Guidance to social landlords
Social landlords (ie, local authorities and housing associations) must follow certain steps before issuing claims for possession based on rent arrears alone. The aim of this rent arrears pre-action protocol (which is part of the Civil Procedure Rules) is to reduce homelessness by encouraging social landlords to work with their tenants to deal with rent arrears. The protocol does not apply to the private-rented sector.
The Pre-action Protocol for Possession Claims by Social Landlords requires the following.
•The landlord should contact the client as soon as reasonably possible to discuss the reason for the arrears, the client’s financial circumstances (including any entitlement to benefits) and repayment of the arrears by affordable amounts based on her/his ability to repay. The landlord should also advise the client to seek advice from the free money advice sector.
•The landlord must provide comprehensible rent statements on a quarterly basis.
•If the landlord is aware that the client is under 18 or particularly vulnerable (eg, has mental health issues or a disability), it should take appropriate steps to ensure the client’s rights are protected and, in particular, whether or not any issues arise under the Equality Act 2010 and, in the case of local authority landlords, whether or not there is a need for a community care assessment in accordance with the Community Care Act 2014.
•If the client meets the appropriate criteria, the landlord should apply for the arrears to be paid by the Department for Work and Pensions by deductions from the client’s benefit.
•If there is an outstanding housing benefit (HB) or universal credit (UC) housing element claim, the landlord should work with the client to resolve any problems and, in most circumstances, should not issue possession proceedings (see here). •After serving the statutory notice seeking possession, the landlord should continue to try to contact the client to discuss the matter and, if an arrangement is made for payment of the current rent and an amount towards the arrears, should agree to postpone the issue of proceedings provided the client complies with the agreement.
•At least 10 days before the possession hearing, the landlord must provide the client with an up-to-date rent statement, confirm the details of the court hearing and of the order the landlord is seeking, and advise the client to attend the hearing.
•If, after the issue of proceedings, an arrangement is made for the payment of the current rent and an amount towards the arrears, the landlord should agree to adjourn the hearing, provided the client complies with the agreement.
•If the client fails to comply with any payment arrangement, the landlord should warn her/him of its intention to start, or continue with, possession proceedings and give the client a clear time limit within which to bring her/his payments up to date.
Courts should take into account the conduct of both landlord and client when considering whether the protocol has been followed and what orders to make. If the landlord has unreasonably failed to comply, the court may:
•order the landlord to pay the client’s costs; and/or
•adjourn, strike out or dismiss the claim (unless it is brought on a mandatory ground).
If a client has unreasonably failed to comply, the court may take this into account when considering whether it is reasonable to make a possession order.
Be prepared to bring the terms of the protocol to the attention of landlords and district judges and point out that it is not a voluntary code of practice, but part of the Civil Procedure Rules. Advisers can download a copy from .
Note: some housing advisers have suggested that, because landlords routinely apply for money judgments in possession claims on the ground of rent arrears, the protocol for debt claims applies to that part of the claim. Although this is arguable, it has not yet been tested but it might be a useful negotiating tactic. However, if the pre-action protocol for rent arrears already applies to the claim, the pre-action protocol for debt claims cannot also apply.1See para 1.4(a) Pre-action protocol for debt claims