The provisions of the Coronavirus Act 2020 came into force on 26 March 2020. They did not go as far as was expected and certainly did not provide for the “complete ban on evictions” or provide the “emergency legislation to suspend evictions from social or private rented accommodation” during the pandemic that was anticipated following the government’s own press release on 18 March 2020.

The following day, the Master of the Rolls and Lord Chancellor issued Practice Direction 51Z (CPR PD51Z) to the Civil Procedure Rules which stayed all possession proceedings for a period of 90 days from 27 March 2020 i.e. until 25 June 2020.

On 20 April 2020, amendments to CPR PD51Z, which have immediate effect, were announced on the judiciary’s website. We highlight the key amendments and what they mean for social housing providers below. 

What has changed?

Certain trespasser proceedings excluded from the stay

With immediate effect, the 90-day stay imposed by paragraph 2 of CPR PD51Z no longer applies to:

• Claims issued against trespassers to which CPR 55.6 applies (‘claims issued against “persons unknown”’); nor
• Applications for Interim Possession Orders (‘IPOs’) under Section III of Part 55 (including the making of any order, the hearing and applications to set aside an IPO);

Directions agreed between the parties

The Practice Direction also provides that the stay does not apply to applications for case management directions which are agreed by all the parties.

The clarification that the court can deal with agreed case management directions will come as welcome news to landlords, as parties to an existing claim can now be confident that the court should deal with agreed directions. More importantly, it gives some additional weight to any attempts to encourage those acting for defendants to agree such directions in order to further the overriding objective and to facilitate the efficient management of the case once the stay is lifted.

Issuing possession proceedings

In addition, paragraph 3 of the CPR PD 51Z has been amended to clarify - in line with our earlier view (see our earlier article here) - that possession proceedings may still be issued even if they will then be ‘stayed’.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s guidance in - ‘Coronavirus Act 2020 and renting’ (April 2020 v2) - states (quite literally in bold print):

“We strongly advise landlords not to commence or continue possession proceedings during this challenging time without a very good reason to do so. It is essential we work together during these unprecedented times to keep each other safe.”

In light of this, many of our clients have decided not to issue proceedings where the sole basis for doing so is rent arrears: we consider this sensible during the period of the stay.

However, understandably many social housing providers are taking a different approach where the ground(s) for possession arise from serious anti-social behaviour. In this regard, the clarification is most welcome and the issuing of proceedings - even if subject to a stay - carries with it the benefit of ensuring that the case is further up the queue of backlogged cases when the stay is lifted, as well as affording a defendant a longer opportunity to seek advice from a solicitor and for legal aid to be obtained. Further, in some cases, the issuing of proceedings may actually act as the impetus needed to a defendant to positively modify their behaviour or response to the complaints made about them, their family members and/or visitors.

How can Capsticks help?

We remain well placed to continue to help you deal with cases swiftly and are in regular contact with your local courts to keep a finger on the pulse of any differing practices they are adopting.

If you have any queries around what is discussed in this article, or the steps that you can take in any given case, please do not hesitate to speak to Simon Strelitz, or any of your contacts at Capsticks to find out more about how we can help.