Court Timescale for Section 21 Accelerated Possession Claim

CharlienJenny

AST expires on 15 July. No rent arrears or other issues, so a Section 21 Accelerated Possession is possible. I'm trying to get an understanding of how long it's currently taking to get a court date for this. Court will be Bristol

theartfullodger

Assuming s21 valid (many are not - are you sure your's would be?? see...)
https://nearlylegal.co.uk/section-21-flowchart/
- I've heard typically 44 weeks if tenant exercises their rights, provided by Thatcher, to remain until bailiffs/hceo.

Have you spoken to tenant nicely, offering the usual inducements?? (you do know them??)

CharlienJenny

Thanks - we are planning to sell the property, but cannot realistically put it on the market until we have vacant possession, so trying to work out if that will be this summer, next winter or sometime in 2023. I've heard the 44 weeks (might have been from one of your posts), but I've also heard that the timescale for accelerated "should" only be 8 weeks. 

I can't find anything on the government/courts websites to say what sort of court delays and timescales at present.

canaldumidi

Have you asked the local  court officials?

MEM62

Do you have reason to believe that your tenant will not move out voluntarily at the end of the AST?  

theartfullodger

Ask your landlord association what they've heard, some local lettings agents for their experience, starting with the one you use.. (if you do..).  

It would be kind to provide the answers to help others (be they landlord or tenant).

Have you checked s21 will be valid? Not much point doing any planning until that's checked.  And as I'm sure you are aware, the English government are planning to abolish s21 (as has already happened in Scotland..)

Artful: Landlord in England & Scotland

canaldumidi

S21 checklist (Is a S21 valid?)

ciderboy2009

If you're going for accelerated possession then there isn't always a hearing (as long as you've done everything correctly) so it could be fairly quick.  However, the only way you'r going to find out when a hearing is likely to be (if one is neccessary) is to phone Bristol Civil Justice Centre.

chanz4

put this way, the courts are working on paperwork filed on the 15th feb as of today, hearings are taking around 6 months

CharlienJenny

Thanks everyone. Paperwork will be correct (gone through it painstakingly). Tenants seem ambivalent - they're decent professional people, butlooking around here there is a dearth of rentals at the moment. I'll phone the court tomorrow for an estimate.

pinkshoes

CharlienJenny said:

Thanks everyone. Paperwork will be correct (gone through it painstakingly). Tenants seem ambivalent - they're decent professional people, butlooking around here there is a dearth of rentals at the moment. I'll phone the court tomorrow for an estimate.

You're probably better off talking to the tenant, helping them find something else then offering to pay all their moving costs. That way you will hopefully end up with vacant possession much sooner and tenants happy to go if you offer to pay moving costs.