Parliament's Justice Committee has launched a call for evidence about the working of the county court generally. It closes on 14 December 2023 so this is the opportunity for all landlords (and indeed all court users - this is not a housing-specific call for evidence) to evidence delays and challenges faced and the impact they have on your housing and other court cases. You can also propose future reforms that might be helpful.

This may be connected to the delay in implementation of the Renters Reform Bill which the Government has recently said will not be implemented (not clear yet if in full or in part) until county court reforms to how housing cases are dealt with have been made. 

This call for evidence asks for evidence about:

• delays experienced and their impact (I shall be mentioning for example the 20-week backlog for the issue of warrants of possession in Central London County Court which is now also processing possession warrants for (20 weeks!))
• judicial capacity and court office staffing levels and their impact 
• condition of court buildings
• use of technology
• how the court engages with litigants in person
• level of fees 
• what future reforms should be considered

It is no secret that funding for civil work in the county courts has been heavily cut for the last 3 plus years so this is the opportunity to make the case for reform and investment and why it matters.