Question

Applying to Court for Possession — Accelerated Procedure (England)

Accelerated Possession Order

14 Jan 2018 | 1 comment

I have served an accelerated possession order on my tenant asking her to pay for the court charges. On her Defence form (N118) she has refused to pay the court costs claiming that she’s a pensioner and therefore can not afford to pay the costs. I have received a copy of the Defence form from the court. What should I do? Should I contact or write to the court that I do not mind if she refuses to pay the court costs as I will absorb the costs because I want to get the order as quickly as possible or I should leave the court to decide whether she pays the costs or not.

Answer

1 Comment

  1. guildy

    Our temptation would be to leave this alone and not bother replying. It’s default that the succesful party is awarded costs so if you are succesful, you should just get the order without the need to reply.

    If you start replying, it could trigger a hearing which is best avoided.

    You can never predict what’s the best thing to do in this type of scenario. It could be argued that if you reply agreeing to not be awarded the costs, that could also speed things up. But, unfortunately, courts don’t always follow that kind of logic! As we say, probably best to leave it and see what develops.

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