As a result of the changes individual Court buildings will become Hearing Centres. The back offices will be Administrative Centres. So instead of having 173 distinct County Courts across the country there will now be one national County Court which has 173 County Court Hearing Centres. Orders, for example, will no longer be headed "In the Birmingham County Court" but will instead state "In the County Court in Birmingham".
As a result of this, Court Rules will be amended to remove reference to certain claims having to be issued in what has been known as the Defendant’s home Court and to make reference now to the Single County Court. You won’t need to check jurisdiction any more as to where to issue.
Is this just an administrative issue? Will it really affect the way in which RP’s use the Courts? Some of the practical implications for Court users are set out below.
Applications on notice will no longer need to be issued at the Defendant’s local Court and "may be made at any County Court Hearing Centre" under the amended Court rules. The papers will simply be issued however and then transferred to the Defendant’s local Hearing Centre for listing and hearing.
The biggest practical impact is that without notice applications (e.g. emergency ASB injunctions) can be made at any County Court Hearing Centre. The application will be considered, the appropriate Orders made and the case will then be transferred to the Defendant’s local Hearing Centre for the on notice hearing.
A practical example of this is as follows:
This has the potential to save staff the time and costs of travelling to distant Court buildings where their properties are spread over a wide area and should enable the process to be quicker. It will also help control legal fees as the need to travel to some hearings will be limited. Equally it will help where time is short to get an emergency order just before the end of the court day/weekend etc.
For those not using the PCOL system, RP’s will be able to issue papers at any Hearing Centre. The issuing Hearing Centre, if different to the Defendant’s local one, will not list the matter for a hearing but will transfer the matter to that local Centre. It will only be fixed for hearing once received by the local Centre. Court users should note that the guidance in the Court rules in relation to possession claims will now state that:
A Claimant should consider the potential delay which may result if a claim is not made at the appropriate Hearing Centre in the first instance
The same warning is given in relation to injunction applications made on notice. Clearly the court is hoping then that these cases will generally still be issued at the local hearing centre.
Accelerated possession proceedings can now also be issued at any County Court Hearing Centre. Here however the matter will only be transferred to the Defendant’s local Hearing Centre if the Judge directs that a date for a hearing should be fixed. If you know of one local Administrative Centre that is issuing and processing accelerated possession claims quicker than another Court Users can take advantage of that fact (until they get overwhelmed!).
Do note the change in description of the court needs to be carried over to precedent court papers; orders and letters AFTER 22 April 2014.
Contact Alex Loxton in our Housing Litigation team on alex.loxton@anthonycollins.com.
The monthly round-up from the Anthony Collins Solicitors charities team.
In this ebriefing, we identify what we see as the key messages arising from recent prosecutions in the care and housing sectors.
A recent High Court case on costs could prove essential reading for clients who have cases in the magistrates' courts.
The employment and pensions team offer practical advice on whistleblowing.
Partners, David Alcock and Sarah Patrice, have been involved in reviewing the new Code of Governance for community-led housing, published on 21 May 2021 by the Confederation for Coop Housing.
Following the eviction ban being lifted on 31 May 2021 and further to our previous ebriefing, the new notice of seeking possession forms are now available on the Government website as Word versions.
The European Court of Justice's standpoint on the Wiener Wohnen landowning developer case, and how the level of influence over the work did not amount to a decisive influence.
The Law Commission's Technical Issues in Charity Law report revealed that many charities struggle with a range of technical issue in the law.
The Law Commission recommended four key changes to the law in respect of mergers and the incorporation of charities which we have detailed in this ebriefing.
Over the last few weeks, we have published individual ebriefings on some of the key changes to be implemented following the Government’s response to the Law Commission’s report.
To receive invitations to our events, as well as information and articles on legal issues and sector developments that are of interest to you, please sign up to Newsroom.