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A landlord in Rochdale can apply to transfer a possession order to the High Court Enforcement Office (HCEO) as an alternative to enforcing the process with a request from a county court to give a warrant possession notice.
These HCEOs are also known as Sheriffs, certificated bailiffs or enforcement agents in Rochdale.
You can enforce possession order in Portsmouth, Rochdale, or Buckley through the High Court when:
High Court in Greater Manchester has scheduled a hearing for possession order, but it is generally not observed as a landlord in Rochdale's possession claim goes to the County Court except those cases which have any unusual situation like critical law points or complex factual disputes.
The landlord in Rochdale makes an application to the county court to have the HCEO transfer the possession order to the high court for compliance.
The transfer of enforcement in Rochdale, Portsmouth, or Buckley to the high court is determined by the judge of the county court.
During the county court possession proceedings, the landlord in Rochdale may request that the possession order, if made, be transferred for enforcement to the High Court.
Following the approval of the possession order, the landlord in Rochdale is required to apply to the county court for a transfer of enforcement of the possession order to the High Court.
A request for transfer may not be possible if there exists an outstanding request from a tenant in Rochdale; e.g., petition against the possession order.
The landlord can also submit an application for a writ control if the client has failed to pay rent in Portsmouth, Buckley, or Rochdale, and if courts cost in addition to rents owed is more than £600.
The writ of control gives the authority in Rochdale to seize and sell tenant/debtor's goods and it is commonly known as a writ of fi fa or writ of Fieri facias.
If the debt is controlled by the (CCA) 1974 Consumer Credit Act, it cannot be transferred for enforcement to the High Court, as CCA regulated agreement can be enforced in the county court in Greater Manchester.
A Rochdale landlord may place a transfer request for the possession order to the High Court for enforcement for the following reasons:
Enforcement in Rochdale is normally faster through HCEOs than the bailiffs of the county court
Greater Manchester County court bailiffs may indirectly cause a reduction in rental income since their enforcement takes a longer time
To avoid continued destruction of the property in Rochdale as well as antisocial behaviour
If the tenant owes you money, the HCEO can seize the defaulter's goods in Rochdale to recover your money as well as enforce the possession order
Interest, currently at the rate of 8 percent, will accrue on the judgment debt for arrears from the moment the order is transferred.
As the eviction speed increases in Rochdale and the costs of utilising a HCEO are greater compared to the bailiffs of the county court in Greater Manchester, a tenant may want to object an application for transfer to the High Court of the enforcement.
Tenants may have the following reasons to object:
Insufficient evidence by the landlord in Rochdale that the Count Court bailiffs will slow down the process
The costs incurred are out of balance
He/she needs the excess time to find somewhere else to stay in Buckley, Rochdale, or Portsmouth before being evicted
The decision of the Rochdale court to oppose the transfer of order will be influenced by several factors that affect the tenant such as if the tenant has children or has significant rent arrears.
In case the landlord's application to transfer is accepted, by the Greater Manchester county court, then the landlord needs to get high Court's consent before the assurance of the writ of possession unless if:
If the possession order is breached, the writ of possession can be issued without permission, and the breach may include the suspension of a possession order, especially when rent arrears are a part of the breach in Rochdale.
Once the permission to enforce an order of possession is sought in the high court, the landlord in Rochdale, Portsmouth, or Buckley will have to give notice of that application to every party in actual possession of the premises.
The High Court must not grant permission until each tenant in Rochdale is given such notice as the Court considers sufficient.
The notice does not require any particular form in Greater Manchester.
The facts of the case will help with determining the sufficient notice.
In the event that only one tenant in Rochdale is involved and understands that the move to transfer the case to high court, a reminder regarding the details of the notice and application to give back ownership to the renter is considered sufficient.
The writ of possession may be annulled even after it has been enforced in Rochdale, in cases where the landlord fails to provide enough notice, or when information about appeals against the possession hearings or pending application is withheld from the court.
There are cases where various HCEOs in Greater Manchester trying to skip the set procedure by directly giving high court full responsibility regarding the problem as stipulated in Sec. 41 or via form N293A wrongly against leaseholders in the place of intruders.
In March 2016, the High Court Senior Master issued a practice note to ensure that these misconducts stop.
The High Court Enforcement Officers (HCEOs) have a faster method of carrying out the eviction in Rochdale rather than county court bailiffs.
A writ of possession can be executed by an HCEO a couple of days after the landlord's possession notice or issue of a possession of writ has expired or the possession writ is issued in Buckley, Portsmouth, or Rochdale.
There is no requirement for a HCEO to notify tenants in Rochdale in advance of their visit when they will execute the possession letter, although it is common practice for them to drop the letter and return one or two days later.
The HCEO must give a tenant or creditor a seven day's prior notice when seeking to seize money or goods such as hearing costs and rent arrears and when seeking to repossess a property in Rochdale.
Only the High Court in Greater Manchester has the power to stay or set aside a writ of possession, or writ of control.
You will need to complete form N244 during your application to high court.
If the stay is issued or set aside, it is necessary that the respondent in Rochdale advises the HCEO of this aspect where appropriate, since the High Court may not have notified the HCEO.
Otherwise, other applications, including setting aside the original possession order must be made to the Greater Manchester county court.
HCEOs are known as commercial agencies powered by the High Court in Rochdale.
Around England and Wales, the HCEO directory contains all enforcement officers' names with powers to enforce writs from high courts.
The HCEOs cannot carry out the evictions if they aren't subscribed to a code of practice.
Except stated otherwise by the court, a writ of possession cannot be enforced on Christmas Day, Good Friday, or on a Sunday in Rochdale.
Starting from 6 April 2014, regulations for the actions of HCEOs and all other bailiffs, when seizing goods in Rochdale came out.
The laws require that an HCEO should not:
HCEOs must not enter a Greater Manchester residential property before 6am and after 9pm, except if the court authorized that
Enter a Rochdale residential property if the only person present at the time is below the age of 16
Take goods such as the washing machine, fridge, or cooker
Based in Rochdale, working nationwide
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