Housing Litigation – update your template documents today!
11th June, 2014
A number of recent changes in Housing Law will have left your template documents in need of a review.
The Single County Court
On 22 April 2014, the Court became a national entity with nationwide jurisdiction. The new, single County Court has effectively replaced the 173 local courts, which are now known as “County Court Hearing Centres”.
As a result, possession claims can be issued at any County Court Hearing Centre. However, if the matter needs to be transferred to another Court mid-way through proceedings, this could cause an unnecessary delay. We would therefore advise that you continue to issue proceedings in the Court local to the property.
You will, however, need to amend any template documents that you rely upon to reflect this change.
Such documents should no longer state “in the [Leeds] County Court”, but should instead say “in the County Court at [Leeds]”
Notice seeking possession
On 13 May 2014, the Anti-social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 amended the discretionary grounds for possession under the Housing Acts 1985 and 1988.
Ground 2 Housing Act 1985 (secure tenancies) and Ground 14 Housing Act 1988 (assured tenancies), now read as follows:
The tenant or a person residing in or visiting the dwelling house –
(a) has been guilty of conduct causing or likely to cause a nuisance or annoyance to a person residing, visiting, or otherwise engaging in a lawful activity in the locality,
(aa) has been guilty of conduct causing or likely to cause a nuisance or annoyance to the landlord of the dwelling-house, or a person employed (whether or not by the landlord) in connection with the exercise of the landlord’s housing management functions, and that is directly or indirectly related to or affects those functions, or
(b) has been convicted of –
(i) using the dwelling house or allowing it to be used for immoral or illegal purposes, or
(ii) an indictable offence committed in, or in the locality of, the dwelling house.
This new ground cannot be used for possession cases starting prior to 13 May 2014, but should be cited in full where applicable in all cases after this date.
Case law tells us how important it is for the grounds relied upon to be cited correctly and in full on the Notice Seeking Possession. Please do make sure that you have amended your precedent documents to account for this change. Failure to do so could cost you time, money and more anti-social behaviour.
Increased court fees
As you are no doubt aware, Court fees increased in April this year. The cost of issuing a possession claim has increased from £175 to £280, while the cost of issuing a possession claim online (PCOL) has dramatically increased from £100 to £250.
All non-money claims, including injunction proceedings, now cost £280 to issue. Warrant fees remain the same at £110.
As well as updating your budgets, don’t forget to update references to Court fees on template documents or correspondence.
Next steps
If you have any queries in light of these recent changes, or would like a review of your template documents, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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