Court Hearing and rejected Section 21

7 out of 10 notices are being thrown out of court because they are wrong this is according to The Chairman of the London Association of District Judges.

Where an invalid Section Notice 21 is issued and relied on to apply for possession;

• The Landlord is notified by post that possession is denied due to an invalid application see entitlement to use this process if you are notified by post see our  Court Appeal Letters
• The Judge misses the mistake and it slips through (very unlikely) but the Tenant could at a later stage Appeal and the possession order would be set aside (dismissed) so back to square one, remedying breach and then serving a new Section 21 Notice
• The courts will write to the Landlord and inform there is a court hearing date - In reality in the

• VAST majority of cases this hearing is a waste of time for your possession request is more than likely to be denied. Attending court for a section 21 application and only to be told
• your notice is invalid is a waste of valuable time and delays the eviction process by at least two month. A Judge has no descretion. Where the Notice is invalid it MUST be rejected, otherwise any possession order can be set aside at any time.
• If the rejection is for invalid expiry date of notice see Court Appeal Letters
• NEW CASE LAW [May 14]  appeal against possession and request the possession order be set aside was upheld on the basis " the landlord failed to reissue the prescribed information when the Tenancy became a periodic". The Landlord was also fined and spent thousands on costs read case this defence shall be eradicated when the deregulation bill comes into being later this year. So NOW (July 24) the position is clarified provided the deposit remains protected in the same scheme no requirement to re-isssue prescribed information provided stakeholders remain the same  
  

The Section 21 notice is a critical component of the accelerated possession application and is called this is as the process is dealt with by post. There should not be a court hearing.

A court hearing is called where the Judge is NOT satisfied he can grant a mandatory possession by post, this is because of non compliance with process or the Judge considers that the defence filed by the tenant is credible. In such circumstance the Judge will either:

• Direct that a date be fixed for a hearing; and give any appropriate case management directions.
• Strike out the claim if the claim form discloses no reasonable grounds for bringing the claim. This means your application has been dismissed, you lose your court fees and must remedy the non compliance issue before you can proceed further.

Where you have been notified of a hearing - It basically means

• The evidence you have relied on may be invalid [Section 21, Tenancy agreement, Deposit protection compliance; licence compliance).
• That you have completed your claim form N5B incorrectly, and the Judge is seeking clarification.
• The Judge considers the tenant has a valid defence.
• You are in ineligible to use this process.

Where you ,as a Landlord, has been informed of a court date, the first thing you must do is review the ‘case management directions’ that the court specified in their notice of the court hearing. You must then review all of your paperwork. If you have made an invalid application it is often wiser to withdraw the application and begin again. This is often faster than waiting the court date only to be told your claim is invalid and to begin again - On many occasions a new Section 21 Notice has to be reissued.

Do it right the first time and you will avoid the distress, frustration and costs of having your claim rejected - Always check your Section 21 Notice for validity, double check the the paper work, which is your marked evidence that you submit with your application for accelerated possession.