Landlords face an average cost of between £12,708 and £19,223 to evict a tenant and are waiting between six months and 12 months on average to get their properties back, it has been revealed.

These figures are for the average loss of rent during an eviction and the time taken to evict once a judge has issued a writ giving permission for an eviction to proceed, with the higher figures for London and the lower for the rest of England and Wales.

This data have been released by the High Court Enforcement Officers Association (HCEOA) which says it has written to housing minister Matthew Pennycook and senior civil servants urging them to recognise the scale of the problem and make two urgent changes to help ensure fair and timely access to justice for landlords.

These are to enable county court judges to transfer more evictions to the High Court when landlords face delays of more than three months or a tenant may needs to be physically removed 'with force', and make the process of ‘transferring up’ easier.

The HCEOA's new report also points out that London is the epicentre of high costs and long waits for landlords. Those who evict using County Court bailiffs in the capital must wait in total – from serving a notice to getting permission – 36 weeks, while those using High Court Enforcement officers wait just eight weeks.

The HCEOA also says that, by allowing landlords to be given greater access to the High Court when evicting tenants, they will save £20,000 per eviction on average.

Frustrations

And it says these delays are ‘adding to the frustrations and costs faced by responsible private landlords who are operating within the legal framework, with many now saying they will exit the market’.

The HCEOA reveals that at least one county court in the West Country has told landlords that its bailiffs will no longer be able to use ‘reasonable force’ to evict a tenant, meaning tenants who refuse to leave a property are becoming more and more difficult to evict legally.

Mike Jackson (main image), Vice-Chair of the HCEOA, says: “These changes can be delivered today at no cost to Government, the judiciary, tenants or debtors.

“And they would save landlords who already have a court judgment in their favour thousands of pounds, prevent them from exiting the rental market and stop them becoming debtors of the future.”

Read the HCEOA's new report in full.