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Court orders

If you haven’t left by the time any notice expires, your housing association will usually have to apply for an order from the county court telling you to leave. This is known as a possession order.

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

If you have received possession papers or a notice of eviction from the county court use our step-by-step guide below to find out what will happen next:

Step-by-step guide to possession proceedings during Covid19

Some new stages in the possession process were introduced during the coronavirus pandemic. These included:

Reactivation Notices: if your landlord started court proceedings before 3 August 2020 the case was probably put on hold for a time. If your landlord wanted to re-start the case they had to send a Reactivation Notice to you and the court, giving information about the impact coronavirus had on you and your family. After the 1 December 2021 there will no longer be a need for a Reactivation Notice.

Review Date:up until 1 November 2021 the court had to set a Review Date 4 weeks before a possession hearing, so that the judge could review the papers and see if an agreement could be reached before a court hearing took place. Review Dates are no longer required but some courts might decide to continue with them. If you receive notice of a Review Date speak to an adviser as soon as you can. You might be able to get legal help on the day.

Bailiff eviction: bailiffs in Wales were banned from carrying out evictions during the pandemic. This ban ended on the 30 June 2021. From that date bailiffs have been able to carry out evictions regardless of the reason for eviction.

Court duty advisers are available to help you on any Review Date or at any possession hearing. Details of how to contact an adviser should be sent to you with the papers from the court.

What do I do if I receive court papers?

If you receive papers from the court telling you that the housing association has applied for a possession order, it is important that you get advice straight away.

The sooner you get advice, the more likely you are to keep your home.

Sometimes housing associations are able to get a possession order automatically, but other times they need to prove a reason (also known as a ‘ground‘) to the court.

Unless you are an assured shorthold tenant and your landlord is relying on a ‘section 21 – no fault’ notice, there will automatically be a court hearing.

Always try and go to the court hearing. If you have no adviser, some courts have a duty adviser or solicitors available on the day of the hearing who may be able to help you.

For more information about what to expect during the court process, click here.

What orders can the court make?

If you have an assured tenancy it is likely that the judge will make one of the following orders:

  • dismiss the claim
  • adjourn (postpone) the hearing (this might be on a condition, for example, that you regularly pay your rent and something towards the arrears)
  • make a suspended possession order
  • make an outright possession order
  • make a money judgment.

    For more information on each of these orders, see our page on What orders can be made?

If you have an assured shorthold (starter) tenancy or demoted tenancy, the court will not have so much choice about what order to make. It is important that you seek advice.

We are sorry that we cannot provide this information in Welsh, however if you would like to speak to an adviser in Welsh please contact 08000 495 495.

Other pages in eviction

Preventing eviction
Private tenants
Housing association tenants
Council tenants
Mobile homes
Court action
Harassment and illegal eviction

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This page was last updated on: November 24, 2021

Shelter Cymru acknowledges the support of Shelter in allowing us to adapt their content. The information contained on this site is updated and maintained by Shelter Cymru and only gives general guidance on the law in Wales. It should not be regarded or relied upon as a complete or authoritative statement of the law.

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