Increased Protection for Tenants

Like other legislation rushed through by the Government before Parliament was suspended for the general election, there is no in-force date set. Once the Act is in force, it will present another hurdle for lenders to overcome before taking possession of tenanted property, whether or not they consented to the tenancy.

Once in force, the Act will afford protection to unauthorised tenants in three ways:

1. It will give an unauthorised tenant rights of audience at a possession hearing and will give the Court the ability to postpone the date for possession for a period of up to two months on application by the unauthorised tenant

2. The unauthorised tenant will have an opportunity to apply to the Court to stay or suspend execution of the Possession Order for a period of up to two months, but only if:

a. The Court has not already exercised its powers to suspend the Possession Order; and

b. The tenant has asked the lender to give an undertaking in writing not to enforce the Order for two months and the lender has not given such an undertaking

3. The lender will not be able to enforce the Order for Possession without giving notice of any prescribed step and will only be able to execute the Order at the end of a prescribed period from the day when the Notice is given.

What will this mean for lenders trying to enforce Possession Orders in cases where there is an unauthorised tenant at the security address?

There is no provision in the new Act to allow the Court to refuse to make a Possession Order merely because there is an unauthorised tenancy, but the new provisions have the potential to cause delay. Lenders may have to make use of field agents to check occupancy prior to enforcing a Possession Order.