For too long the topic of exercising discretion by county court judges under Section 42(2) of the County Courts Act 1984 has been the proverbial tin can kicked down a very long road. It has been a nonsense that judges should have discretion on when enforcement of the county court order for possession should be enforced - without certainty for claimant landlords. Only when the Rules were changed in 2001 did the situation we see today begin to emerge. Today that system is too often a lottery for any claimant who wants to get back possession of their property from a tenant who is not paying their rent or who is guilty of anti-social behaviour of one sort or another. Access to justice is being denied every time a judge decides that a landlord should wait for the county court bailiff to evict a tenant shown to be in breach of his or her tenancy conditions for weeks on end. It is in my view, "politicking" on difficult housing decisions by the back door. Apparently, there is even a letter circulating amongst the judiciary advising them NOT to grant permission to transfer an order for possession to the High Court for enforcement. This has been confirmed to me by very reliable sources where District Judges have alluded to its existence. Now what the heck is that all about? A study by Shergroup will be published shortly giving data on which Courts are allowing transfers and those judges and courts who are systematically refusing to do so. Never mind no-fault evictions - how about "FairTransfers" for landlords who meet a transparent set of criteria to enforce in the High Court?

To contact Claire and her TEAM reach out to us on www.shergroup.com where you can call or chat, and email of course. 

 #shergroup #highcourtenforcement #accesstojustice #landlords #nofaultevictions #eviction #enforcement #housing #property #data #writofpossession #warrantofpossession #countycourtbailiff

SHOWNOTES | March 25th, 2022, provides another watershed moment as we move out of the pandemic and into what we hope will be a better period for business. The Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022 (CRCA) is now law and it gives welcome relief to some landlords, and difficult issues to be faced by some tenants.

(see - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-law-to-resolve-remaining-covid-19-commercial-rent-debts-now-in-place ).  

Well before this Act became law it published a code for landlords and tenants to help resolve commercial rent issues and this Code now sits alongside the new Act 

(see - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/commercial-rents-code-of-practice-november-2021)

Certain business tenants will continue to enjoy protection from the immediate return of the CRAR (Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery) process.  The criteria for coming within the scope of the CRCA’s protection includes | 

·       The affected tenancy, must be defined as a “business tenancy” under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954

·       The business and/or the business’s premises were required to close either fully or partially as a result of the Government’s mandates under the Coronavirus Regulations

• The categories of business that come within this definition included 
• Indoor leisure
• Outdoor sports and leisure
• Theatres and cinemas
• Large events venues
• Hospitality and nightclubs
• Non-essential retail
• Garden centres
• Personal care
• Hairdressers
• Hotels and B&Bs
• And self-contained tourist accommodation

·       The period of the rent arrears is stipulated as falling within a “relevant period” starting at or after 2pm on 21st March 2020 and ending at or before 11:55pm on 18th July 2021 (in England) or 6am on 7th August 2021 (in Wales) 

·       The extent of the “protected rent debt” extends to the rent itself, service charges (including repairs), maintenance, management costs, insurance premiums and interest on the amount of the debt. 

Any of the types of businesses listed above may have incurred debts due to non-payment of rent and as a result will now come within the “protected rent debts” definition. The critical point here is that Protected Rent Debts cannot be subject to the CRAR or Forfeiture procedures. 

Instead, The CRCA sets out a binding rent arbitration scheme, where a tenant who has a protected rent debt can take advantage of the arbitration scheme within six months of 25th March 2022. Landlords or tenants will now have until the 25th of September 2022, to apply through an arbitration process, on how the rent arrears will be managed and this end date may itself be extended if the Government consider it necessary. 

For those tenants who do not fall into a protected category as listed above, then after 25th March 2022, commercial landlords will once again, be able use the normal means of commercial rent recovery including CRAR, Forfeiture, Winding Up, or securing a judgment or order. 

If you find yourself as a landlord wanting to chat through your options post 25th March 2022, we offer a FREE review service for any lease or tenancy situation to get you on track. 

We are here to support those that need enforcement services for their businesses so reach out to us at [email protected], on our phone lines at 020 3588 4240 and on any of our social channels. 

Hello, it's Claire Sandbrook from Shergroup and welcome to Sandbrook's Soapbox!

Sandbrook's Soapbox is Claire's personal take on the different aspects of High Court Enforcement, the life of enforcement officers and the role of government. Claire is an Authorised High Court Enforcement Officer, and she has had the opportunity and the privilege to work with government officials, senior judges, and court users in her career span. 

She's made her mark in being forthright and clear in her vision for High Court Enforcement and the delivery of justice through enforcement services. Claire believes she's a person of ideas, and her community recognises her as a successful entrepreneur. So, through this Soapbox, Claire wants to voice her opinion on what she sees in the enforcement world today.

As a listener, you would enjoy when Claire reveals some secrets in relation to government regulations, trade association pronouncements, reported decisions from the courts, and probably a bit of gossip from the enforcement industry that might wind you up. Sandbrook's Soapbox is an area of our website where we will be forthright. So, to take it forward we would like to invite you to come on and be part of our podcast and videos and tell us what works for you in the civil justice arena.

As enforcement specialists, we need to talk about what works and what doesn't because it's important in England and Wales, which is the home of the common law system across the world. Court users issue thousands of claims every year in the civil courts for the recovery of money and the recovery of property. Many of these people are not represented by trade associations and have no voice in how they find the system of delivery. This means that those of us who do have some influence and a voice should work as efficiently as possible to process the amount of court business that we receive and to look at where we can fix problems for court users, whilst at the same time, maintaining a balance in the system for those on the other end of the judgment, the debtor, or the defendant.

What Claire wants to highlight is that from the issue of the claim up to the entry of the judgment for issuing an order, the civil court system works relatively well. With online systems for both money and property claims, the UK government,.gov.uk, has done a good job in getting the processing of claims into a digital form of business.

But what we have seen over the years is that everything becomes so much more complicated for the government when it comes to enforcing the court's judgment or order. And this is where we want to get stuck in, into the how and why the government needs to step up its efforts to get the systems working for the benefit of court users. And Shergroup wants to see you getting the right level of delivery from all of us involved in the enforcement process. 

So, with this Soapbox, get ready for some peppery discussions and let's get the conversation going with you. You are our community. You are our audience. What works for you, and what would you like to see? Where are the delays? Where are the bottlenecks? Where have you lost money because of delays? What would you like to see in terms of county court bailiffs? What would you like to see in terms of high court enforcement officers? What would you like to see in terms of the transfer up the process?

You can reach Claire through our contact channels and make your opinion heard. And we'll be inviting commentators to come on to our podcasts and onto our Facebook Live and recordings so that they can share their insight and their expertise.

So, we look forward to hearing from you, and if you would like to be involved in a podcast or interview with Claire about your views on enforcement, then we would love to hear from you.

We look forward to talking to you in the future.