Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of digitising possession cases on the speed at which legitimate possession cases are processed by the courts when the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 begins to be implemented
The most recent published statistics show that claim to possession order median timeliness is currently 7.6 weeks, an improvement from the same period in 2024, and within the 8 weeks set out in the Civil Procedure Rules: (Mortgage and landlord possession statistics - GOV.UK). As the Renters’ Rights Act is implemented, HMCTS will put in place measures including additional sitting days and administrative resource to ensure sufficient capacity is in place for the county court to handle the anticipated change to the possession caseload.
The digital service will offer an online route for making and responding to possession claims, filing documents, and receiving updates and outcomes, offering an improved user experience through guided journeys. It will reduce the time taken to deal with printing, posting and administrative handling of paper forms.