Coronavirus Act (CA) 2020 Sch 29 initially provided that landlords were temporarily required to give at least three months’ notice of intention to seek possession of premises let under a secure tenancy, a flexible tenancy, an assured tenancy, an assured shorthold tenancy, an introductory tenancy, a demoted tenancy or a Rent Act 1977 protected or statutory tenancy. The temporary provision made by CA 2020 Sch 29 was due to end on 30 September 2020. The Coronavirus Act 2020 (Residential Tenancies: Protection from Eviction) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2020 SI No 914 came into effect on 29 August 2020. The regulations: (1) extend the relevant period during which CA 2020 Sch 29 applies, so the temporary measures will be in force until 31 March 2021; (2) lengthen the required notice period to six months in most cases; and (3) reduce the length of notice periods required for cases where a shorter period is considered justified, such as serious rent arrears, anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse.

The changes are complex and are summarised in both an explanatory memorandum accompanying the regulations and in a letter sent by the UK government to all local housing authorities in England: Extension of emergency measures requiring residential landlords to provide extended notice periods (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), 7 September 2020). The policy justification for the changes was set out in a press release: ‘Government has changed the law so most renters have a 6 month notice period’ (MHCLG, 28 August 2020).

A helpful steer through the maze on the validity of notices is provided by the Section 21 Flowchart on the Nearly Legal website, updated by Giles Peaker on 16 September 2020. For its part, the UK government has published non-statutory Technical guidance on eviction notices (MHCLG, 21 September 2020).

The House of Commons Library has been regularly updating its excellent free briefing paper, Coronavirus: a ban on evictions and help for rough sleepers (Briefing Paper No 08867). The latest version was published on 20 September 2020.

The UK government has updated its COVID-19 Guidance for landlords and tenants and Guidance for local authorities (MHCLG, 28 March 2020; last updated 21 September 2020). It has also produced guides on the new arrangements for possession cases for both landlords and tenants:

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued an updated and final version of its guidance to lenders about handling mortgage arrears in the national crisis: Mortgages and coronavirus: additional guidance for firms (FCA, September 2020). Section 7 of the guidance (page 17) deals with repossessions. It restates that lenders should not engage in repossession activity before 31 October 2020 and, after that date, should proceed with restraint.

There is also updated non-statutory guidance for local authorities in England about how to handle enforcement of standards in private rented accommodation during the continuing COVID crisis: Guidance for local authorities: COVID-19 (coronavirus) and the enforcement of standards in rented properties – non-statutory guidance for local authorities on enforcing standards in rented properties during the COVID-19 outbreak (MHCLG, 21 September 2020).

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has published templates of the suite of documents it will use when communicating with parties about various aspects of possession proceedings: Property possession: information for claimants and defendants (15 September 2020; last updated 17 September 2020).

To ensure that the courts only need to deal with possession claims that are still being actively pursued, a reactivation notice must be filed and served by one of the parties in respect of most possession claims that were brought before 3 August 2020: CPR Practice Direction (PD) 55C. A reactivation notice may be given by claimant or defendant and must contain the information required by PD 55C. There are no prescribed forms, but on 15 September 2020, the UK government published templates that encourage the parties to supply the required information:

Some purported reactivation notices were filed and served before 20 September 2020, the date when the stay on possession claims imposed by CPR 55.29 lifted. These probably represent the taking of a step in a stayed claim and are consequently unlikely to be of any legal effect: Grant v Dawn Meats (UK) [2018] EWCA Civ 2212 as applied to possession cases by Arkin v Marshall [2020] EWCA Civ 620 at para 51. It may be expected that these will either be treated as nullities or the defect waived (presumably by exercise of powers in CPR r3.10 or by judicial dispensation using PD 55C para 2.1).

Claims brought after 3 August 2020 do not require reactivation notices, but some of them will be subject to additional requirements. For example, CPR PD 55C para 6.2 provides that in such a claim brought under the accelerated procedure (to which CPR Part 55 section II applies), the claimant must file with the claim form, for service with it, a notice setting out what knowledge they have as to the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the defendant and their dependants.

Listing of court hearings is a judicial function. However, in recent years, the listing of possession claims has become an essentially administrative task, given the volumes involved. That led to block listing of scores of possession claims, for short hearings on the same day.

The new statement, Overall arrangements for possession proceedings in England and Wales (17 September 2020), produced by the Master of the Rolls’ Working Group on Possession Proceedings, represents a restatement of judicial control of the process. All possession claims will now be placed before a judge for listing directions. In most cases, except accelerated proceedings, the judge will initially direct the listing of a ‘review’ at which there will not be a hearing but rather a judicial scrutiny of the claim on the papers. The claimant and defendant will be expected to be available for communication with each other, and any of their advisers (see below), on the review date. The judge will then give any necessary directions for the hearing or other directions for the future progress of the claim. In due course, possession hearing days are unlikely to involve the listing of more than 10 cases.

Civil legal aid remains available (subject to means and merits) for most defendants in possession claims. From 21 September 2020, all notices of the issue of a possession claim given by the courts in England and Wales will be accompanied by material encouraging the taking of early advice and the securing of representation through legal aid where applicable.

This may help reverse the decline in the take-up of legal aid in housing cases. In the three months prior to lockdown, there was a 27 per cent decrease in housing work starts compared with the same quarter the previous year: Legal aid statistics quarterly, England and Wales January to March 2020 (Ministry of Justice, 25 June 2020). There were also decreases in completed claims (16 per cent) and in expenditure (12 per cent) in housing cases.

Part of the new ethos, in the management of possession claims, will be to encourage appropriate settlements. In some cases, there will be agreement between the parties that a possession order be made. In cases where possession orders can properly be made by ‘consent’ (see Baygreen Properties Ltd v Gil [2002] EWCA Civ 1340), the courts will approve them.

In the expectation that such orders will become more common, the director of homelessness and rough sleeping at MHCLG wrote to all local housing authorities in England on 18 September 2020 stating:

Changes to CPR Part 83, relating to the enforcement of court orders, took effect from the lifting of the deferred stay on possession claims on 20 September 2020: Civil Procedure (Amendment No 5) (Coronavirus) Rules 2020 SI No 889. The position is now consistent for enforcement of possession orders in the High Court and the county court. Occupiers will receive 14 days’ notice of an eviction appointment in writing on Form N54 (Notice of eviction).