CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
Emergency laws were introduced in Wales to deal with evictions during the pandemic.
Between 29 September 2020 and 24 March 2022, most tenants in Wales were entitled to 6 months’ notice before their landlord could start court action to evict them. This included assured shorthold tenants.
The emergency laws ended on the 24 March 2022. This means, if you receive a notice after the 24 March 2022, the amount of notice you are entitled to depends on the type of tenancy and the reason why your landlord wants you to leave. For example, if you have an assured shorthold tenancy and your landlord is serving a ‘section 21’ (or ‘no fault’) notice, the notice will need to be 2 months in length.
What if my landlord has already started court proceedings to evict me?
If you have received possession papers or a notice of eviction from the county court use our guide to find out what will happen next:
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.
Always get advice if possession proceedings have started against you. It might not be too late to stop or delay any eviction.