County Court & High Court Enforcement – What’s the Difference?

To further protect against Coronavirus transmission, the Government has passed The Public Health (Coronavirus) (Protection from Eviction) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2021 (‘the Regulations’) which extends the temporary eviction ban in England.

No eviction notices can be served on residential tenants nor can bailiffs execute warrants of possession of land from the 22 February 2021 until the 31 March 2021 unless an exemption applies. The exemptions remain the same as the previous ban and are as follows:

  1. To evict occupants where ‘substantial’ rent arrears have accrued. The arrears must equate to 6 months’ rent arrears,

  2. To evict trespassers,

  3. To evict occupants on the grounds of anti-social behaviour,

  4. To evict occupants on the grounds of nuisance or false statements, and

  5. Where a property is unoccupied following the death of a tenant.

Court proceedings to obtain a possession order are still ongoing but unless an exemption applies, no possession orders can be enforced until 01 April 2021.