Finding a County Court Bailiff

[Slackjawedyokel]

Hi,
I have a possession order following a S21 eviction. I'm still awaiting my solicitor gaining a warrant of possession to allow bailiffs to evict (at some point in the future - I'm not holding my breath for Feb 21st...)
I should probably be talking to a county court bailiff to 'get in the queue', but I'm wondering how you go about finding one.
Doing some googling, there seem to be a lot of bailiffs out there; many adverts seem to be a bit 'dodgy' in that they appear to be local but are actually national companies (maybe trying to get your details to sell them on to a more local bailiff?) Also, many seem to be HCEOs when I'm looking for a court bailiff.

So, (apologies - I've never had to go down this route before so I'm a little green) I'm wondering how to find a good county court bailiff. I'm assuming that they are private businesses like HCEOs rather than employed by the courts?
Is there a list / reviews of CCBs I could use as a starting point? Should I be asking someone at the Civil and Families Court Tribunal Centre where the possession judgement was made regarding Court Bailiffs?

Many Thanks, SJY.

[Borgie]

As the lockdown has been extended to 8 march . I assume evictions also extended.

[JK0]

Each county court has its own bailiff(s). Use this form: https://assets.publishing.service.go...0/n325-eng.pdf

[Slackjawedyokel]

JK0 Thankyou- I think that will be what my solicitor will now have applied for. So it’s just a case of waiting now?

[JK0]

JK0 Thankyou- I think that will be what my solicitor will now have applied for. So it’s just a case of waiting now?

Crack on and do it yourself, if I were you.

[ash72]

All Bailiffs can't evict currently until the 21st Feb, so you will have to wait until this date, but keep in contact with them in case anything changes.

If you want a county court bailiff it would be the one assigned to the court where your property is, if you want a HCEO, then there a large number of them either nationally or locally, you would need to check their t&c's as each one may stipulate different things.

[Slackjawedyokel]

I instructed my solicitor to apply for a warrant for possession in early December, when the deadline for the possession order lapsed (I suppose he will have submitted the formJK0 posted above) but I still haven’t heard anything back yet. Are the courts currently banned from issuing warrants for possession or is it that they can issue them but bailiffs can’t enforce them?
Thanks, SJY.

[jpkeates]

Courts can issue them, but bailiffs can't enforce them.
On the other hand, I can't imagine a court making it a priority.

[Slackjawedyokel]

jpkeates Thankyou. I've emailed my solicitor to see whether there is any update. I'm hoping that the warrant has been issued so there are only the twin hurdles of the ban on evictions, and then waiting for bailiff availability to overcome...

[jpkeates]

My guess is that the eviction hold is going to have to be extended until this lockdown ends and then possibly into some places being in a high tier (or equivalent).

I think that an unintended consequence of this policy is going to be an increased number of bankruptcies, as people who would otherwise have had to sort themselves out (with an unprecedented amount of government support) have, instead, run themselves into spectacular amounts of debt.
Which landlords aren't going to forgive or forget.

[Slackjawedyokel]

jpkeates Like I say- I’m not holding my breath for the lifting of the stay on evictions (it’s virtually a cert that it will be extended significantly). At the same time I would like to think that I’m as ready as possible, so that I’m as far forward in the queue as possible when the time comes. Hopefully this is the last lockdown but who knows?! It’s been a very frustrating 15 months since serving the S21!

I’ve got to say, as a small and relatively naive landlord, this forum has been excellent for picking the brains of ‘the experts’, and those that have been there before, especially little things like the point of this thread which isn’t necessarily easy to find out by googling, so Thankyou!

[Perce]

Did you get your warrant ? I am still waiting for mine since middle of Jan.

[Slackjawedyokel]

Perce I don’t know. I emailed my solicitor a week ago but he hasn’t replied yet so I assume not.

[Perce]

Slackjawedyokel- thanks. It looks like there is no need to worry judging by what I read today on Landlordzone on evictions.

[Slackjawedyokel]

Perce , well I can’t ‘like’ your post for obvious reasons. 15 months on and they’ll still be in situ in 2022 at this rate. Maybe I’m going to have to get the EICR done after all, but it seems like good money after bad when they’re slowly falling further behind with the rent and I’m now planning to demolish the house after they vacate.

With hindsight, I should have put the rent up to the maximum level I reasonably could have at the same time as issuing the S21- I think they’re finding even council housing expensive relative to what you get.

Given that I have a possession order, but it could be a long time before that is enforceable, should I be upping the rent now (it’s rented through an agent so I could ask them what would be a reasonable current market rent) or could that somehow make evicting them difficult?