still switch to the fast lane – here’s how!
- Check expected timelines for eviction dates at your County Court. Decide which option is best for you. Remember - it might take up to three months for the County Court to process the application, and once you are in the fast lane it’ll take 4-8 weeks for a High Court Enforcement Officer to give you an eviction date.
- If you want to Transfer Up, ask your solicitor or a High Court Enforcement Officer to make a Section 42 application to the County Court – there is an extra court fee of £119 to pay.
- Don’t forget you will need to pay a fee for the High Court Enforcement Officer – Depending on the size of the property, the typical High Court enforcement fee for an eviction is about the cost of an average month’s rent – £977.
‘Transferring up’ means you are asking a judge to give you permission to evict a problem tenant using a High Court Enforcement Officer rather than a County Court Bailiff. It does not mean you are transferring the case to the High Court. Permission to transfer up is granted at the discretion of the judge in each case.
Help us lobby for change – complete our survey
We need your help to provide data and evidence to Government to show them the scale of the problem landlords are facing. Please spare ten minutes to complete our survey so we can demonstrate how landlords are being unfairly affected by the delays in the County Court system.
We're looking for responses from landlords, property agents and solicitors.
We want to lobby the government to show them the scale of the problem and encourage them to change the section 42 process and amend the N293a order so that landlords have a simple and easy choice at the start of the process.
This will save the county court service millions of pounds a year, reduce needless bureaucracy and provide landlords with quicker access to justice where they have problem tenants and have no option but to evict them.
Complete our landlord and property agents survey
