The Ministry of Justice is being urged to speed up evictions by allowing more cases to be transferred up to the High Court.
Eviction firm Landlord Actions says the time it is taking to get a County Court bailiff appointment once a possession order has been granted is having a considerable financial impact on landlords.
Some bailiffs do not have free appointments for up to three months.
Paul Shamplina, founder of Landlord Action, said: “During this period, the tenant will most likely not be paying rent and the landlord will not be able to recover that lost rent from the tenant.
“Nor will the landlord be able to let the property out or even make future preparations to do so.
“We have even had instances of bailiffs not turning up at all, which results in the landlord having to wait a further eight to 12 weeks – a total of six months’ additional lost rent.
“Only recently a bailiff who attended an eviction for one of our clients told us she had 14 evictions that day.”
Landlord Action has proposed to the Ministry of Justice that a clear directive be handed to county court district judges.
Shamplina said: “We feel that the judges at hearings should have sight of the bailiffs’ dairies and if dates go over 4-6 weeks, then cases should automatically be transferred up.
“Cases still have to rely on the court administration to obtain the Warrant for the High Court Enforcement Officer to act where delays can be encountered, but generally it is much quicker.
“We always try and make sure that seven days’ notice of the eviction date is given to the tenant, allowing them time to remove their items and vacate, as well as take the Notice to the Council for rehousing.”
The court transfer process itself is relatively quick, simple and cost-effective. The average time to carry out the eviction is then realistically about 10-14 days.
Government should also silence councils from saying to tenants – just stay put and wait to be evicted.
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Just another instance of local councils passing the buck or taking no real responsibility , not our problem stay put and cost everyone unnecessary time, cost and effort when the end result is always near enough the same.
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I am guessing that these bailiffs aren’t just busy evicting tenants, they must be enforcing other forms of debt collection too.
If so, it’s quite scary to find out that they are fully booked for three months.
Is there any way we can find out what all those bailiffs are up to?
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Reason behind their actions is once evicted they are barred from council waiting lists.Result !
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