The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a series of urgent, temporary changes to the rules available to assist you to deal with possession proceedings during this pandemic. On 27 March, the Master of the Rolls and Lord Chancellor issued Practice Direction 51Z (CPR PD51Z) to the Civil Procedure Rules which stayed all possession proceedings for a period of 90 days from 27 March 2020. On 20 April 2020, amendments to CPR PD51Z, were announced on the judiciary’s website.

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by which a challenge was bought to the legality of the 90-day stay imposed on possession proceedings by CPR PD51Z: see Arkin v Marshall and another [2020] EWCA Civ 620 (11 May 2020) We set out what this now means to housing providers below.

What is the outcome and upshot?

In upholding CPR PD51Z lawful, the Court of Appeal has indicated that whilst judges ‘theoretically’ have the power to lift the stay, having regard to the expressed purpose for which it was introduced – “so as not to endanger public health” - it should only be exercised in the most exceptional of circumstances: the court found it difficult to envisage any circumstances that may make it appropriate for a judge to order this stay to be lifted.

What does this mean in practice for housing providers?

The upshot is that the position remains as we previously advised. Whilst nothing stops the parties to the proceedings taking steps to comply with existing directions or those agreed during the stay, neither party can apply to the court to enforce compliance with any directions (whether agreed or otherwise) during the stay.

Importantly, the court did state that whilst neither party would be bound - because of the stay - to comply with pre-existing directions, or those agreed subsequently and embodied in a court order, when the stay was lifted and it came to setting a new timetable for directions, the conduct of both parties may be taken into account. Also in an appropriate case, parties who do not comply with agreed directions may be subject to sanctions after the stay has been lifted.

The stay is currently due to be lifted on 25 June 2020. We continue to advocate that housing providers continue with case preparations and encourage defendants to do so as well. Once the stay is lifted, housing providers should have taken as many steps as possible to be trial ready and can request tighter timetables for defendants who were uncooperative or did not use the time wisely.

How can Capsticks help?

We remain well placed to continue to help you deal with cases swiftly and are in regular contact with your local courts to keep a finger on the pulse of any differing practices they are adopting.

If you have any queries around what is discussed in this article, or the steps that you can take in any given case, please do not hesitate to speak to Simon Strelitz, or any of your contacts at Capsticks to find out more about how we can help.