Landlords who have to apply to the county court to evict a tenant who won’t leave their property have to pay court fees for the privilege. Those court fees have recently been increased by 25% without notice. And yes, unfortunately the implementation is instant.
If a landlord has served notice and it’s ignored, their only option is to go through the courts. Not only does the landlord often lose out on being paid rent by the rogue tenant, they also have to pay the court for the privilege of getting rid of them.
Here are the new fees:
Issuing proceedings in the county court have increased from £280 to £355 Issuing proceedings on PCOL (Possession Claim Online) have increased from £250 to £325
This fee increase is disappointing news for landlords already under financial strain. It’s especially disappointing for there to have been instant implementation without notice. Given the issues being faced by landlords further down the eviction process with the appointments we would expect the courts to ensure the administrative procedures involved with eviction to be ironed out before introducing fee increases. That being said, we would hope that this increase results in speedier applications and, ultimately, speedier evictions.
