Call for evidence outcome

Considering the case for a Housing Court: call for evidence

From:: Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (2018 to 2021)
Published: 13 November 2018
Last updated: 16 June 2022 — See all updates

Applies to England

Read the full outcome

Call for evidence to consider the case for a Housing Court: government response

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Detail of outcome

The responses which we received to the call for evidence indicated that introducing a housing court would not address the underlying issues which were raised by court users, which included the timeliness of cases, resourcing, access to legal aid (particularly for those in receipt of benefit) and the provision of information and advice.

The government response sets out the package of wide-ranging reforms which we are implementing to resolve the issues which were raised with us. The reforms include:

digitalising the end-to-end process for most possession claims in the County Court
reviewing bailiff capacity
reforming grounds for possession
reducing the time taken for first hearings to be listed by the courts in certain cases, including where there is a risk of serious harm, subject to judicial agreement
providing earlier access to legal advice for renters
trialling a new system in the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to streamline how specialist property cases are dealt with
strengthening mediation services so that fewer cases result in court action, therefore freeing up time for the courts to deal with the most serious cases

Original call for evidence

Call for evidence description

This call for evidence seeks views and opinions from the judiciary, landlords and tenants to help the government to better understand and improve the experience of people using courts and tribunal services in property cases, including considering the case for a specialist Housing Court.

We are interested in views and opinions on the:

private landlord possession action process in the County Court
user experience in both the county courts and the First-tier Tribunal for property cases
case for a new Housing Court
case for other structural changes such as an extension of the remit of the property tribunal

Alongside the call for evidence, we have published a report outlining the findings of a qualitative research study that was undertaken in order to understand tenants’ and landlords’ experience of the county courts and First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) and to identify issues that may be deterring them from exercising their rights effectively.

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