An eviction and housing law firm has seen a 43 per cent rise in instructions for eviction cases from agents and landlords in the four months of June to September when compared to the same four months in 2019; June this year was when the eviction ban was ended.

The period of notice for landlords now reverts back to pre-Covid with two months for Section 21 and for Section 8 notices it is now just two weeks. However the firm is sending out a stark warning to all landlords of considerable delays to the eviction cases process with county courts’ review hearings being ‘snowed under’.

Last year review hearings were first introduced for courts to address the most urgent of eviction cases and decide which should proceed to a full hearing later in the year.

A spokesman for the firm, says: “We are dealing with a possession case involving £14,000 which was issued to Wandsworth County Court in May 2021 and the review hearing is only scheduled for October 2021, five months later.  We expect it to progress to a substantive hearing which now will most likely not be until next year.  These delays will just continue to add to the debt owed by the tenant.

“In another case, which was due to be heard on Monday September 6 at Medway County Court, we were informed on Friday September 3 that due to a lack of judicial time, the hearing could not go ahead and there was no availability to move the case to another judge. We were asked for dates to avoid in the next 12 months suggesting that is how long it could be delayed for.”

The firm states that 90 per cent of its enquiries are from landlords asking for legal clarification, re-possession of properties due to rent arrears, or wanting to sell up and leave the sector for a variety of reasons.

The founder of the firm commented: “Many landlords who speak to us express their concerns over non-payment of rent and the continual changing of the process which is now costing them more than they bargained for. The change back to pre-pandemic notice periods cannot come soon enough but we are having to warn landlords about delays in gaining possession due to the requirement for review hearings and a backlog of cases.”

Previous to October 1st this year, landlords had to provide information to prove tenants owed significant sums of unpaid rent, in order to avoid the usual lengthy timescale to serve notice.

The firm also claims that there has been a major change in the type of notices landlords are using. Since June 65 per cent of served notices have been Section 8s of which the majority were for rental arrears, and 35 per cent for no fault Section 21 notices.

The founder concludes: “Historically, a Section 21 notice was the quickest way to gain possession.  Even though, in many cases, landlords forfeited their right to recoup lost rent (as this can only be achieved by using a Section 8 notice), most landlords accepted this was the quickest way to get their property back. Now we are seeing delays across the board, there is negativity by many landlords as to their future plans in the private rented sector.”

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