Possession delays costing landlords thousands

On 27th October 2025, the Renters' Rights Act received Royal asset and will be implemented over the coming months as secondary legislation is laid before Parliament.

The new Act will impact landlords of residential property and comes on the heels of the report published by the High Court Enforcement Officers Association (HCEOA) has reported on the results of the survey they conducted with their partners the NRLA, Propertymark and Landlord Action, between May and July 2025. There were 679 respondents, representing the landlords of over 52,000 properties in England and Wales.

Whilst the challenges faced by landlords (private, local authorities and social housing) when looking to recover residential property is widely known, this report shows that the extent and scale of the issue is significant and is negatively impacting the rented housing sector.

This impact is not just the loss of income to landlords, affecting their ability to pay mortgages on property, but also preventing others from moving into the property and therefore reducing housing supply.

The HCEOA wants simple changes by the Government to allow landlords more choice when it comes to enforcing an order for possession, by making it easier to use the High Court route instead of a County Court Bailiff.

The average time for an eviction in the North West by a County Court Bailiff is six months (it can be over a year in London). This is on top of the time taken to obtain the possession order in the first place. 

You can read the full article on how the delays are costing landlords thousands of pounds on the HCE Group website.