Hi
I have given a section 21 notice to my tenant who is in rent arrears. We are in Enfield Council. Does anyone know how long it’s taking through the courts and then Bailiff to arrive. Is there anyone who has gone through the process recently?
If you want it to be quick, then pay extra for the high court.
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I went through the process a couple of years ago and it took several months tbh. There was a backlog at the courts and then the bailiffs. Hopefully it is a bit quicker now. I hope you get it sorted soon.
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Hi
Thanks Rani. Were you in Enfield borough? How long was the wait time for the courts and then how long did the Baylif take?
I’m not in Enfield, but to give you an idea, we applied to the court for a Section 8, 4 weeks ago and we haven’t heard a thing from them yet. It’s probably the worse time to try and evict tenants in terms of backlogs as many landlords are trying to do the same before the RRB kicks in and it becomes extremely difficult to do so. Some courts are taking up to 15 months, but that is worse case scenario. I really do recommend expediting it to the high court, especially if they are not paying, as the £900 extra in applications, is far cheaper than what the tenant will be defaulting on. It’s post code lottery I’m afraid, it just depends on how busy your area is.
It was Waltham Forest
Hi. We are in Enfield. Disastrous tenants, won’t move out, refusing all access since they’ve moved in, pristine house now looking like a dump (judging on the state of the garden and the pile of rubbish, which they keep in the carport). We served section 8 and 21 in August 2024, the court ruled in our favour, but they didn’t move out (this took six months in total). Then we submitted papers for bailiff in Feb 2025 and it is now almost October 2025 and we still haven’t heard a thing from the court. Some people say to submit to the high court, but that means cancelling your current court case (which takes a few weeks) and then entering a new queue for the high court, which by the way has recently issued a few refusals to people not waiting long enough and reverting them back to the county court, which then puts you again in the same old queue… Enfield has been very slow. Good luck with your tenants.
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Sorry to hear this. I’m afraid its currently taking about a year to evict tenants in many places and this could double when the RRB becomes law. You would have to go back to court to get permission from the judge to escalate your case to the high court which would probably take longer than waiting for bailiffs.
These time scales are terrifying! To think they are going to get even worse, which they obviously will after RRB takes effect is …I can’t think of a word bad enough!!
It’s incredible isn’t it. We are witnessing history here I think, the sun setting on the end of small scale private landlords for better or worse. Our plan has always been to liquidate our property assets in the next 10 years. We’ve got five sets of great tenants who have been in place for 3 years or more so I can’t see them shifting soon, but they will be the last that we take on because a situation like @Diana20 describes is just not something we need to face and so won’t be taking a risk on.
As each tenant gives notice, we’ll sell the property and reinvest the takings in something with less risk.
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i have sold a couple of places , best days are past . Commercials better
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Yeah but don’t advertise it 
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