County Court evictions now costing landlords £12,000 on average

New shocking figures released as membership body seeks to have more evictions transferred to High Court to relieve pressure on 'broken' County Courts.

A leading bailiff organisation has warned that landlords and letting agents in London now face an average cost of up to £19,223 to evict a tenant and are waiting between six months and 12 months on average to get their properties back, its new report reveals.

The High Court Enforcement Officers Association (HCEOA) also reveals that the overall figure for England and Wales including London is £12,708 in lost rent and an average writ to eviction time of six months for landlords or letting agents evicting via a County Court.

The HCEOA has written to the Government urging them to recognise the scale of the problem and make two key changes to help ensure fair and timely access to justice for landlords and agents.

These are to green light judges to allow more evictions to be transferred to the High Court when landlords face delays of more than three months or a tenant may need to be physically removed, and make the process of ‘transferring up’ easier.

Epicentre

4It also points out that London is the epicentre of high costs and long waits for landlords. Those who evict using County Court bailiffs in the Capital must wait in total – from serving a notice to a bailiff eviction – 36 weeks (up from 28), while those using High Court Enforcement officers wait just eight weeks.

The HCEOA also says that, by allowing landlords to be given greater access to the High Court when evicting tenants, they will save £20,000 per eviction on average.

And the organisation says these delays are adding to the frustrations and costs faced by responsible private landlords who are operating within the legal framework, with “many now saying they will exit the market”.

Also,  at least one county court (in Bodmin) that its bailiffs will no longer be able to use ‘reasonable force’ to evict a tenant, meaning tenants who refuse to leave a property are becoming more and more difficult to evict legally.

Delivered today
Michael Jackson - High Court Enforcement
Mike Jackson, Vice-Chair of the HCEOA

Mike Jackson, Vice-Chair of the HCEOA, says: “These changes can be delivered today at no cost to Government, the judiciary, tenants or debtors.

“And they would save landlords who already have a court judgment in their favour thousands of pounds, prevent them from exiting the rental market and stop them becoming debtors of the future.”

Read the HCEOA report in full.


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